For the past few years, we had received regular requests from Hindus in London to open a similar Haveli and this became our main challenge. Over that period, the Trustees have been sourcing appropriate premises in Harrow and nearby areas but the task was very difficult due to premises being either unsuitable or over bidding by other organizations.
With Thakorji’s Krupa and Je Je Shree’s Ashirwad, the long-awaited dream to establish a Haveli in London was fulfilled with the strategic acquisition of Jaspar Centre in Harrow, with completion taking place on 28 June 2019. VSUK was able to raise around £2,000,000 from the public towards this acquisition for which the Trustees express their humble gratitude to each and every Donor.
This really was a historic achievement, filled with great excitement and immense pleasure for the entire UK Hindu community. In fact, Hindu community worldwide, as we have already received very strong support from countries like Kenya, Malawi and India.
The premises, now named Shrinathdham National Haveli & Community Centre, house a grand Swaroop of Shree Nathji together with a Community Centre. The premises acquired are very well located in the centre of Harrow and will incorporate Baal Pathshala, Youth classes, Kirtan classes, Gujarati classes, Satsangs and much more once we are out of the pandemic.
Vaishnav Sangh of UK has fulfilled its commitment to provide a base for the benefit of our upcoming future generations for them to stay connected with our religion. We have no doubt that the entire community, from the very young to the very elderly will benefit from this project, as we have experienced this first hand in Leicester.
In fact, there will be separate classes held for the elderly, the adults, youth groups and Nursery level, to provide educational, social and religious facilities. The monthly classes that we hold at present every last Sunday of the month, will also be incorporated here, with large numbers being able to participate.
We have been blessed by Pujya Je Je Shree to have organized some exceptional Mahotsavs and Manoraths (auspicious events) over the years, at least one every calendar year. The last one was held in June 2019 at Sattavis Patidar Hall in Wembley, being “Bhagwat Saptah, Vaishnav Ekta Mahotsav”. With the event being telecast via Astha TV, we got worldwide coverage and have now become recognized as the most organized of any Vaishnav organizations, based on the phone calls and messages that we have received worldwide. Likewise, the one prior was held in August 2018 at Byron Hall, Harrow Leisure Centre, Harrow where we had up to 2000 people attending each day over the 7 days event. This event was “84 Kos Vraj Yatra Mahotsav”, where the attendees were able to do darshan of Vraj and also Giriraji, set up by our team and was again telecast via Astha.
During the pandemic, we have held numerous Zoom events to enable the Vaishnavs to stay connected with all forms of religious activities including some of the most auspicious and enchanting Manoraths, darshans as well as Pravchans by Je Je Shree. The attendance at these Zoom events have varied from between 700 to 2500.
Our website and souvenirs have a vast collection of photos to share the happiness, excitement, jubilation and rejoicing experienced by the Vaishnavs at our many events. We also have DVDs for our major events and these are available on request.