BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir

The BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha is a spiritual, volunteer-driven faith dedicated to improving society through individual growth by fostering the Hindu ideals of faith, unity, and selfless service. We visited the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Chino Hills, California. The website at www.baps.org has more locations and details.

The location has a welcome center, small grocery store and restaurant, and the Maidir, which is a place of worship and prayer for followers of Hinduism. As a first time visitor to this location, we were welcomed and made aware of a couple details to make our visit comfortable and enjoyable.

When we entered the visitors center we found more details about the location, and went on to the outside of the Mandir. The outside is visually amazing with many details for you eyes to see, you may want to wait a minute to take it all in.

When you're ready to visit the inside of the Mandir, shoes are left outside near the stairs. Socks are good on a cold day. The inside was of course beautiful, but also provided many written details for people like us who have never visited a Mandir. Pictures and video are not allowed inside, so you will just have to visit for yourself.

One of the principle creators of the BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir was His Holiness Pramukh Swami Maharahj, and the quote from him on the sign outside put it simply, "In the joy of others lies our own." This really is a place of love, peace, and harmony just like it says in their welcome center.