VR darshan at home

VR darshan means watching a recorded 360° video of a temple through a VR headset. When you turn your head, the view turns with you, so you can look all around the temple. With the free Divya Darshan 360 app on an Android phone and our VR box, you can do this sitting at home.

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Put your phone in the Divya Darshan 360 VR box, open the app and look all around the temple. ₹699 paid online, ₹749 cash on delivery. Free delivery in India.

See the VR boxGet the free app

What VR darshan is

A normal video shows one frame, the one the camera person chose. A 360° video is filmed in every direction at once. In a VR box, the picture moves with your head. Look left, look right, turn around, and the temple is there too.

The videos in our app are filmed at the temple and recorded. You see an aarti, an abhishek or a walk around the temple just as it was filmed. You can watch it again whenever you want, as many times as you like.

VR darshan vs a live stream on YouTube

Many temples now stream darshan online, on YouTube or on their own websites. The official websites of the Shirdi Sai Baba Samadhi Mandir and Siddhivinayak temple in Mumbai both offer one.

A live stream shows what is happening right now, from one fixed camera. You see what that camera sees, on a flat screen, and nothing else.

A 360° video works the other way round. It is recorded, so it is not this morning's aarti. But you choose where to look, and in a VR box the temple is all around you instead of inside a small screen.

The two do different jobs. Join a temple's stream for today's aarti. Use VR darshan when you want to look around a temple slowly, at a time that suits you.

VR darshan at home vs VR counters at temples

Some temples now have VR darshan counters. In Ujjain, news reports describe VR headsets at Mahakal Lok and in the Mahakaleshwar temple complex. Visitors put on a headset and watch a short VR film of the Bhasma Aarti.

Those counters help people who have already reached Ujjain. A VR box at home is for people who cannot travel. It stays with you, and you can watch darshan from many temples on any day.

What you need

• An Android phone with a 4.7 to 6.5 inch screen. The app runs on Android only.
• Internet, 4G or Wi-Fi, to play the videos.
• The Divya Darshan 360 app, free on Google Play.
• A VR box to hold the phone in front of your eyes. Ours is light and padded, and needs no setup.

How to start in 4 steps

1. Install Divya Darshan 360 from Google Play on your Android phone.
2. Connect to Wi-Fi or 4G, open the app and pick a temple.
3. Choose a 360° (VR) video and place the phone in the VR box.
4. Sit down, hold the box to your eyes and turn your head slowly to look around.

If you are setting this up for a parent, sit with them the first time. Our page on darshan for parents who cannot travel has more help.

Which temples you can see in VR

The app has 155 darshan videos from 56 temples, and 80 of those videos are 360°. Not every temple has a 360° video yet, but many do:

• Jyotirlingas: Somnath, Omkareshwar, Parli Vaijnath, Aundha Nagnath, Bhimashankar and Rameswaram.
• Ashtavinayak: Morgaon, Theur, Siddhatek, Ranjangaon and Ozar.
• Devi temples: Mahalakshmi in Kolhapur, Tulja Bhavani in Tuljapur, Harsiddhi Mata in Ujjain and Mahakali on Pavagadh hill.
• More: Shirdi Sai Baba temple, Shani Shingnapur, and the Narmada aarti at Amarkantak, Omkareshwar and Gwarighat.

Some temples have several. Mahalakshmi in Kolhapur has seven 360° videos, from the aarti and abhishek to the Dasara festival. Parli Vaijnath has nine. The app also has daily aarti videos and darshan reminders, in English, Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati.

What the VR box costs

The VR box costs ₹699 when you pay online, or ₹749 with cash on delivery. Delivery is free in India. Orders ship in 2 to 3 business days, and delivery takes 3 to 5 business days.

It holds most smartphones with a 4.7 to 6.5 inch screen. There is a 7-day replacement for manufacturing defects. The VR box page has the details.

An honest note before you start

VR darshan is not the same as standing in the temple. It is a way to see a temple closely when you cannot go.

Keep the first sessions short, one aarti or one temple walk at a time. Always sit down while watching, because you cannot see the room around you. Some people feel dizzy or a little sick at first. If that happens, take the box off and rest. For some people it eases with practice.

Darshan videos in the app

360°Shirdi Sai Baba Dhoop Aarti360°Kakad Aarti at Shirdi Sai Baba360°Temple Surroundings of Sai Baba Shirdi360°Aarti at Somnath Temple360°Somnath Temple 360 TourSurroundings of Somnath360°Mahalakshmi Temple Aarti360°Mahalakshmi Temple Aarti (Evening)360°Mahalakshmi Temple: Nagar Pradakshina360°Narmada Aarti, Omkareshwar (360)360°Omkareshwar Jyotirlinga 360 TourNarmada Aarti, Omkareshwar

Free on the app

Darshan of 56 temples, free on your phone

155 darshan videos, 80 of them in 360°, in Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and English.

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