From The Peopling of New York City

Ganesh Temple

When I first saw the temple, I immediately became apprehensive. I had rarely being to any religious building, whether Christian or Buddhist, much less a Hindu temple. The large granite walls seemed to give a sense that this temple had a strict environment. Yet in the end, what I had envisioned was not what I saw.

The temple is situated in a seemingly quiet area. While there are cars moving along the roads, there is nothing to suggest that there would be a temple of that size in the neighborhood. However, once inside, there was a good amount of people. One can easily draw the conclusion that this is a sizable Hindu neighborhood, so people can simply walk there.

Inside the temple, apart from the obvious Hindu statues, one can see the effects of modernization. Although incense is still burned, it is electric lights that substitute candles, and a vacuum cleaner roars away cleaning the carpet. When the crowd became larger, a microphone was used to amplify the priest’s chant. This was the first sign to me that this temple was welcoming of everyone. In my experience, introduction of technology into a religion almost always signifies the loosening of tradition, giving a more welcome and casual atmosphere.

Even the people visiting the temple seemed quite casual. The people largely went by doing their own activities, praying how they liked. Parents brought their children, usually considered pests when doing serious praying, and taught them how to pray. In fact, it looked quite disorganized, from an outsider’s perspective. Yet there was a certain degree of organization, that it was the status quo. By the time the senior temple volunteer explained much of the temple’s purpose and activity, I was sure that this was a very open and welcoming place.

Visiting the canteen downstairs, it seemed separate from the temple activities, as well as dramatically modern and casual. In fact, it looked like a fast food restaurant, though larger and with fewer options on the menu. There were televisions playing religious movies, but no one seemed to watch. There was also a temple gift shop, but no one really looked too interested in that while I was there. It seemed that the canteen was a family gathering place, where they could eat homemade looking Indian food without cooking it themselves.

This visit to the Ganesh Temple was very enlightening to me. It showed that a temple and a place of worship could be quite welcoming. The use of lights and the vacuum cleaner shows the effects of modern technology creeping into religion. Also, the presence of another Hindu temple just a few blocks away further shows the tendency for immigrant groups to congregate at certain areas.