An hour-long drive from the city brings you to the Iskcon temple gate. The temple was inaugurated by president Shankar Dayal Sharma two weeks ago. As you climb uphill to the gopuram all your defences against any religious movement go to rack and ruin. The sheer grandiosity of the structure leaves you awe-struck and you realise that the temple cannot be segregated from the Krishna consciousness movement. Despite the chanting of mantras, a strange sense of peace prevails inside the temple, an anodyne to the frayed nerves of city dwellers!

The ostentation around makes the visitor eventually wonder if Krishna consciousness leads one into, or away from, mundane pleasures. Srila Prabhupada, founder of Iskcon (International Society for Krishna Consciousness), preached no religious conversion, rather he talked of spiritual awareness. What does this awareness mean to the laity? "Well, a God-conscious life is all that is required from the congregation member. Just as the different parts of the body contribute towards sustaining it, the original position of the living entity comes alive in God's communion and in serving Him." says devotee Anantha Teertha Das.

Sounds like lectures from religious scriptures. But when you find people from diverse strata: lorry drivers, computer engineers and civil engineers, neurologists etc. indulging in Bhaktiyoga, room for scepticism gets narrower. After all what more could a society want but to help its citizens give up intoxicants, illicit sex, gambling, bribery, etc?

When John Ruskin said that architecture concerns itself only with those characters of an edifice which are above and beyond its common use, he must have been referring to the postulates of architecture he laid in his Seven Lamps of Architecture.

The work of art that we have in this temple in Bangalore is an instance of aesthetic unity that has come by blending traditional and modern elements of architecture. Built at a whopping cost of Rs 26 crore, the temple is made of glazed glass; the gopuram being done with ferro cement in a structure that is hollow inside. It's a new technique in temple exterior which cuts down on cost and bulk, says the architect and project director, Madhu Pandit Dasa.

The temple misses nothing ¾ a forced air ventilation system, elevators, huge chandeliers, a large sankirtan hall, a state-of-the-art light and sound system. And all this has been made feasible by a quirk of fate, when Madhu Pandit Dasa was inspired to give up civil engineering and take up the cause of Iskcon.

What makes this temple different from other 600 Iskcon centres the world over is the fact that it is a cultural centre where functional utility and aesthetics together take the Vedic philosophy to millions. Multimedia Vedic audio-visual shows are being developed in collaboration with some of the best in the field. Computer synchronised multi projection systems, and animatronic moving dolls are being used to propagate sankirtan yoga.

A number of software engineers from computer companies in the city (Infosys to name one) have offered their expertise to the organisation. "Science and bhakti strive in synergy to make life a pleasant experience for people," says one French tourist to the Garden City.

The Bhaktivedanta Library and Research Centre gives access to several manuscripts of the Prabhupada's teachings and a Vedic encyclopaedia. The model Vedic farm, the book trust division, and the Vedic museum within the temple precincts make this a "Service centre" in the true sense of the term, muses Mahesh Nagaraj, a regular visitor.

Does such religiosity add to the communal atmosphere of the country. Varada Krishna Das however dispels any such apprehension when he says, "We propagate a one-God philosophy. To get rid of lust, greed, fear and other such feelings one needs to lead a life in proximity to God and Krishna is one name, one manifestation. Allah could be another." When 90 per cent of the members of a movement are non Hindus, can it be called sectarian? Srila Prabhupad called his teachings scientific. If one looks for empiricism the case of devotees themselves is indisputable evidence.

Varadakrishna Das, a senior devotee, is a qualified engineer and an MBA who worked for CMC Ltd for three years before he was inspired to dedicate his life to the service of the movement. When Anantha Teerth Das a qualified electronics engineer from Mumbai University, and the only son in his family, decided to espouse this religious order on a full time basis, his parents were crestfallen. But after eight years of selfless service both the son and parents look upon his decision with pride and satisfaction.

Examples of dogged devotion abound. When one saunters out of the temple premises, one hopes these devout devotees succeed in bringing peace to frenzied senses.