Hindu temples in Greater Chicago
Hindu temples are now in all corners of the world. Whenever there is sizeable population of Hindus, the temple activity becomes imperative. The local community takes up the project under the leadership of one or more enthusiastic leader.
In many Hindu temples, the multi-deity worship has become a common practice to accommodate the sentiments of different sections of the community. There are also converted temples in greater Chicago like the Manav Seva Mandir, the Temple for Devotion to Humankind, which was formerly a Korean church.
The Hindu population of Greater Chicago, which numbers in excess of 50,000 people, is large enough to sustain a substantial number of other temples and cultural associations, and the social life of Hindus that revolves mostly around temples. Hindus in greater Chicago gather, both to celebrate Hindu festivals and holy days.
Some of the temples in Chicago are:
1. HTGC Temples:
The HTGC complex in greater Chicago provides a pleasant atmosphere for worship and spiritual advancement. It also serves as a focal point cultural and educational activities. HTGC celebrates many special events like Kumbhabhishekam. The HTGC complex includes two separate temples.
One is Rama Temple, which includes Sri Rama, Sita and Lakshmana; Lord Ganesha, Sri Hanuman, Lord Venkateshwara (Balaji), Mahalakshmi, Sri Krishna and Radha.
And the second is the Ganesha-Shiva-Durga Temple, which includes, Lord Shiva, Lord Ganesha, Durga Devi, Lord Subrahmanya, Devi Parvathi, and Navagraha.
2. Sri Venkateswara Swami temple
Sri Venkateswara Swami Balaji temple was built in the mid-1980s, is located at 1145, West Sullivan Rd, Aurora, in greater Chicago. Deities residing at the Sri Venkateswara Swami temple are Lord Venkateshwara, Goddess Sri Devi, Goddess Bhoodevi, Lord Ganesh, Lord Subrmania Swami, Lord Siva Mahadeva & Goddess Parvathi. The Sri Venkateswara Swami Balaji Temple in Aurora attracts a large worshippers. Many artisans and sculptors were trained in India who helped in the construction of this temple.
The Sri Venkateswara Swami Balaji temple in Chicago offers many services such as Anna Prasana, Aksharabhysa, Namakaranam, Vahanapooja, Shastabdapoorthi, Upanayanam, Seemantham, PindaShradham, Hiranya Shradham.
3. BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir
BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in greater Chicago is a Hindu temple. This is one of the largest traditional Hindu temple which was constructed of Turkish limestone and Italian marble that was shipped to India and hand carved.