Although today Sri Sri Radha Gopinath Mandir stands magnificently as part of the South Mumbai locale, its beginning was very plain and humble. The seed was sowed when Seth Shri Ruttensey Mulji and few of his friends established the Lady Northcote Hindu Orphanage in 1905. Chandrasen Bhatia, belonging to the third generation after Shri Ruttansey was known to Dr. Narendra D. Desai (H.G. Shri Nathji Das), a devotee of ISKCON. On Feb 16, 1985 with the passing away of Shri Chandrasen, Dr. N.D. Desai was made the Managing Trustee of LNHO.
The trustees gave the devotees of ISKCON a small room at the back. Thirteen devotees from different ISKCON Centres came to stay here in this small space with their meagre belongings.
In the mornings, mangala aarti would be performed before a picture of Sri Sri Radha Vrindavanchandra kept on a table. Then devotees would proceed for doing book distribution. Later, the ‘Food for Life’ concept was introduced. Devotees, both resident and non-resident, distributed Food for Life stickers and coupons to collect funds on behalf of the temple.
Initially, LNHO and the devotees occupied only a small portion of the ground floor at the back. The rest of the space was occupied by Tinker Bell High School and classes like Dr. Iyengar’s Yoga classes, Bhola’s coaching classes etc. One fine day, the devotees got some donation from an unexpected quarter. With the donation, the devotees purchased the first floor property and the coaching classes moved out. The temple was shifted to the first floor, where small deities of Sri Sri Radha Gopinath, Sri Sri Gaura Nitai and Sri Gopalji where worshipped. After some time, it was decided that marble deities of Radha Gopinath would be obtained for worship by devotees.
H.G. Mahaprabhu Das remembers,”At Pandey Bros., Jaipur, I had selected beautiful deities of Radha and Krishna. However, they had been ordered by ISKCON, Anand and their temple was not ready yet. Our temple on the other hand was ready, but we did not have deities. So Shri Nathji Prabhu convinced the president of ISKCON, Anand to give the deities to our Chowpatty temple. That is how the beautiful Radha Gopinath happened to come to Chowpatty.”
“On entry to Mumbai however, I was detained by the officer at the Octroi checkpost that I will have to pay octroi duty for these ‘statues’. I did not have even a rupee with me and so I immediately called up ShriNathji Prabhu, who convinced the officer that he would go to hell for charging octroi for the deities. After a lot of argument, miraculously, the officer decided to forego the charges.”
Sri Sri Radha Gopinath were installed on July 18, 1988 at a grand function with more than 400 people attending. It was a fulfilment of the prophecy made by Srila Prabhupada in 1971. When Shrila Prabhupada was coming down the steps of the nearby Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, he had told his secretary Shyamasundar prabhu, with his cane pointing towards this area where the temple presently stands, “We must have a temple here.” Sure enough, Lord Krishna fulfilled the desire of His pure devotee.
Lord Chaitanya Mahaprabhu being the Yuga avatar, it was clear that He along with Lord Nityananda Prabhu would soon make His appearance. H.H. Radhanath Maharaj, the local leader, also had a lot of love for Radha Giridhari.
Gopalji and Gaura Nitai were formally installed in 1990. The worship started and improved. A deity of Srila Prabhupada was also installed as per ISKCON standards. Maharaj soon got cows, parrots, peacocks, monkeys, and created the Vrindavan atmosphere in the temple.
It was about this time that H.G. Radhakrishna Das, who conducted the managerial affairs of the temple and H.G. Palika mataji moved into a very small room in the temple premises. H.G. Palika mataji would cook and sell samosas and other snacks in a small stall. Thus originated the idea for the first Govinda’s restaurant. H.G. Radhakrishna Das along with another devotee bought books written by Shrila Prabhupada, worth Rs 80,000/- to engage the brahmacharis in book distribution. Thus, book distribution and sankirtan started with a fresh vigour. H.G. Radha Priya mataji took up the important service of designing the dresses and jewellery for the deities and has been consistently doing so since the time the deities have been installed.
With the passage of time, a need was felt for the temple building to be strengthened. Several good architects and civil contractors were consulted. It was also decided to re-design the temple based on the 17 temples in Vrindavan. One of the best designers from Italy, H.G. Matsyavatar Prabhu was invited to design the ceiling of the temple. He personally came and supervised the work and also gave many more ideas to make the temple beautiful.
The temple has undergone several stages of renovation since then. From laying a completely new foundation underneath the existing structure, to strengthening the wooden flooring of the temple hall with iron beams, to beautifying the exterior of the temple with intricately carved sandstone columns, many things have changed. The portico flooring and the walls of the temple hall were also refurbished with beautiful Italian marble. Later, the altar and the whole temple hall were decorated with beautiful wooden carvings. On the ground floor, Bhaktivedanta Hall got a new flooring of white Makarana marble and the walls were covered with the best quality teak veneer. Recently, the wooden flooring in the main temple hall has been replaced with best quality Burmese teak wood. The temple is also one of the rare ones in India to have an air-conditioned hall.
The temple has undergone several stages of renovation since then. From laying a completely new foundation underneath the existing structure, to strengthening the wooden flooring of the temple hall with iron beams, to beautifying the exterior of the temple with intricately carved sandstone columns, many things have changed. The portico flooring and the walls of the temple hall were also refurbished with beautiful Italian marble. Later, the altar and the whole temple hall were decorated with beautiful wooden carvings. On the ground floor, Bhaktivedanta Hall got a new flooring of white Makarana marble and the walls were covered with the best quality teak veneer. Recently, the wooden flooring in the main temple hall has been replaced with best quality Burmese teak wood. The temple is also one of the rare ones in India to have an air-conditioned hall.
The beautiful structure that we see standing today has developed through the hard work and dedication of several devotees. These devotees have worked tirelessly to fulfil the vision of H.H. Radhanath Maharaj who is steadfastly following the path and instructions given by Srila Prabhupada. And so, what started out as a simple temple room has been transformed now into a beautiful home for Their Lordships, Sri Sri Radha Gopinath.