The Chaitanya Jyoti Museum was planned to commemorate Bhagavan’s 75th Birthday as a fitting tribute to the Lord’s Life, Work, and Teachings.

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The Chaitanya Jyoti Museum planned to commemorate Bhagavan’s 75th Birthday as a fitting tribute to the Lord’s Life, Work, and Teachings.
Various designs from all over the world were submitted to Swami at the time of Sri Guru Poornima 1999. Swami chose the design that came from Malaysia and said that it will be the wonder of the 21st Century.” The building proposed would be 75 feet high and form 8 levels. There was just one year and three months left for the ‘Chaitanya Jyoti’ to be ready for the Avatar’s 75th Birthday, on 23 November 2000, which was less than half the time estimated by the architect to complete the project.
Swami suggested the auspicious date of 25 August 1999 for the Bhoomi Pooja (ground breaking ceremony) and performed the ceremony even as the architect finalized the drawings for the construction. The engineers of ECC, a division of Larsen & Toubro worked overtime to translate the architectural drawings into those needed for construction at the site.
The Work Begins.
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The plot required 65m x 60m of levelled ground. The contractor found huge granite hillsides and massive boulders which posed a great problem. It took about two months for the main portion of the rock to be cleared away. Blasting of the rock had to be undertaken in controlled conditions to preserve the sanctity of the holy place. Where this was not possible the building’s reinforced columns were anchored to the rock. Due to the nature of the terrain the construction was not able to proceed at the necessary pace and this led to the building being undertaken from right to left. However this departure from the conventional system was necessary to adhere to the overall schedule.
Devotees from Malaysia and Singapore took responsibility for the custom- made roof tiles, decorative items and curved stone balustrades.
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This involved traveling to China, locating the materials, and having a selection of the Museum’s decorative features crafted in China. The rest were assembled at Prashanti Nilayam and worked at on site.
22 containers of these materials had to be located, fashioned and dispatched from China. This seemingly routine arrangement turned into a frantic last rush.
Let’s now turn to the architect himself, Mr. Goh Say Tong, for the complete account: