The Hindu Temple Society of North America — Attraction in New York

Divine Temple, Inhuman volunteers They persistently drove out a 75 year couple because they were eating Prasadam from the temple in the cafeteria, that too in heavy rain in the weekend after Ganesh Chaturthi. The Cafeteria announcement said it would take 30 mins for any order made at that moment. Being diabetic and well past the lunch hour, the couple opened the prasadam given "by the temple" to take a few spoons, but the volunteer repeated stalked them till they closed the box, in spite of they telling him that the prasadam given by the temple is not enough, it is raining outside and our family is waiting in line to order from the cafeteria. Eventually they took the elevator and sat on the steps outside the auditorium (because of the heavy rain), but the "dreadful" volunteer followed them and screamed at them to go home (46 miles in NJ) and eat, because "if you eat here, hundreds more will do the same and I cannot clean all of it". In spite of pleading with him that they are 75 and legs are shivering after taking the insulin, he called the security. The two security guards were more courteous and offered to make some arrangements, but the elderly couple walked out in the rain while their son ran to the neighboring street to get the vehicle. Before leaving, the couple did ask the volunteer if he had parents! While this was happening, another devotee in her 60's (in front me in the cafeteria queue) while offering cash for her order, accidentally touched the credit card touch screen with a $30 tip. The volunteer behind the counter got furious, returned her cash and asked the devotee to pay with a card. Not only did the volunteer chide the devotee loudly "please do not tamper our equipment", she contemptuously joked about this lady to the next person in line (which happened to be me). Our order of two plate vada and a rice item did arrive a good 30 mins later, but the experience left me wonder, if those running the temple feel privileged when they think they are offering service to the presiding deity and inadvertently look down upon the devotees.

I frequently visit Bridgewater temple, Guruvayoorappan temple (Marlboro NJ) and the Ranganatha Swamy temple at Pomona, but have never encountered such rude volunteers. We went with three families and both these experiences made us reconsider if driving from NJ was even worth it. Having experienced these two events a week ago, I did not want to rush in a feedback here. A week later I decided to key what I witnessed, because we usually expect a temple visit to be pleasant and not disturbing. The way the volunteer screamed at the elderly couple made me feel my title for this...

Where do I start..I have great love and respect to my deity Lord Shri Mahavallabha Ganapati he alone is the saving grace of this temple..If thats what we can call it?! In reality of this place its like a money making scheme from the moment you enter the temple you see an ancient egyptian type of tyrrany where the sole ruler is her highness Queen Uma Mysorekar..as long as the queen is in the temple premises everything runs smoothly as soon as she leaves the place turns into a do whatever you want zone..everything in the temple is money from lighting a simple diya to doing an archana or sponsoring an abhishekam or homam everything is extremley overpriced! What can a poor person do if he wishes to worship the Gods because he cant afford their elaborate rituals?! The priests are all lazy when it comes to doing an archana and all they say is wait five minutes wait five minutes also they do not take the sankalp properly no handwashing is done for the devotees and rice and flowers are not given in their hand to do a full fledged sankalpam. The only person who gets a full fledged sankalp before every single pooja is Uma Mysorekar the leading lady the whole temple staff kiss the very floor she walks on why wouldnt they shes an extremley nasty attitude woman who has no respect for the public or the staff on more than one occassion i have seen this lady run up to devotees and snap at them embarrass them in public over little issues one minute shes happy one minute shes sad she most likely suffers from bipolar disorder! There is one heavyset priest shivakumarji who only loves money he asks all devotees for dakshina and if you refuse to give he gets very upset and rude he also asks devotees to bring milk rice flour groceries to his house all this while he himself wears a $400 smartwatch?! The temple counter has two smart alec woman who ignore you and just sit there and count money and more than once they have been rude to people and demeaning this place used to the hotspot for all Hindu festivals and events especially Ganesh Chaturthi festival in late summer it used to be so crowded there was no parking anywhere now alot of people have stopped coming, can you blame them? May Lord Mahavallabha Ganapati continue to shower his blessings...

This is an old temple and I have been visiting here for over 20 years. But I have seen over this time the temple has been made more and more inaccessible to the devotees. It feels more like a museum where they just take donations and have fancy displays than a place where one can sit and find peace and feel the presence of God. Ever since the renovation (may be 10-12 yrs back?) they had added all the rules for devotees to not light candle or lamp near the deities. But since the pandemic the temple disciplinary rules have been so extreme and purposeless for a worshipper. One can even understand for the last 2 years of 2020-21 when contagion was at peak to not allow any personal offerings like prasadam or “bhoga” inside. But now it is almost AUGUST 2022 !! Most folks are triple vaccinated in NYC and they have these ridiculous rules of not allowing even packaged stuff like milk or fruits inside. Moreover all the masking rules are only for devotees - the priests are walking around with no mask at all! What double standards! And the security guards they have hired are prob from a lowly cheap company as they do not know how to talk to visitors when they block you from entry and demand rudely to leave all personal stuff outside the door - never heard such rude condescending tone from guards who are typically military trained. The guard used the F word when I insisted to take my lamp and pooja kit inside. I was so shocked!! So I decided to take his picture and he got physical with me! As a woman when I complained to the priests they just stood there. So disgusted & disappointed. If they will continue to have these rules at least post them on the website so no one is wasting time coming all the way there. Since it had multiple times now I have let down with the experience here - esp when one comes for peace and connection and gets coldness, unwelcome feeling and inaccessibility to God (the whole fundamental purpose of a temple!) I am really so sad to say I may not be returning here - unless God gives them the insight to change the way things are being operated here. This temple needs a better Trust & Board & oversight to manage things so they can increase membership and attendance, not decrease it....