About the Temple

The ancient goddess-abode of Manila, adorned with the temples of countless deities and their captivating idols, radiates a spiritual divinity that has made it a centre of faith for every devotee. In the courtyard, before the temple, stands an ancient, evergreen tree that shares with every visitor the blessing of its cool, restful shade - earning merit for who knows how many years.

Every person, of course, has the chance in life to see all manner of plants and trees, and to learn their names and their uses. Yet here, in the Manila temple complex, what kind of tree has nature raised - one whose name no one has been able to tell, one that no one had ever seen before? This solitary member of the plant family remains a riddle. It is wondrous, otherworldly and utterly unique.

The local residents and elders here say that the tree stands today just as they have seen it since childhood; their own elders too would tell that they had seen it exactly so. Even in old photographs of the temple, the tree appears just as it does now. This shade-giving tree stays green all year round. In May and June small white flowers appear on it, followed by seeds the size of tiny black peppercorns - yet no saplings have ever sprung from them. The tree is not very tall, its branches are dense, and its trunk has grown entirely hollow. And still, in the fierce storm of 1984, when the great pines, deodars and oaks all around were felled, it stood firm and unmoved in its place.

Of its name, everyone says the same thing - that they have seen such a tree for the first time. Even botanical scientists, after research on many occasions, have been unable to name it; its botanical name could never be determined.

On 18 June 2010, Jyotirpitheshwar Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Vasudevanand Saraswati Maharaj of the Panch Dashnam Juna Akhara gave this shade-giving tree the name “Kalpavriksha”, declaring it a matchless gift of nature to this region and the grace of Bhagwati Mata. He said that to be in its presence, to circumambulate it and to rest in its cool shade destroys many of a person’s ailments, and fills the body with energy and the mind with bliss.

Delivering a discourse beneath this very tree, he said with conviction that a person suffering from high blood pressure need only sit in its shade for half an hour and see for himself how his blood pressure steadily improves.

Truly, the joy of this tree’s shade is otherworldly - it makes the devout person energetic in body, mind and spirit. It grants boundless bliss, dispels the weariness of an unfulfilled life’s journey, and fills one with zeal and delight. Many devout women tie a chunri to its branches and make their heartfelt wishes.

So come - you too, once, experience the coolness of this Kalpavriksha’s shade and the bliss it brings.