The Swaminarayan Sampradaya is a sect of Hinduism, which has been established for approximately two centuries, the founder of this sect was Lord Shree Swaminarayan. In the mid-twentieth century many satsangis had moved to East Africa, they had regular contact with organisations in India. Sadhus and spiritual leaders often visited them, so the religious momentum was continuing. In the 1960s, some of the satsangis immigrated to Great Britain. Because they were religiously conscious and followed the principles of Lord Shree Swaminarayan via the Shikshapatri they wanted to get together for prayers and to celebrate religious festivals.
In the beginning they used to meet up at each other's houses and for religious celebrations communal halls were hired.
The number of satsangis increased and it became more difficult to accommodate them. We asked the advice of the late Reverend Mahant Swami Dharmajivandasji. At the time, he was the head priest at Shree Swaminarayan Temple Bhuj. He said in order to keep up the religious practice to guide the younger generation to lead a healthy and spiritually peaceful life, the satsangis in London should look for a centrally located place of worship.
In 1975 a disused church on Willesden Lane was bought and renovated. It was officially opened in late 1975 to the public. His Holiness Shree Tejendraprasadji Maharaj and sadhus from India paid frequent visits to Willesden Temple. On the auspicious day of Sharad Purnima on 11th October 1975, Archarya Maharajshree personally installed the murtis of Lord Shree Swaminarayan, Shree NarNarayan Dev, Shree RadhaKrishna, Shree Hanumanji, Shree Ganeshji and gave his eternal blessings to the Temple. As time went on even the large church building could not accommodate the increasing numbers of satsangis. New activities had also been introduced by this time, such as Gujarati classes, a library, and a picture framing service as well as other youth activities.
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