Temples of North America

[Friend from the West]

Namaste and thanks very much EM. If I do not have opportunity in Fla. I will do this. I wish had more solid basis prior going there. May search for what is within four to five hours of where I live, but if not will go and be humbled to have opportunity regardless.
Thanks again.
Rich

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam: Does anybody know much about the temples around Phoenix. Planning to go there in the spring ... at least to the one out by Maricopa .... Salt Lake Ganesha temple on the way through. Anybody living in those areas who might like to go for lunch, I'm buying. PM me. (They have a Woodlands restaurant in Phoenix. After our experience in the one in DC, I'm salivating just thinking about it. I'll have to fast for 3 days on the way home.)

Aum Namasivaya

[Believer]

Namaste,

The google search came up with the following link for temples in and around Phoenix:

http://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=hindu_temples&find_desc=&find_loc=Phoenix%2C+AZ

Sorry, don't have first hand experience with most except for the ISKCON one (4th on the list) in Chandler, just South of Phoenix. It is a nice one close to the freeway off-ramp. Not being a Phoenix resident, I am not much help I guess.

Pranam.

[Eastern Mind]

Namaste,

The google search came up with the following link for temples in and around Phoenix:

http://www.yelp.com/search?cflt=hind...=Phoenix%2C+AZ

Sorry, don't have first hand experience with most except for the ISKCON one (4th on the list) in Chandler, just South of Phoenix. It is a nice one close to the freeway off-ramp. Not being a Phoenix resident, I am not much help I guess.

Pranam.

Vannakkam Believer: This is the one I'm headed for: http://www.ganapati.org/mgtoa/home/home_events.php

It wasn't listed on the list you found. Go figure. I wonder sometimes about those lists. A thing that gets me is how sometimes on google map, when you search for Hindu temple, you get a bunch of Christian Churches. more sneaky proseltysing, I think. Maybe I'll complain to google maps about that one.

Aum Namasivaya

[Believer]

Namaste,

Did not know about the existence of this particular temple, otherwise I would have definitely visited it during my business trips to that area some years ago. It looks like a nice and well managed mandir. Enjoy your trip. Summers there are 115 deg dry heat. But you are going during Spring. So, that should be nice, weatherwise. Did not show up in the list, probably because it is out of metro Phoenix area. Does show up when the search is done on 'Arizona Hindu Temples'.

Pranam.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam: On our trip we had planned to go to 4 more temples around the Bay area, but ended up only making it to two.

The Sacramento Ganesha temple is just off I80 near the center of town. It looks like an old Christian church lot maybe, but is run and owned by a priest family who formerly worked at the Livermore Siva-Vishnu temple.

We went by one night and I subconsciously took my shoes off outside but carried than in to put in a non-existing boot room. I'm just so used to colder climates, and forgot that Sacramento is warm all year. after a quick nasty look from the priest, I took them back outside. Felt a bit stupider than usual.

The deities were pretty crowded all around the place, the largest being Ganesha near the front. I found it hard to concentrate because there were so many all around. Still the place had the vibration of Hinduism all over it, mostly Ganesha. Only later did I learn it was priest run/owned which is unusual. We didn't stay that long, but I envy the potential for year round landscaping and flowers. I'm sure they'll expand it when they can.

the next morning we sent to the Concord Siva-Murugan temple. Its also an old church, sort of Spanish style, but has fewer deities, with only Ganesha, Murugan, a lingam, and Shakti. Murugan is the presiding deity, and the Lingam is right in front of Him. or me personally, that's kind of odd, because I really like to focus in on one deity when IO meditate, or do japa. Still it was a nice visit. They too are in for a major expansion, having acquired more adjacent land.

I was planning to go to the San Jose Ganesha temple, and the Livermore temple, but we attended a retreat, and it was 'very filling' religious wise, and so we headed home right after it, up the beautiful Oregon coast. The massive redwoods are temples on their own.

Aum Namasivaya

[Equinox]

Vannakkam Eastern Mind: That must've been an amazing experience. Though you managed to visit just two temples instead of the planned four, it sounds pretty fulfilling and enough to keep you spiritually vitalised for a long time, or for the time being, at least.

Visiting even one temple overwhelms me, what more two.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam Eastern Mind: That must've been an amazing experience. Though you managed to visit just two temples instead of the planned four, it sounds pretty fulfilling and enough to keep you spiritually vitalised for a long time, or for the time being, at least.

Visiting even one temple overwhelms me, what more two.

Vannakkam: I'd love to see a thread on Malaysian temples. (Google map does a very poor job ... methinks there may be some censorship going on, either that or nobody notifies google about specifics.) Here we have to drive a thousand miles from one to the next. There you have to walk a thousand feet.

Aum Namasivaya

[Equinox]

Vannakkam.

Oh yes, I definitely agree with you. I feel that nobody actually notifies Google that much about the specifics. Though there's lots of information, most are very sketchy and all over the place, not organised in other words. It has alot to do with the older generation not being internet savvy, and the younger generation not being interested in temples or religion itself.

There're many blogs on Malaysian Hindu temples, but only a handful are deep and specific.

I might start a thread here soon since I love visiting temples. My most recent visit was a temple in Singapore while holidaying two weeks back, followed by other familiar temples here in KL in the past week.

There's something about temples that draws me towards them.

[Eastern Mind]

Vannakkam: Here's another new one. Some devotees have to drive less and less with each passing decade. Won't it be nice when you can drive through America, and stop by temples along the way?

https://www.mpbn.net/News/MaineNewsA...4/Default.aspx

Aum Namasivaya