In 1971, when he returned to India after his success with spread of ISKCON in the Western world, he directed Giriraj Maharaj to go to Madras and preach activities, resulting in many enlisting as life patrons.

Prabhupada wrote in a letter, In Madras we wanted to start a center and it was almost settled that the Chief Justice (Veeraswamy) would give us a place.

In January 1976, Prabhupada visited Madras again and lectured in AVM Rajeswari Kalyana Mandapam, Dr. Radhakrishnan Salai and in the house of the then Chief Justice Veeraswamy.

After the Kumbhabishekam and Maha mangala arati—the first decorated darshan of the deities—flowers were showered from a helicopter over the gopurams built in the Kalinga style with a Sudarshana Chakra on the top of the tallest tower.

ISKCON Temple Chennai is part of the Centre for Spiritual Art and Culture and is located off the East Coast Road at the Hare Krishna land, Sholinganallur.

Designed under the guidance of Sri Bhanu Swami, the temple has imbibed various attributes from Vedic scripture and is inspired by the Pallava and Kalinga architecture.

According to the cosmology of ancient Vedic puranas, the universe is described as series of circular islands surrounding a central pillar called Mount Meru.

The chandelier has 500 Himalayan quartz crystals supposedly meant to intensify the spiritual energy in the temple.