Hindus Flock to Temple to Meet Spiritual Leader

They began arriving at the Swaminarayan Hindu temple in Whittier at 6:30 a.m., as the waking sun broke through the morning mist. Thousands of Indian devotees from San Diego to Seattle, from Orange County to Oregon, flocked to the temple Sunday for the rare chance to see their spiritual leader, Pramukh Swami Maharaj.

The 78-year-old Hindu guru is head of the Swaminarayan sect, one of the fastest-growing Hindu denominations in the country. Pramukh Swami, also known as Swamishri, arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday evening for a weeklong visit with his followers in Southern California.

The women devotees came wrapped in wondrous saris and sipped spicy chai tea as they waited for the chance to see the swami do his morning puja, or prayer ritual. Men scurried about the temple nervously preparing the stage where Pramukh Swami would pray before the congregation. When he emerged, he sat down, closed his eyes and soon was engrossed in deep prayer. About 2,000 followers, like Mrudula Dashi of La Verne, watched enraptured by his faith.

“For us, he is everything. For us, he’s like a god. It’s overwhelming to even talk about him without becoming emotional,” she said with tears in her eyes. “For me personally, he’s like a dad. My dad passed away, so right now, I feel like he’s come back to me.”

Hemantika Patel, a devotee from Huntington Beach, said she and hundreds of other Swaminarayan Hindus across Los Angeles had taken a week’s vacation from their jobs to spend all their time at the temple with Pramukh Swami.

“He’s like a mountain of magnetism, and everyone is attracted to that,” she said. “In our faith, we believe all our needs will be addressed if you do puja with him. He blesses us. It’s a very special time.”

Several local politicians mindful of the surging South Asian population in Southern California will visit the temple this week and meet with Pramukh Swami, including U.S. Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) and Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Gil Garcetti. After New York and Chicago, Los Angeles County has the largest population of Indians in the country, with about 43,000.

But what does this gentle old man in the saffron robe mean to the Hindu community? For the Swaminarayans, a visit by the swami is comparable to a Buddhist meeting the Dalai Lama or a Roman Catholic seeing the pope. Pramukh Swami is the manifestation of God on Earth. “How do you describe something so divine?” asked one follower.

“This is a lifetime memory,” said Rakesh Patel, a pharmacist who works in Long Beach and is also the temple spokesman. “When you’re with him, you can feel that he is divine. You think you know who you are, but he looks at your soul. You feel the presence of God.”

The Swaminarayan faith was founded in 1781 in the Gujarat region of India. In 1907, a splinter group--known as Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sanstha, or BAPS--broke away from the Swaminarayan movement. Of the four breakaway groups, the BAPS sect is the one that has experienced the most phenomenal growth worldwide and is the sect to which the Whittier temple belongs. The group claims about 500,000 followers in the United States and millions worldwide.

Last month, in a testament to the sect’s growing following, Pramukh Swami addressed the United Nations at the Millennium World Peace Summit. His remarks on religious unity were made in Gujarati. The address marked the first time a speech in Gujarati was delivered at the United Nations and translated into international languages.

Swaminarayan devotees follow a puritanical path that preaches against drugs, alcohol and television. To guard against illicit relations between the sexes, men and women are separated during worship. And women are forbidden from speaking to Pramukh Swami. All followers adhere to a strict vegetarian diet that prohibits even onions and garlic.

The temple in Whittier was established in 1984 and has about 1,000 members. On Sunday, Pramukh Swami led a celebration marking the Los Angeles temple’s 16th anniversary. Experts say the reason the Swaminarayan sect has grown so quickly is their emphasis on relaying Indian culture and language to immigrant youths. Indian families fearful of losing their identity are drawn to the temple’s many programs, which include Gujarati, music and dance classes, as well as religious instruction.

The group has outgrown their Whittier temple and is searching for a site in Southern California to build a monumental $50-million religious complex. Last year, the group expressed interest in buying property in Buena Park but was spurned when city officials refused to change zoning to allow a religious building.

In the months leading to Pramukh Swami’s visit, many Swaminarayans were hoping his arrival in Los Angeles would help them in their quest for a new temple. But on Sunday, most of the devotees were so touched by the swami’s presence, there was little talk of anything else. Regardless of what happens in the search for a new temple, they had already been blessed.

“We all need food to survive, physically,” said Hemantika Patel. “What we get from him is for our soul. It’s what the spirit needs to survive.”