BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Rosehill, Sydneyਬਾਪਸ ਸ੍ਰੀ ਸਵਾਮੀਨਾਰਾਇਣ ਮੰਦਰ, ਰੋਜ਼ਹਿੱਲ, ਸਿਡਨੀ

In a quiet residential street in Rosehill, in Sydney's west, stands the Sydney home of one of the world's largest Hindu organisations. The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir at 40 Eleanor Street, Rosehill, serves the Swaminarayan community of New South Wales and also hosts the BAPS Asia Pacific headquarters. Its present building is not the first on the site: after serving the community for more than a decade, the mandir was rebuilt, and the reconstructed temple was inaugurated on 9 February 2014, with its sacred images reinstalled in a ceremony led by senior BAPS monks alongside the Premier of New South Wales.

What is the BAPS mandir at Rosehill?

The Rosehill mandir is a Hindu temple of the BAPS Swaminarayan tradition, a branch of Hinduism that follows Bhagwan Swaminarayan and a line of spiritual teachers, or guru parampara. BAPS temples combine daily worship with assemblies, children's and youth activities, and community service, and Rosehill follows that pattern for Sydney's Gujarati and wider Hindu community. The temple's images, or murtis, were first consecrated by Pramukh Swami Maharaj, the fifth spiritual teacher of BAPS, during his visit to Sydney in 2002. When the new building was ready, those same murtis were reinstalled rather than replaced, keeping the link between the old mandir and the new one unbroken.

How was the Rosehill mandir rebuilt?

By 2012 the community had outgrown a building that had, in BAPS's words, stood for more than 10 years as a centre of community, culture and spirituality. The rebuilding began with a Shilanyas Mahotsav, a foundation stone ceremony, on 5 February 2012. More than 400 devotees took part in the Vedic mahapuja, and Pujya Tyagvallabh Swami laid foundation stones that Pramukh Swami Maharaj had blessed in India. An assembly of more than 800 devotees followed, attended by state and federal representatives and the Consul General of India to Sydney. Two years later the work was complete.

The new mandir was inaugurated on Sunday 9 February 2014. The murti pratishtha, the ceremony that formally installs the deities, was performed by Pujya Ishwarcharan Swami with the Premier of New South Wales, Barry O'Farrell, taking part in the opening. Federal MP Julie Owens and State MP Dr Geoff Lee were also present, along with visitors from across Australia, New Zealand and the Asia Pacific region. The ceremony closed a four day Mandir Mahotsav that included a welcome assembly, sessions marking the 150th birth anniversary of Shastriji Maharaj, the founder of BAPS, and a programme of devotional singing. In his address the Premier noted that 2014 marked 30 years since Pramukh Swami Maharaj first visited Australia in 1984, and praised the community's place in the state's multicultural and multi faith life.

What happens at the mandir?

Like other BAPS mandirs, Rosehill centres on daily darshan of the murtis and regular satsang assemblies, with programmes for children, teenagers, families and older devotees. The 2014 celebrations give a flavour of that rhythm: assemblies, kirtan, discourses by visiting monks and cultural performances by children and youth. BAPS also ties festivals to service, and Sydney has form here: the temple's long running tradition, reported by BAPS in 2002, was to mark Pramukh Swami Maharaj's birthday each year with a blood donation camp run with the Australian Red Cross, passing 200 bottles donated within three years. Visiting monks regularly tour Australia from Rosehill, holding assemblies and home visits across the region, which is why the site also serves as the organisation's Asia Pacific base.

How does Rosehill fit the wider BAPS story in Australia?

BAPS traces its founding to 1907, a date state minister Victor Dominello cited at the 2012 foundation ceremony when he spoke of the millions of lives the organisation says it has touched. In Australia the community's public story starts with Pramukh Swami Maharaj's first visit in 1984, and the consecration of the Sydney murtis during his 2002 visit gave the young community a permanent spiritual focus. The 2014 reconstruction then gave that focus a purpose built home in western Sydney, close to Parramatta, one of the most diverse parts of the city. For Punjabi readers meeting the Swaminarayan tradition for the first time, the pattern will feel familiar: a migrant community building, first in modest premises and then in a landmark temple, a place where language, food, festivals and faith are handed on together.

Visiting the BAPS mandir at Rosehill

The mandir is at 40 Eleanor Street, Rosehill, NSW 2142, near Harris Park and Granville stations. BAPS mandirs are generally open to visitors of all backgrounds for darshan during the morning and evening, with the shrines closed for periods in the middle of the day, so checking the temple's current hours on the BAPS website before a visit is wise. Modest dress is expected, photography inside the shrine area is not permitted at BAPS temples, and visitors are usually asked to remove shoes before entering. The biggest gatherings fall on major Hindu festivals and on the temple's own anniversary celebrations each February, when the 2014 inauguration is remembered.