This temple is amazing and the people are great. I attend as much as I can. As soon as you walk in…read moreyou are greeted by friendly face and the most down to earth people.

Very good and bless place to be ..always forgets a your problems when your here because of the…read morelovely blessings of Maa and the wonderful people here..I will advise anyone to come here and enjoy the blessings of Maa.

Beautiful temple! My family had a Vivah Sanskar here today,…read moreand everything went smoothly. Everything was prepared by the staff of the temple, and arranged the way requested by the family. The ceremony started promptly on time, and finished by 4pm. The timing was spot one for all the different poojas that were conducted. After the ceremonies, we were able to go into the main temple room and offer our prayer and get blessings from the swamai's. It was beautiful, and a day well spent celebrating 2 lives coming together for happy ever after.

Beautifully architected temple. Has a lot of deity idols which can't be photographed. Eg Rama,…read moreKrishna, hanuman, kamakshi. The place is very organized and came across as well run. The canteen is downstairs and has excellent food. If you are looking for a South Indian temple atmosphere, this place is perfect. I'll be visiting again for sure.

First time to visit a hindu temple & it was mind opening experience…read more I find the devotees & the people staffing the temple open& friendly. No strict dress code but if you're visiting wear clothes that cover the shoulders & long skirts are preferred. Footwear must be taken off prior to entering the temple. To get the blessings, i noticed different queues for men & women so be mindful. Lots of chanting & music. Beautiful decorated altar & statues of their gurus & deities. At first i was hesitant to take pictures but some devotees where doing thesame, so i guess its okey to do it (discreetly) There was a gift shop store inside the temple selling some interesting stuff & traditional clothing. If you're interested to learn about religion & culture different from your own, this place is a good place to start.

Yummy food most of it is vegan. Cupcake/cookie for $1…read moreSamosa $2 1 item for $5, 2 for $7, 3 for $9, 4 for $10. Full meal for $12. Temple is pretty too. The mid-day prayers(arti) is at 12:30 pm - 1 pm. Wednesday lunchtime offerings: nutloaf - MUST HAVE Tofu fritter - MUST HAVE Spinach pakoda(fritters) - highly recommended Cabbage salad Green salad with vinaigrette chickpeas with bhatura(plain flour deep fried bread) Potato with paneer(cottage cheese) Yellow dal(lentils)

Have been visiting this temple since I995. It has been a…read moreplace of divine worship, peace and soulful connections. The Main One with God and others with our fellow community members. It is definitely a place to get blessings and love.

love this temple. the priests are very nice. place is well lit. the priests are more than happy…read moreto help you with a puja. there is a nice shrine for the nine planets too. very good energy here. everyone is nice and welcoming to non-hindi speaking folk too.

This temple was established to capture our heritage and Culture which we were losing here in our…read morenew adopted homeland the United States. Our aim to promote the madrasee Worship and furthermore have unity, harmony and peace within our community. The general public are welcome. Service every Sunday's at 10:00 am sharp.

The Shiva Mandir is one of the loveliest temple in Elmhurst Queens, walking distance from…read morea few near by bus stops. I came to the Shiva Mandir for a coworker son's wedding and was very impress with the overall decor. Basically the Shiva Mandir has three levels. The first level is where the prayer services, puja, engagement or marriage ceremonies are held. Considering I went to India I am familiar with what to expect in a temple. With that said they have some lovely statues of the Hindu Gods- Shiva, Ganesh, Ram, Vishnu and Krishna. My mother and I were touch by the Hindu Goddess/Mothers - Saraswati, Lakshmi and Durga. Usually in a temple, one is expected to sit on the ground during a service. However, I noticed more temples in Queens have chairs for those who are not used to sitting on the ground. Now the basement level is where the food is prepared and they also have benches where they serve only vegetarian food, tea, non alcoholic beverage and delicious sweets. Awesome place to have a Hindu wedding ceremony. Keep it simple in a holy place that's close to the mighty one and your love ones. If in the area, do stop by ring the church bell, take your shoes off, and learn more about the Hindu religion and culture. For females, just be sure to wear a long skirt or dress. Thanks for reading!

No matter what your religion is, you do not have to be afraid of coming to the Shiva Mandir temple…read more The people who attend services are beyond nice and even when I attend a service, other religions are mentioned and it does not matter to them what your religion is. When people walk into the temple, they take off their shoes and turn off their cellphones before going into the main room. There is a bell that can be rung for clarity of the mind (I do it for fun.) Upon walking through the main doors, Hindu believers kneel a bit and touch the ground first and then touch their head all with their hands. They do a similar action when they touch the Gods feet and the holy water. If they are holding a plate of candles and sacrificial fruits, they lift the entire plate up to make a three circular motion paths around each God. The Gods' platform on bright blue ceramic tiles is brightly lit with a beautiful sky and mountainous background. In addition, there might be lighted props, holy objects, or plants nearby and the windows decorated. During the services, I typically see a child or two walk around even though they are not supposed to. The entire room is carpeted dark red and everybody sits on the floor unless the person has difficulty sitting on the floor. In that case, foldable chairs are provided at the back of the room where mostly the elderly or disabled sit. The person who leads the service, called the Pundit, sits in what looks like a bed, but is not. While he speaks mostly English and some Hindi, there is always live music in the background with a band including a harmonium, electric piano, guitar, and drums to name a few. The music is broadcast through microphones and loud speakers and the entire room is brightly lit with many lights. There are also special people who sit up in the front, though I am not familiar as to what their roles are, but one of them is a singer while the other VIPs who wish to do the service sit and do the service. In between speeches, the band and singer(s) segues into a song. Towards the end, people are allowed to make announcements such as birthdays and events happening at the Shiva Mandir. After the end of the service, contributions are given, prays are done to a candle light, and everyone accepts a spot of milk to drink on their palm. Then, after the upbeat music is over, everybody goes down to the basement level to eat what I believe is Trinidad, Indian, and various vegetarian food and snacks prepared with soda or water and provided by volunteers who use a big kitchen and storage room to prepare it. It's like a mini-party every time I go for Thursday services, especially if it's around somebody's birthday. The women dress in beautiful traditional sari clothes while the men either wear traditional clothes or in their semi-formal attire. I even wore a sari myself when I attended Shiva Mandir for the first time. The looks of wonderment and surprise came from some temple goers and even people who live in the block. They loved how I tried to dress in a sari. Everybody is positive and everybody has fun here and now I know why going to the temple is the highlight of my co-worker's life.

Very peaceful for doing your daily puja and for special occasions. Highly recommend. Pujariji…read moreexplains all steps in detail and that helps in understanding.

Very devotional temple. Total bliss wen u enter and are into prayers. Pandit ji and mathaji are…read moreamazing and give very good blessings.!!

To Hindus of Guyana, Trinidad, Mauritius, US and India:…read more This article is about the total disrespect for Hindus in Guyana. In Guyana local and foreign Christian missionaries are allowed to destroy Hinduism. These missionaries are allowed to distribute Bible especially in schools, the Ministry have a curriculum for the Christian in schools which is monitored by the education department, the young Hindus are being taught Bible and Christian programs for the purpose of converting them from Hindus to Christian, missionaries give poor and uneducated Hindus small gifts and sweet smiles and brain wash them and convert them to Christian. They are destroying these Hindus people lovely culture for political reason. No other religion in Guyana have these programs or are allowed these program in schools. In America they have one public holiday for Christian which is Christmas. In Guyana they have three and the other religions have two. The Government should make the Christian have two also. In America Christian prayers are ban in public schools because of the American Constitution prohibit it. In Guyana they respect it. I am calling on parents to stop there children from using Christian prayers because these people are using Christian religion for political purposes. Apart from this they condemn other religions and spread hatred among people. They are trying to divide Guyanese. Guyana government is responsible to reconvert all those Hindus that joined the man made political religion. Conversion is taken place at a pace of about 10,000 per year. At this rate it is estimate that there will not be any Hindu in the Caribbean in the next 20 years. I believe it is happening in Trinidad and Suriname too to a less extent. Pandits in Guyana, Trinidad, Mauritius, US and India should have a serious word with the Guyana government and if they do not change their attitude of destroying Hindus culture in Guyana stop endorse the Guyana government for re-elction. I am also asking you all to help spread the words of the only god made and mother of all religion in the Caribbean and the west. If you go to www.google.com you can pick up mandirs in South America, North America and Caribbean countries. Please include them on your website and give them words to continue to spread the word of god. We would like to preserve and spread the mother of all religion in the west. I am asking you if you can design a column on your website to accommodate names and contact information of Mandirs, Pandits and executives of mandirs through out Guyana and the western world. If this happens a lot of people will sponsor or help mandirs in Guyana and the western world which will help preserve our religion. In Guyana majority of Hindus that are converting are Araya Samaj. In fact an Araya Samaj Temple at No. 71 Village closes down and three Christian Church erected. This village was predominantly Araya Samaj. Another village was No. 59. Most of Essequibo villages converted. The reason why people are converting is because Guyana do not have trained pandits and those who reach out to the public. Another reason is because the Christian Missionaries attack the uneducated and poor Hindus where they give them small gifts and sweet smiles and brain wash them with catching words. We need to reach out to these people and reconvert them. Apart from Araya Samaj other branches of Hindus that converted a lot are the Madrasee. Also I am asking if Cove and John Ashram or any other school or organization if it could form a school to train pandits in the western world since it is expensive to send them to India. This could happen if this college has one or more teachers from India and the syllabus of the pandit program can be sent from India if you request it. If the pandit program get going a lot of pandits from US, Canada, England, South America and the Caribbean will benefit from it. We are trying to spread Hinduism in the west and around the world since it is the oldest religion written in the oldest and most complete language which is Sanskrit. Somebody who is in a position please create a website that could include addresses and contact information of mandirs and Hindus across this planet. The website should be designed to find mandirs by country, name and address as well as pandits. It must also carry a space for devotees to enter their information of their respective mandirs. A website for Hindus which can be constructed similar to www.graduates.com where public cannot get people email addresses would have be really nice for Hindus around the world. Please forward or copy and paste this email to politicians, pandits, and Hindus. Ram

I have never been to a more welcoming place for kirtan and yoga. I was immediately greeted like a…read morelong lost friend and immediately felt cared for. The kirtans on Thursdays are amazing!

From the owner: The Bhakti Center is a spiritual cultural center on New York City’s Lower East Side with a talented…read morestaff devoted to sharing the experience of self-transformation through the timeless culture and practices of Bhakti-yoga. It’s a center of authentic learning, and a great place to meet new people, make lasting relationships, and find inspiration and support on the spiritual path. Want to get in contact with us? Send us an e-mail at: info@bhakticenter.org