On Broome Avenue, within the coronary heart of Manhattan’s trendy Soho neighborhood, a Hindu temple devoted to the elephant-headed deity Ganesha is striving to develop its personal sense of cool. Its location permits it to attract visitor lecturers similar to distinguished non secular creator Deepak Chopra, and devotees — or at the least influential followers — such because the actor Willem Dafoe, who was just lately noticed sporting a Broome Avenue Ganesha T-shirt.
“Right here, it’s cool to come back to the temple,” mentioned Shruti Bramadesam, the temple’s assistant director. “It’s cool to be non secular. It’s cool to meditate. It’s not one thing we needed to have been made enjoyable of for rising up.”
This week, the 20-year-old temple is celebrating Lord Ganesha in a distinctly New York manner, ending its celebration of its deity’s birthday, the 10-day vacation Ganesh Chaturthi, with a visarjan — a ritual that sends Ganesha residence by immersing his clay idol right into a physique of water — within the Hudson River.
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Bramadesam needs all New Yorkers to know that the visarjan, and the temple, is for them, regardless of their age, race or non secular background. The Broome Avenue Ganesha Temple, she mentioned, hopes to satisfy individuals the place they’re — whether or not they’re Hindu or not.
“In the event you want a non secular sanctuary, we’re right here,” mentioned Bramadesam.
Based by yoga trainer Eddie Stern in 2001, the Broome Avenue Ganesha Temple pitches itself not strictly as a Hindu home of worship however as a sanctuary the place passersby can discover a couple of minutes of peace amid the chaos of New York. It’s a task church buildings and synagogues have stuffed within the metropolis’s bustle because the Dutch, however the place a lot of Manhattan’s sacred areas are ornate monuments to their rich patrons of years previous, the temple’s pure mild and minimalist house — half yoga studio and half mandir — are made for Soho’s vibe.
“The temple is rooted in custom and historical past but additionally caters to the wants of contemporary Hindus or people who find themselves non secular,” mentioned Bramadesam, pointing to deities of Ganesha, in addition to Sai Baba, Krishna and Radha and Shiva for busy New Yorkers desirous to drop in to worship. (In India, Hindu temples are normally devoted to at least one deity; within the U.S., they’re extra more likely to embrace murtis, or idols, of many Hindu deities in order to serve all Hindus.)
“It pays homage to the standard temples of India however in a cool, trendy, New York manner,” mentioned Bramadesam.
It’s additionally handy for urbanites who in any other case must trek to Queens, the place the biggest and oldest Hindu temple in New York Metropolis is situated.
Bramadesam, who works in advertising and marketing in addition to consulting on the temple, joined the temple in December 2021, bringing along with her concepts for a full rebrand of the temple. She’s additionally intent on attracting extra Gen Z members. Because of Bramadesam, the temple is the one mandir with an lively following on TikTok. The temple’s Instagram account hosts puja livestreams to its greater than 10,000 followers.
Hinduism is dealing with a decline amongst younger individuals who grew up adhering to their household’s spiritual traditions, as are most institutional faiths working within the U.S. Current information from the Springtide Analysis Institute reveals that People below the age of 30 are the most certainly to establish as non secular, however not spiritual.
However whereas younger individuals are not attending providers as often as their dad and mom, they haven’t given up on faith solely. Springtide calls this phenomenon “religion unbundled,” suggesting that younger individuals assemble their religion “by combining parts similar to beliefs, id, practices and group from a wide range of spiritual and non-religious sources, fairly than receiving all these items from a single system,” in accordance with a latest Springtide report on Gen Z People.
Bramadesam mentioned this pattern has led Gen Zers to pattern Hinduism, the place they discover a perception system with no strict dogma, necessities or hierarchical establishment. “We settle for everybody,” mentioned Bramadesam. “The entire level of Hinduism is that anybody can discover it.”
Connor Castellano grew up in Florida in a household that was neither non secular nor spiritual. However in her late teenagers, she discovered that the teachings of Vedanta Hinduism, largely recognized for its orders of swamis, or spiritual lecturers, resonated along with her. Amongst these teachings was the concept that the physique is a vessel for one’s soul, or atma, which made sense instantly.
“In some unspecified time in the future, I felt that my function in life is to like and serve God in loving and serving others,” mentioned Castellano. “I’m so blessed to be on this human physique to like God.”
Castellano joined the temple’s group full time in January. In July, she spent a month studying the methods of the Hindu nuns of the Sarada Convent in Santa Barbara, California.
“It’s a good looking factor having group,” mentioned Castellano, who greets a mixture of regulars and newcomers seven days every week. “Once I first got here to New York, I nearly thought of shifting out of town as a result of I couldn’t discover that group right here — discovering that has been an actual blessing in my life.”
For a lot of younger Hindus, Broome Avenue is a welcome reminder of the house they left behind.
“This might be a very nice place to come back after the workweek to decompress and have a second of meditation,” mentioned Diya Srinivasan, a Toronto-based researcher who lived and labored in New York Metropolis from 2014-2016. “It’s finally an area the place there’s a chunk of calm.”
Bramadesam herself is an instance of a returnee to Hinduism. She was raised as an lively Hindu in Michigan, taking Carnatic vocal classes, dancing the standard Bharatanatyam and attending weekly providers. In school, nonetheless, Bramadesam left her spiritual upbringing behind, however after shifting to New York for work, she realized how a lot she wanted spirituality.
Broome Avenue isn’t just for the younger. Gautam Gupta had by no means discovered a temple group in his 23 years in Manhattan, and he discovered it troublesome to get his teenage kids taken with attending spiritual providers with him. However when he introduced his youthful daughter to Broome Avenue this yr, the 2 stayed for nearly two hours.
“It was very peaceable,” mentioned Gupta. “No units!”
To Gupta, and different members of the Broome Avenue household, the last word purpose is to construct a group in Manhattan for all Hindus, regardless of the place they’re of their non secular journey.
“The larger the group, the extra you are feeling such as you belong to it,” mentioned Gupta.