About Us
About Shri Shiv Krishna Dham — Our Story
Who runs this place, who it's built for, and why there's a working temple at the centre of it.
Our Story
Since 2012, on Chhatikara Road
Shri Shiv Krishna Dham has been standing on Chhatikara Road, a few minutes from Prem Mandir, since it was established in 2012. It's run by the trustee association of Shree Shiv Krishna Sewa Sadan (R), Dharamshala, Vrindavan — a registered trust, not a single owner-operator — and the complex was planned from the start to be more than a place for pilgrims to sleep for a night: a place that could hold a family's overnight stay, a satsang for eighty people, and a working temple under one roof.
You'll recognise the building from the street by its carved, red jharokha-style balconies stacked three floors up. Walk in, and the address makes more sense: the reception opens straight into a tall atrium with a blue-tinted skylight roof and a star-patterned marble floor, the kind of space you don't expect behind a fairly ordinary Chhatikara Road frontage. That atrium is the spine of the whole property — rooms open off its landings, the temple shrine sits at its centre, and the sabha hall runs off one side of it for functions.
We didn't build the function hall as an afterthought to the guesthouse. It runs on its own catering team, Pintu Caterers, who handle everything from a small bhandara to a full wedding menu, and it gets booked for religious functions about as often as the rooms get booked for stays. The basement under the building is parking, not storage, because a bus or a convoy of cars arriving for an event needs somewhere to go that isn't the street outside.
The trustee association still keeps an eye on the day-to-day — aarti timings, which function is using the hall this week, which rooms need attention before a group checks in. That's not a marketing line; it's the reason the temple aarti happens every single day, festival or no festival, wedding or no wedding. A dharamshala only earns that word if the religious side of it is real rather than a shrine parked in the lobby, and that's what the trust has tried to keep true since 2012.
Who We Serve
Pilgrim Families, Elderly Guests, Satsang Groups & Event Hosts
Families on a Braj Yatra. Two or three rooms on the same landing, booked together on request, is a normal ask here — not scattered across floors just because that's what was free.
Elderly pilgrims. Lower-floor rooms are held back for anyone who'd rather avoid extra stairs, and the temple shrine is on the same level as reception, not up another flight.
Satsang & kirtan groups. The sabha hall off the atrium can be booked on its own for an evening kirtan — you don't need a full banquet package or eighty guests to use the space.
Event hosts. Weddings and religious functions run on the same Pintu Caterers kitchen and the basement parking below, so a mid-size function doesn't spill onto Chhatikara Road for parking.
Local to Vrindavan
We Live Here, Not Just Work Here
Being three minutes from the station and about half a kilometre from Prem Mandir means most of what guests ask at the desk is really the same handful of questions: what time is aarti at Banke Bihari today, is the queue shorter in the morning or the evening, which way to walk the parikrama route if you're doing it on foot rather than by cycle-rickshaw. Our staff live in Vrindavan, not just work here, and answering that is ordinary front-desk work for us, not a paid add-on. We won't pretend to run temple tours — that's not what a dharamshala does — but if you ask which gate to use at Banke Bihari to avoid the worst of the crowd, someone at the desk will actually know.
Who You'll Talk To
Our Reception Team
There's no single fixed manager or caretaker here — our reception team is available round the clock, with dedicated staff for morning and evening shifts, all working under the supervision of the trustee association. Whoever's on the desk when you arrive can help with a booking, a function date, or a room change; you don't need to ask for a specific person by name to get a straight answer.
Our Temple
Why the Shrine Matters to Guests
The Radha-Krishna shrine in the atrium isn't there for photographs. It's the same shrine our staff bow to before a shift starts, and the same one guests staying a single night before catching an early train are welcome to sit in front of during the evening aarti.
For a lot of pilgrims passing through Vrindavan for a night or two, this ends up being the only aarti they make time for on the whole trip — you don't have to go back out after checking in tired from the journey to have that moment.
Aarti & Satsang Timings