Hyderabad: Alfred Alfred Ford, the great grandson of Henry Ford, was in the city to attend a function organised by the International Society of Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) at the ISKCON temple in Secunderabad on Sunday. Ford was visiting the city as part of his effort to raise funds for the Temple of the Vedic Planetarium (TVOP), dubbed by the organisation as the largest temple in the world, in Mayapur in West Bengal.
Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, Ford said the project was very close to his heart. “This was the dream of my guru, Srila Prabhupada. In the final years of my life, he asked me personally about financing this project,” he said.
Ford's visit to the Secunderabad temple was the third meeting of the day. The first meeting was with businessmen and the second with devotees in Abids. By the evening, they said, as much as USD 250,000 (Rs 1.7 crore) was raised for the temple. Overall, the temple is expected to cost USD 500 million. It is expected to open in 2022.
Ford said this was his first visit to Hyderabad. He has visited nearly 70 countries as part of the fund-raising drive.
“I really like Hyderabad. It is a clean city, the people are friendly and the roads are great,” he said. We wonder which city he is talking about.
Also, as part of the Secunderabad event, the padukas (footwear) of Lord Balaram (Nityananda) were flown in from Mayapur. They were paraded inside the temple compound for the devotees.
