Religion
The Chaturshringi goddess is the reigning deity of the city of Pune. A temple dedicated to the goddess is situated on the slopes of a mountain in the northwest part of the city. In the month of September there is a huge procession for the Navaratris and people flock in to visit and receive blessings of the Goddess.
Another famous temple is the Parvati Temple, located on a hill in Pune.
Pune was also home to a considerable population of the Indian Jewish community, the Bene Israel. It is home to Asia's largest synagogue (outside Israel), The Ohel David Synagogue (Popularly called Lal Deval - the Red Temple ).
The Sadhu Vaswani Mission is a noted charitable, religiously inclined, organization based in Pune. It is engaged in various philanthropic activities in fields such as education, healthcare, social service, animal rights, feeding of the poor and spiritual upliftment. It's spiritual head is the educationist, poet, U Thant Peace Award winner and modern saint J. P. Vaswani.
Close to Pune, near the Malavali hills, is the Vedanta Academy, founded by one of the world's most noted exponents of Vedanta, Swami Parthasarathy. The academy offers free Vedantic education to young seekers from all corners of the world.
The Shrutisagar Ashram, located at Phulgaon village off Ahmednagar road, houses the Vedanta Research Center and a unique temple of Lord Dakshinamurthy situated near the confluence of rivers Bhima, Bhama and Indrayani. It was established in 1989 by Swami Swaroopanand Saraswati. Here one can find detailed Marathi and English explanations of the great 'Shruti' and 'Smruti' which include Vedas, Bhagwat Gita, Upanishads and Purana.
Radha Kunjbihari temple, situated at the heart of the city is becoming attraction for the thousands of youths across the India. This temple belongs to ISKCON(International Society for Krishna Consciousness).
Read more about this topic: Culture Of Pune
Famous quotes containing the word religion:
“The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through their eyes. Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe? Why should not we have a poetry and philosophy of insight and not of tradition, and a religion by revelation to us, and not the history of theirs?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“They live together without king, without government, and each is his own master.... Beyond the fact that they have no church, no religion and are not idolaters, what more can I say? They live according to nature, and may be called Epicureans rather than Stoics.”
—Amerigo Vespucci (1454–1512)
“When I read of the vain discussions of the present day about the Virgin Birth and other old dogmas which belong to the past, I feel how great the need is still of a real interest in the religion which builds up character, teaches brotherly love, and opens up to the seeker such a world of usefulness and the beauty of holiness.”
—Olympia Brown (1835–1900)