Sri Sri Guru Gourangau Jayatah
History of ISKCON, Bhubaneswar

To know the history of the Krishna Balaram Temple, Bhubaneswar, we have to go back to the year 1975 when Srila Prabhupada instructed Gour Govinda Swami to build a temple on the donated land. At that time it was jungle, far from Bhubaneswar town. Even the rikshawala was afraid to venture here.
Srila Gour Govinda Swami came to Bhubaneswar from Vrindavan carrying the weight of his spiritual master’s instructions in his heart. At first he stayed in a Dharmashala near Ananta Basudev temple in Old Town, Bhubaneswar, 6 kilometers from the jungle site where he was to stay alone for many years. From that Dharmashala he would walk to this land every day. The first thing he did was to erect a mud hut to stay in. At that time Srila Gour Govinda Swami had no money and no men. He returned to Vrindavan to request Srila Prabhupada, “Will you kindly give me some money, books and some devotees?” But Srila Prabhupada said, “No, nothing. My Guru Maharaja told me to go to the Western world to preach Krishna consciousness. It was a foreign land. I had no friends there. I went just to carry out the order of my spiritual master. But Orissa is your motherland, why are you afraid? A Vaishnava is not alone. Krishna is with him always.” Srila Gour Govind Swami came back alone, with empty hands, putting full faith in the words of his spiritual master. He began to preach in Bhubaneswar and translating Srila Prabhupada’s books into Oriya. He printed a mini magazine and went door-to-door and office-to-office, preaching and collecting donations. Gradually some local devotees came forward to help him. From there he began his mission to fulfill Srila Prabhupada’s desire for a temple in Bhubaneswar.

In early 1977, after bringing water and electricity to the land, Srila Gour Govinda Swami requested Srila Prabhupada to come to Bhubaneswar. He arranged for Srila Prabhupada to stay comfortably in the government guesthouse, but Prabhupada refused, saying, “I will stay only where my disciple, Gour Govind has built a mud hut for me.” Srila Prabhupada stayed in Bhubaneswar for seventeen days. He waited for Lord Nityananda’s appearance day to lay the foundation stone of his last-founded project, in Orissa. The sannyasis and devotees accompanying Srila Prabhupada were surprised to see this jungle site. They said to Prabhupada, “This place is an out of the way place, a mud hut in the middle of the desert. There’s nothing here. It would be better to build something at Puri. Why should we waste our time and money here?” But Srila Prabhupada was adamant. “No! This place will be the heart of the city.”
When discussing with Srila Prabhupada the details of building a temple, Gour Govinda Swami said, “Prabhupada drove everyone out and called me into his room. He was there and I was there, no third person was there. No tape recording was going on. Nothing was there....calo! It is recorded in my heart. It is my asset. In a whispering voice he told me, “Gour Govind, they are objecting to a temple being built here. They want it at Puri. But I said, ‘No!’ I will do it here. This will be one of the best temples in the world, and it will be under your leadership.” At that time he told me, “You have to stay here. You have to do it.”
Srila Prabhupada gave specific instructions to Srila Gour Govinda Swami about the deities, their installation as well as the name of the temple. “He told me, ‘there is Krishna Balaram Mandir in Vrindavan. All right, do Krishna Balaram Mandir here.’ So this is Krishna Balaram Mandir. He said there should be three altars. The presiding deities, Sri Sri Krishna Balaram in the middle altar. Gour Nitai to Their right, and Jagannath, Balabhadra, Subhadra Devi Devi should be there because this is Orissa, the land of Jagannath. Except for Jagannath, Krishna-Balaram and Gour-Nitai will be made of brass and crafted in Orissa.” He also predicted that Jagannath would come on his own, and that prediction was fulfilled.

After Srila Prabhupada left this world on 14th November 1977, Srila Gour Govinda Swami preached extensively in Orissa and traveled all over the world. Many Western devotees came to help. Srila Gour Govinda Swami saw the temple almost complete in 1991 after a long 15 years of struggle. It was inaugurated on Nityananda Trayodasi day, the same auspicious occasion when in 1977 Srila Prabhupada laid the foundation stone.
As instructed by Srila Prabhupada, Srila Gour Govinda Swami installed Sri Gour Nitai, Sri Krishna Balaram and Sri Jagannath, Baladeva, Subhadra Devi Devi on three altars and named the temple Sri Krishna Balaram Temple.