The former entrance to the Nandalaya (main temple) of Vraj in Summit Station.
Writing and photos by Wes Cipolla
I have fond memories of Route 61. During my childhood summers, it was a yellow brick road to the paradise that was Knoebels Amusement Park. The lush mountain scenery and small towns my family and I passed through, along with the increasingly elaborate billboards advertising the park (a 3-D ferris wheel!), made the journey as exciting as the destination. Last winter, I had the idea to do a column about interesting places people can visit on the way to Knoebels. During my research, I found that Knoebels is surrounded by an unusually large number of religious sites. Route 61 is a sort of pilgrimage route, probably the only one on Earth that ends with roller coasters and baked potatoes. You can call it El Camino de Kozmo. In this column, I seek to reveal the histories of these holy places and what they mean to the people who worship there. From great churches to one man’s passion, these sites tell diverse stories of faith, love and humanity’s relationship with the divine in Northeast Pennsylvania.
Originally published in the Pottsville Republican-Herald on October 24, 2021.
SUMMIT STATION - I began this column about religious sites on the way to Knoebels because I wanted to know about the divine. The Vraj Hindu temple, just off State Route 183 near the Schuylkill County Fairgrounds, is nice enough to get straight to the point. According to their website, Vraj is “the place where one could have communion with the Divine. The Holy land, Hindus crave to go for a Pilgrimage. Where one experiences closeness to The Divine.”
I knew that I had to see The Divine for myself. Nestled in the Blue Mountains, Vraj is a 269-acre temple complex twice the size of the Vatican and the largest of its kind outside of India. It comes complete with a gym, apartments and a gift shop. Vraj welcomes 100,000 pilgrims each year, and nearby hotels offer pilgrim discounts. Devotional music in the West Indian Gujarati language plays on loudspeakers in labyrinthine rooms and corridors where the faithful worship and learned men discuss the Hindu scriptures.
A decorated wall in Vraj.
Everywhere in Vraj you will see and hear the words “Jai Shree Krishna” (praise Lord Krishna). Here, it is another way of saying hello. Even Vraj’s hold music sings the praises of Krishna.
"Jai Shree Krishna" (Praise Lord Krishna) is Vraj's motto.
“Let Krishna handle your problems,” said Vraj Executive Committee President Vijay Shah. “Just do what is right. Do not worry, leave your worries to the god.”
In Hinduism, the world's oldest major religion and one of its most popular, there are many gods and goddesses. Most Hindus primarily worship one god to keep it simple. The three major Hindu gods are Brahma (the Creator) Shiva (the Destroyer) and Vishnu (the Operator). Krishna is an incarnation of Vishnu. Shah believes that everything, including my visit to Vraj, is preordained by Krishna, and there’s no way to change it.
“Many of times, when there was a problem,” Shah said, “your parents would say ‘If you worship Lord Krishna, Lord Krishna will help you.’”
Hindus believe that the soul is eternal and is reincarnated into countless living bodies, human and animal, on the quest for enlightenment.
“It’s very difficult to attain,” Shah said. “I don’t think I will achieve it in this lifetime.”
In this lifetime, Shah has dedicated 20 years to Vraj. He lives in Pittsburgh and spends two weekends a month living and working on the temple grounds. Working at Vraj has helped him control his temper and improve his management skills. It’s just him, 24 full-time staff and a host of volunteers keeping the massive compound in working order.
“The way I feel it is in other temples,” Shah said, “the art forms take you into a different world. When you’re in a temple, you notice all the pillars, the carvings. It transcends your mind to a different thought process. When you go from the concrete jungle and into the temple, it transports your mind to the Supreme Being.”
An altar within Vraj's artificial mountain.
Shah showed me a monumental arch beside Vraj’s artificial lake. The lake represents the importance of water for human life, and in the life of Krishna. When Krishna was imprisoned by his demonic uncle Kamsa, his father carried him across the river to safety. The arch represents the spot where Krishna rested after killing Kamsa. There’s also a statue of a dog, but it has no religious significance - it’s there to scare away geese.
The arch, and artificial lake.
On the way to the Vraj’s replica of the mountain that Krishna lifted over his head, Shah passed a landscaper who wore a cross around his neck. On the bottom and sides of the artificial mountain were faded painted statues of animals and poets. Poetry is central to the Hindu scriptures.
One of the poets who praised Krishna, at the base of the artificial mountain.
“The whole Bhagavad Gita to me, it’s a way of life,” Shah said. “How do you resolve your problems? Krishna spoke in an epic form.”
Vraj was originally a yoga center before it was purchased by “the visionary and founder Govid Bhikabhai Shah (Kaka)” and 29 others in 1987. Schuylkill County was chosen as the location for its serene natural setting and proximity to areas with high Hindu populations. Shah calls it “a place of peace and tranquility,” “away from the hustle and bustle of daily life.”
An altar to Yamunaji, the consort of Krishna, on Vraj property.
After purchasing the land, the Hindus quickly got to work constructing a much larger temple with Indian architectural flourishes, complete with a giant pink fountain in the shape of rose petals (a symbol of Krishna).
The exterior of the Nandalaya.
In 1988, the temple was consecrated with the presence of Shrinathji, Krishna in the form of a small child.
“When you have an adult,” Shah said, “you tend to have a longing to ask for something. When you go to God, you are always going to see if he can help you. When you worship the baby form of a god, you are never going to ask anything from a baby. You are not going to ask for favors, you are asking for love.”
This form of Hinduism is known as Pushtimarg (meaning “path of grace”) and was founded by Vallabhacharya 500 years ago. Vallabhacharya has an altar dedicated to him in Vraj. His family tree can be traced through the centuries to a living descendant.
The altar of Vallabhacharya.
“We almost treat him as a god,” Shah said about the living descendant. “Whenever he is around, people bow to him and touch his clothing.”
The doors from the altar of Vallabhacharya to the altar of Shrinathji. The portraits above the doors are of Vallabhacharya's descendants.
The spiritual center of Vraj is a magnificent painted altar containing an idol of baby Krishna. Darshan (viewing) of the idol takes place six times a day. Musicians sing poetry dedicated to Krishna, playing the harmonium and drums made of wood and goatskin. In the morning, Shrinathji is “woken up.” At 10:30 a.m. a priest places the idol in a cradle, rocks it and gives it toys. Hindu families practice such rituals in their own homes.
The closed altar of Shrinathji. Photographing the idol behind the doors is almost always forbidden.
Vijay’s wife Arti has her own idol of baby Krishna which she cleans with water and dresses in fine clothes every morning.
“It’s a mediation because we are totally focused on something,” she said. “You talk to yourself, praising the baby god. When your god is a small child, it’s not a prayer. What we do with our own children, that’s the same way we do with this.”
“Every day you see something different,” said Amishi Parikh, whose husband Samir is the Vice President of Vraj’s Executive Committee. “You feel that he is smiling at you.”
(L-R) Vijay Shah, Arti Shah and Amishi Parikh.
At noon, worshippers offer food to Shrinathji which is then served back to the worshippers. At Vraj, faith and food are intertwined. The faithful call in advance to have the honor of offering breakfast, lunch and dinner to baby Krishna. The temple has an industrial-sized kitchen with boilers that can cook 500 portions of rice at once and ovens that can cook 100 portions of lentil soup at once.
Rice and chickpeas ready to offer to the god (and serve to his worshippers) in Vraj's kitchen.
Vijay told me that Vraj’s kitchen keeps the spice at a happy medium. After tasting the lentil soup, it was clear that our definitions of “medium spice” differed. None of the Indian cuisine at Vraj contains onion and garlic, which the Pushtimarg avoid because they believe their pungency makes people hyperactive.
“It’s science,” Vijay said.
Pushtimarg followers also fast on the eleventh day of every month to cleanse the body and focus on prayer. Vijay says that mohanthal, made of chickpea flour, butter and nuts, is Krishna’s favorite dessert. Everything offered to Shrinathji is made from scratch and is vegetarian.
“God has given us enough food in the form of grain and vegetables and fruits,” Vijay said. “Why kill an animal and consume them for food? You’re basically taking away a life. We don’t believe in taking anybody’s life. When you kill a chicken, you are killing a mother, a hen.”
There is a 93-year-old woman named Madhu who speaks no English and lives at Vraj. She volunteers every day, making floral garlands for Krishna and preparing his offerings.
At 4:15, Krishna “returns from herding cows” and worshippers come to view him once again. Contrary to popular belief, Hindus do not worship cows but they are considered sacred. Krishna loved cows and milk. Much of the food offered to him contains dairy.
“Cows give you milk,” Vijay said, “there’s so much behind cows in Hindu mythology, we call cows our mother too. Even their dung is dried and used as a source of fuel.”
At 5:00, dinner is offered to Shrinathji. The final viewing is at 6:30 and after that, Krishna is put to sleep. When there are no viewings, the idol is kept behind opulent silver doors with reliefs of scenes from the life of Krishna. The idol is rarely photographed as doing so is considered sacrilegious.
A close-up of the altar.
In a small dining room, Vijay, Arti and Parikh had lunch. An icon of Shrinathji watched as the three discussed their beliefs, their lives as Indian-Americans and their relationship with the community. Vijay said that the history of India’s religions is the history of people wanting to gain significance larger than themselves. They portray the same god in different forms.
“It’s all about awareness,” he said. “Say you’re living in this town for 200 years. When you find someone from a different community come up and build a place of worship, this is another sect that is going to cause some problems. They are afraid of outside communities. We are peace-lovers. We are not here to change anybody’s religion.”
Vraj has an annual Easter egg hunt and fireworks on the Fourth of July. When the pandemic hit, Vraj went to the township and donated $25,000 to help feed the needy.
“We are not outsiders,” Vijay said. “We are not aliens, we want to help everyone.”
“America is the land of opportunity,” Arti said.
“Being human is the simplest message,” Vijay said. “Being kind to others, do not steal, help your neighbor. That gives me all the answers I need. One of the simplest forms of religion, and one of the most effective, is what I believe.”
The farewell sign of the Nandalaya.
Comments