The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), which is building a mega temple complex at Rayapur located between Hubballi and Dharwad, plans to create a small replica of the Balaji Temple of Tirupati at the temple complex.
Addressing presspersons here on Friday, president of ISKCON Hubballi-Dharwad Rajiv Lochan Dasa said that the sanctum sanctorum of the replica will be modelled on the Balaji (Venkateswara) Temple of Tirumala Tirupati.
He said the replica will be built on an area of 1,200 sqft.
Mr. Dasa said that the plan was part of the ₹40-crore project of building a multi-storey ISKCON temple complex in Hubballi. The total area of the temple would be 2.5 lakh sqft, he said.
He said that ISKCON will be celebrating ‘Vaikuntha Ekadashi’ in a grand manner and hectic preparations are under way for the event to be celebrated on January 6.
A 15 ft tall and 11 ft wide gold painted Vaikuntha Dwara was being erected on the temple premises and the celebrations would begin with ‘dwara puja’ at 8. a.m. on January 6, he said.
Vice-president of ISKCON Hubballi-Dharwad Raghottam Dasa said that there would be ‘Laksharchana Seva’ for the public throughout the day and ‘Vaikunteshwara Homa’ at 5 p.m.
There will be cultural programmes from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and distribution of ‘prasad’ for all the devotees.
