<p>On a busy highway, across the street from a strip mall and blocks away from fast food restaurants and the Lilburn Alliance Church, a massive, ornate stone structure has arisen _ transforming a slice of this Atlanta suburb into a scene from ancient India.</p><p>When members of Atlanta's Hindu community unveil a new religious and cultural center on Sunday, it will be the largest of its kind in the United States and one of only three in the nation built using guidelines from scriptures that date back 5,000 years.</p><p>The BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, a $19 million structure that will serve Hindus throughout the Southeast, is set to officially open this weekend, with a ceremonial parade on Saturday and a blessing ceremony on Sunday.</p><p>Adherents say the unique temple has been the talk of their community for nearly two years and will offer a rare opportunity to worship in an environment almost identical to the ones experienced by their forefathers thousands of years ago.</p><p>"To me, it is just amazing _ the possibility to leave my home and, in minutes, come to a traditional Hindu mandir," said Jigar Patel, an emergency-room doctor and one of more than 300 volunteers who have helped build the temple and prepare for its opening.</p><p>"Mandir" is a Sanskirt word for a spiritual place where the mind becomes still and the soul seeks the bliss of God.</p><p>The temples are built from marble, limestone and sandstone and are designed to last upward of 1,000 years. Their stones interlock _ no nails, screws or other metal that could one day corrode are used in their construction.</p><p>For the Georgia structure, more than 34,000 stones _ including more than 2,000 hand-carved figurines _ were shipped from India. The heaviest weighed 8 tons. Upon their arrival, volunteers spent 17 months fashioning the stone into a temple that regularly will host a congregation of about 500.</p><p>"It's an amazing jigsaw puzzle," said Patel.</p><p>The congregation has been meeting in the nearby city of Clarkston in a converted roller rink.</p><p>The temple was built by members of BAPS, the Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha.</p><p>BAPS, a fast growing segment of Hinduism, is a worldwide organization within the faith that builds temples, organizes charity and relief work and emphasizes the preservation of Indian culture.</p><p>"Not only is this a place of worship, it is a place where we'll have many cultural activities," said Mitesh Patel, a spokesman for the mandir. "We serve society (and) we serve the community through the use of this facility."</p><p>Adherents say the location, in suburban Gwinnett County, was chosen because of Atlanta's burgeoning Hindu population and because Gwinnett is one of Georgia's most culturally diverse counties.</p><p>In 2005, Gwinnett County's population was about 69 percent white, 19 percent black, 16 percent Hispanic and 9 percent Asian, according to U.S. Census data. Local housing trends suggest that the county's nonwhite population has continued to grow since then.</p><p>The Census does not track religious affiliation.</p><p>Members of BAPS are devotees of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, a social reformer who was born in northern India in 1781 and is believed to have been God in human form. The group's current spiritual leader, Pramukh Swami Maharaj, is in Atlanta for the dedication of the new mandir.</p><p>___</p><p>On the Net:</p><p>HASH(0x2deea0c)</p>
