On June 19th, the club will be taking a day trip to the BAPS Shri 
Swaminarayan Akshardham in Robbinsville, NJ. This is the second largest Hindu temple in the world and it’s less than two hours from Reading! The first Mandir opened in 2014 and is a beautiful temple with intricately carved sculptures inside and out as well as beautiful mosaics and paintings. The large Akshardham was opened in October 2023 and is an amazing structure with over 10,000 marble sculptures. An interesting fact is that a lot of the work was done by over 15,000 volunteers, each contributing the time they could to help move the project forward. This is a Hindu temple, but it is open to people of all faiths and the volunteers here are very welcoming!
More information about the temple can be found here: BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham
A few things to note about the visit. There is no photography allowed inside the buildings. There is plenty to photograph outside the temples and around the grounds. There is a strict dress code – tops must cover the shoulders, back and upper arms and legwear must be at least below knee-length. If you don’t comply, you will be requested to wear wraps which are provided at the Mandir. Also, all footwear must be removed to enter the temples. Shoe racks are available at the entrances (note – socks are ok). More visitor information can be found here: BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir – Robbinsville – Visitor Info
We will plan to arrive at the temple by 10:00 AM which will give us time to tour the Mandir and experience a daily arti (ceremony) at 11:15 AM. Following that, we will take a tour of the Akshardham and have time to wander around the grounds. Once we are finished at the temple, we will go to a local Indian Restaurant for lunch. The restaurant will be located near other restaurants for those that may not care for Indian foods.
There is no cost for the trip. There are donation boxes around the temple grounds if you chose to make a donation. You can choose to meet there, or I’d suggest we try to carpool where possible. Since there are a few tolls on the turnpike and bridges (about $30), we can just share the costs per vehicle. Once we have a list of those planning to go, we can work out the meeting location(s). We would need to leave Reading by 8:00am.
To sign up or for more information, please contact Jeff at jeffschaefferphoto@comcast.net . If we have enough people going, we can probably arrange for private tours.
We hope you’ll join us on June 19th!