England’s Swindon has a new Hindu temple now

Swindon in South West England has a new Hindu temple now.Swindon Hindu Temple & Cultural Centre organized its first formal puja on May 21, which reportedly included Ganesh puja, Satyanarayan puja, etc., followed by community lunch.

Run by Swindon Hindu Temple Trust, a registered charity; besides providing worship services; it reportedly plans to organize monthly bhajan-kirtan followed by preeti-bhoj, events, festivals, religious-educational-social-cultural-charitable activities, discourses, religious rites; promote traditional performing arts, Hindu values/traditions, Hinduism and its doctrines; provide a gathering venue for area Hindus; and be a medium for social interaction among people in wider community; etc. Pradeep Bhardwaj is the Trust Chairman.

Commending the efforts of temple leaders and area community involved in realizing this Temple complex, Hindu statesman Rajan Zed, in a statement in Nevada today, indicated that a Hindu temple was urgently needed for the spiritual needs of about 20,000 Hindus of the area, who had to visit London (about 80 miles) and Birmingham (around 84 miles) for worship services in the absence of Hindu temple.

Rajan Zed, who is President of Universal Society of Hinduism, pointed out that it was important to pass on Hindu spirituality, concepts and traditions to coming generations amidst so many distractions in the consumerist society and hoped that this Temple complex would help in this direction. Zed stressed that instead of running after materialism; we should focus on inner search and realization of Self and work towards achieving moksh (liberation), which was the goal of Hinduism.

Prominent people associated with Swindon; known for annual Swindon Mela and the birthplace of rock band XTC; include golfer David Howell, actresses Diana Dors and Billie Piper, and artist Antony Micallef. Andrew Bennett is Swindon's Mayor.

Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents.