Beyond Dichotomies: The Secular and Religious Interplay at the Swaminarayan Hindu Temple Inauguration in the USA

From July-October 2023, the “Festival of Inspirations,” a three-month-long religious event, marked the inauguration of the Swaminarayan Hindu temple called “Akshardham” in NJ, USA. This temple, hailed as the largest Hindu temple in the United States and the second-largest in the world, “captures thousands of years of inspiring thoughts, values, architecture, and culture.”[i] Situated on 183 acres, with a height of 213 feet and adorned with over 10,000 hand-carved statues, this traditional stone temple is made in accordance with sacred Hindu texts on art and architecture. While the temple is primarily designed for Hindu worship, it promotes inclusivity for non-Hindus by incorporating representations of figures familiar to Christians, Jews, Muslims, Sikhs, and Jains. Additionally, it caters to non-religious, secular-minded individuals by featuring prominent figures such as Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, and Martin Luther King Jr.

During the months-long inauguration festival, the Akshardham complex was transformed into a vibrant hub of social, cultural, and communal activities, featuring shows, programs, and conferences that synthesized religious and secular themes such as moral-spiritual values, education, anti-addiction, women empowerment, family harmony, community service, social cohesion, and nation-building. Drawing thousands of visitors daily from diverse religious, cultural, ethnic, and economic backgrounds, this temple and its inauguration events offer a unique opportunity to explore the interaction between the religious and the secular, the profane and the mundane.

Drawing on my textual, media, and ethnographic research, I demonstrate in this paper not only how the religious and the secular mutually influence one another, but also how the boundaries between them are fluid and inseparable. Consequently, I argue for the theoretical integration of these two categories, considering them as intricately intertwined and interdependent, and employing them in conjunction with one another. I show that religious assemblages such as the Festival of Inspirations and religious places such as Akshardham substantially challenge the secular-religious binary by exposing problems in the normative foundation of and ideological commitment to this dichotomous categorization. Building on Charles Taylor’s conceptions of the modern "buffered" self, characterized as free, autonomous, and the primary locus of agency and autonomy, contrasted with the pre-modern "porous" self, bound by traditional enchanted forms of religious authority,[ii] I argue that reshaping spiritual principles and religious practices to address secular concerns and adapt to changing facets and demands of modernity brings about everyday experiences among practitioners that are simultaneously immanent and transcendent. This phenomenon blurs the distinction between the buffered and porous selves, effectively merging the two.

The resurgence of religious movements in modernity is often theorized in terms of an inherent human need for transcendence and meaning in life. The success of these movements, however, is typically assessed based on their perceived acceptance or rejection of modernity, secularism, and liberalism. In this paper, I argue that this perspective is flawed as it fails to consider the specific religious beliefs and practices that blend the principles and aspects of modernity with traditionality and secular liberalism with spiritual devotionalism—beliefs and practices through which religious subjects are formed. My data foreground these formative practices and “technologies of the self”[iii] to challenge the secular-religious binary. By examining the fusion of the secular, the moral, the spiritual, and the religious observed during the Festival of Inspirations at Akshardham, I substantiate a contemporary trend of transforming these aspects into an individual, practical ethos. This process blurs the distinction between the personal and the political, emphasizing the interconnectedness of religious and societal dynamics.

These data-driven arguments raise crucial questions within the broader discourse on secularism and secularization:

1. Is the Western conception of secularism, rooted in the separation of state and religion, suitable for an inherently secular and profoundly diverse religious tradition like Hinduism? If so, what restrictions and responsibilities does this impose on Asian religions such as Hinduism and their diasporic practitioners in America? Alternatively, if it is not suitable, how might religions like Hinduism play a role in reshaping our understanding of the secular and discourse on secularism, as well as in contributing to American society at large and the local community specifically?
2. Does the separation of state and religion necessitate maintaining a principled equidistance from and equal consideration for all religions, or does it imply providing no aid or assistance to any religion, even if such support could potentially bridge religious-secular divides and foster principles of pluralism and democracy?
3. What policies should the state implement to safeguard minority religious traditions, such as Asian religious groups in America, from dominant and culturally hegemonic majority religious groups like Christianity, as well as from non-religious or secular liberal ideologues? Equally importantly, how can the state prevent minority religious groups from exploiting or misusing such protection and from making unjustified demands?

While scholars such as Talal Asad, Saba Mahmood, José Casanova, Courtney Bender, Akeel Bilgrami, Rajeev Bhargava, Partha Chatterjee, Ashis Nandy, and others have explored similar questions, this paper advances these inquiries by addressing them from the perspective of treating the secular and the religious as fundamentally inseparable theoretical categories, thereby offering a fresh lens through which to understand the complex interplay between religion and secularism in contemporary society. My analysis both reinforces and challenges prevailing discourse on the secular, secularism, and secularization by centering the beliefs and practices of diasporic Hinduism in America, which shares significant parallels in the secular-religious domain with other Indian-origin Asian religions like Buddhism, Sikhism, and Jainism.

In conclusion, this paper addresses vital questions regarding secularism and religion, with a focus on the Swaminarayan Hindu temple Akshardham and its inaugural event, the Festival of Inspirations. By challenging conventional narratives and highlighting the inseparable nature of the secular and the religious, it lays the groundwork for a more nuanced understanding of these complex dynamics. Through this examination, I hope to foster deeper conversations and facilitate informed policymaking aimed at navigating the diverse religious landscape of modern society.

[i] “BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham, North America: Discover,” February 14, 2024, https://usa.akshardham.org/discover.

[ii] Charles Taylor, A Secular Age (Harvard University Press, 2007).

[iii] Michel Foucault, “The Ethics of the Concern of the Self as a Practice of Freedom,” in Ethics: Subjectivity and Truth (New Press, 1997), 281–301.