Never before seen design sketches!

The artists and architects have been hard at work designing the temple to make it look more beautiful than any other in the world. Their sketches fill the art room walls with color and wonder, sastric books are stacked high on the large conference table for reference and drawing materials are strewn about as if a tornado hit the room. We have been anxiously waiting for some approved sketches to show all of you what ‘out of this world’ progress is being made, and now, for your pleasure, we have some.

First, we have the temple room floor. Here it shows the banyan tree as Srila Prabhupada described “with roots upwards”. On this tree you will be able to see two parrots sitting on the branches; one is enjoying a mango and the other is just observing. The circle around it is filled with the 27 Nakshatra stars and 12 zodiac signs, and will be polished brass set into marble. The stars are from the Southern Cross and this all represents the Kalachakra.

Next is Srila Prabhupada’s Vyasasana. The concept for it came from the Mysore Palace throne in which the history of the remarkable throne is quite exciting. According to one tradition, the throne belonged to King Yudhisthira and was in Hastinapura. Kampilaraya brought this throne from Hastinapura to Penugonda, now in Andhra Pradesh, where it was kept underground. However, in 1336 AD, Vidyaranya, the royal preceptor of the Vijayanagar kings, showed the spot where it was buried to Harihara I, one of the founders of the Vijayanagar Empire, who retrieved the throne. The map under the vyasasana shows Srila Prabhupada’s travels while the white elephants on the sides represent his “white elephant disciples” in India. On top you will see the ToVP perched on the foundation of the teachings of His Divine Grace, and again the inside reverts back to the Kalachakra.

The last images are of the changing bodies/species. These will be placed on either side of the clock (Kalachakra) just above the entrance to the temple. The drawings were derived from the old BBT pictures and will be colored with mosaic tiles.