In an innovative move to enhance the spiritual experience of devotees, the Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Varanasi has introduced a virtual reality (VR) darshan service. This new offering, announced on Friday, aims to provide an alternative to physical visits, allowing devotees to avoid long queues and the summer heat.
The VR darshan experience, lasting 11 minutes and 50 seconds, allows worshippers to partake in an immersive 3D virtual tour of the sacred temple. Initially launched on a trial basis, the temple administration plans to make it a permanent feature based on feedback from the devotees.
Vishwa Bhushan Mishra, Chief Executive Officer of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple, highlighted the benefits of this cutting-edge technology. “3D virtual reality is a new technique which has been implemented in various temples like Ujjain’s Mahakaleshwar and Mata Vaishno Devi temple. The company providing 3D technology in those temples contacted Kashi Vishwanath Temple Trust for the same,” Mishra stated.
“Between May 5 to June 4, a total of 363 of our employees and priests watched the movie. They gave positive feedback about the show. Thereafter, it was started for devotees and from June 4 to June 30, a total of 282 devotees watched the movie. If the devotees like it, then it will be implemented on some modalities and terms and conditions mutually beneficial and agreed upon,” he added.
This initiative allows devotees to witness rare sights of Bholenath and participate in the five-part aarti at ‘Durlabh Darshan Kendra’ within just 11 minutes and 50 seconds. The initiative was inspired by Ujjain’s Mahakaleshwar and Mata Vaishno Devi temples.
“It was such a good and realistic experience. I felt like I was sitting inside the temple…I got to see all the aartis,” Chhavi Gupta, a devotee from Gwalior told ANI.
” It is a divine and wonderful experience…within a small time you get to know the history of Kashi Viswanath,” Chandan Rupani, another devotee told ANI.
Among the twelve Jyotirlingas, Kashi Vishwanath attracts worshippers from across the globe. (With inputs from ANI)
