Alayam means a temple. While temples have been built in India and elsewhere for millennia, not, not many people know about the grand science and philosophy behind their construction. At the back of the concrete structure and design of a temple stands a subtle and lofty ideal, affirming the presence of the Ultimate Truth, in a symbolic and tangible manner. This book attempts to present the principles and practices of temple construction in a simple manner.
The whole universe is one. There is only one Self in the universe, only One Existence, and that One Existence, when it passes through the forms of time, space, causation, is called by different names, buddhi, fine matter, gross matter, all mental and physical forms. Everything in the universe is that One, appearing in various forms. When a little part of it comes, as it were, into this network of time, space and causation, it takes forms. Take off the network, and it is all one.
-Swami Vivekananda