SUMMIT STATION, July 1, 2013: As a crowd of more than 1,000 people prayed in the Vraj Temple on Sunday afternoon, a giant curtain opened revealing a statue of their god and hundreds of ripe mangos.

"This is the new Darshan. Darshan means 'to see.' The image unveiled is of the deity ShriNathji who is a form of Krishna, a major deity in India, as a 7-year-old child," said a scholar in attendance, E. Allen Richardson, professor of religious studies at Cedar Crest College, Allentown.

Prayer services and activities were held all day Sunday to celebrate "Shrinathji Patotsav: The Mango Grove Festival" and the 25th anniversary of the temple, which was built in 1988 just off Route 183 in Washington Township.

"Today is like the birthday of our God. The temple and the statue here were sanctified 25 years back," said Hasmukh P. Shah, a Pushti scholar who was at the temple Sunday.

In India, the mango is considered a "divine fruit," according to sunfood.net, a website dedicated to vegan dieting.

"For the Indians, mangos have always been 'food of the Gods,' and for thousands of years they have known the mango tree as a divine plant. It is mentioned in Indian mythology, and in the Hindus Vedas, which is a scripture dating from 4000 years B.C.," according to sunfood.net.

"We started having a Mango Grove Festival about three years back. In India, the State of Rajasthan, they offer on this kind of day about 125,000 mangoes," Shah said.

"Today, we have about 1,500 to give out," said Kiran R. Desai, Old Bridge, N.J., chairman of the Vraj Board of Directors.

Founded in 1988, Vraj, an institute of Hindu heritage, sits on 265 acres of scenic estate. The three-story temple is an eye-catching building accented with numerous hand-carved balconies called zarookhas.

It is a renowned center of the Pushti Bhakti Marg philosophy in North America. That's a devotional tradition of Hinduism which worships ShriKrishna-ShriNathji, a deity who symbolizes love, compassion and bliss, according to the temple's website at vraj.org.

Vraj hosts social and cultural events organized by Indian communities in North America.

"The Vraj temple is a pilgrimage center, so there's no fixed congregation. People come from all over to worship here," Richardson said.

"It is a place of pilgrimage for an estimated 100,000 Hindus a year," according to vraj.org.

"Lunch is provided free 365 days a year to whoever walks in," Shah said.

Three Darshan ceremonies were held Sunday.

Richardson, who has been working with the temple since it was constructed in 1988, explained their significance.

"Darshan means 'to see.' So the reason why Darshan is important is people come here to get a glimpse, to get a view of Krishna. And the image you will see is understood as actual presence, not a symbol, but actual presence. And the idea of Darshan is reciprocal so you come to see Krishna, but Krishna also sees you," Richardson said.

Source: Republican Herald, DT. July 1, 2013.