If you love listening to stories and you have a leisurely afternoon at hand, then head to the Akshardham temple of Delhi. This temple, dedicated to Lord Swaminarayan, is extremely beautiful. The huge temple complex is exquisitely carved in marble and would leave you admiring every inch of it. When darkness falls, several yellow lights, light up the temple and makes it look breathtaking. You would enjoy walking around the temple complex. The temple complex contains children's park, food park and a store selling small idols, honey, agarbatti and other things. But, what I love the most about my visits to Akshardham is the water show. The ticket cost of this water show is Rs. 80 per person. This water show would make you spellbound. The show is organized around a huge fountain area with the temple in the backdrop. The people sit around the fountain in the beautifully carved stepped gallery under the open sky. When darkness falls, the show begins with a prayer service to Lord Swaminarayan. After this, all the lights around are switched off and the show begins. The show, named as 'Sahaj Anand', is a combination of water, lights, humans, music and superb animations cast on the temple backdrop. A beautiful story from the Upanishads is enacted where humans interact with the animated Gods of fire, wind, sun and water. The play of the lights on the water is superb. In the end, the show would simply mesmerize you.
However, you cannot record anything in your mobiles and cameras as you have to deposit all such items at the entrance. There are photography services available at chargeable basis and you can have yourself clicked with the magnificent temple at the backdrop.
Before the Pandemic ,the temple provided other shows and one of the best among them was the boat ride. This show made people sit on a boat and the boat flowed along a river where stories of our ancient civilization were narrated and displayed using dolls and sceneries along the river bank. However, after the pandemic situation, the only show that is organized by the temple is the fountain show.
Currently, the temple is again shut down till 30th April 2021 due to the second wave of the Pandemic. However, after we have won this war against Covid and traveling becomes easy again, do visit this temple for a beautiful experience.
The best way to reach this temple is by the metro. You have to take a train on the blue line, heading towards Noida and get down at the 'Akshardham' metro station. From the Akshardham metro station it would take about a minute or so to reach the temple.
so, if you are in Delhi for a tour, make sure to spend an evening at the temple for a unique experience where spirituality, and stories from our Upanishads combined by technology.