Bhagavad-gita Museum facts for kids

The Bhagavad-gita Museum, also known as the Diorama-museum of Bhagavad-gita, is a special art museum in West Los Angeles, California. It opened in 1977. This museum uses multimedia (like sound, light, and visuals) to show the ideas and teachings from an ancient Indian book called the Bhagavad-gita. The museum is owned and run by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), often called the Hare Krishna movement.

A Look Back: The Museum's Story

A diorama called "The Precarious Condition of the Living Entity."

The idea for the Bhagavad-gita Museum came from an exhibit created by Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati in the 1930s. His exhibit used many dioramas to explain the ideas of Krishna consciousness.

In 1973, Sarasvati's student, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, sent some of his followers to India. They went to Mayapur to learn how to make diorama dolls. After about 15 months of learning, the team came back. They started making the dolls in Los Angeles. The museum finally opened its doors in 1977. It is located in West Los Angeles, close to Culver City. Many Hare Krishna followers live in this area.

Back then, the museum was very advanced for its time. A special computer was made to control the whole show. This included the lighting, a 16-track sound system, and many film and slide projectors. It even had special visual effects. In 1984, new projectors and lighting were added.

However, all this fancy technology caused some problems. The exhibit often had computer glitches and needed a lot of repairs. By 1995, it was in bad shape. But good news came in 1999! The museum started to get a big makeover. It reopened in 2001 with new, modern controls. More updates happened in the 2010s, and the museum reopened again in 2016.

What You'll See: The Exhibits

This diorama is called "Changing Bodies."

The museum has eleven main exhibits, all of which are dioramas. A diorama is like a 3D scene with models that tell a story. The dolls in these dioramas are almost life-sized. They are made using old Indian doll-making methods. Materials like bamboo, rice straw, different clays, and rice husk are used. The dolls are built, painted, and dressed using traditional techniques.

Even though the museum has been updated over the years, the dioramas themselves keep their traditional look. Here are the names of the eleven dioramas you can see:

• "Introduction — Prabhupada and the Bhagavad-gita"
• "Setting the Stage"
• "Changing Bodies"
• "The Precarious Condition of the Living Entity"
• "Choices on the Path of Life"
• "Equal Vision of the Sages"
• "Krishna's Transcendental Manifestations"
• "God's Universal Form"
• "The Ocean of Birth and Death"
• "Lord Chaitanya's Sankirtan Festival"
• "Goloka — The Spiritual Realm"

Other Things to Do

Right next to the museum, there is a restaurant. It serves tasty vegetarian food. The museum also has a gift shop where you can find souvenirs.