The population of Hindu temples has been found increasing recently in the USA. When we were in the USA in the year 1989, there were very few Hindu temples and we were required to travel long way to reach to such rare temple. We recently came across one such famous Hindu temple of Lord Ganesha during our visit to Dallas, Texas. This temple is located at 910 W. Parker Road, Plano, Tx-75075 and is called Hindu temple of North Texas (HTNT). The temple is also called Ganesha temple in this area. The temple is located in one of the office suite type building and is not having a conventional temple construction as normally prevailing in India.
We visited this temple on Saturday evening at around 7 pm and were happy to find many people in the temple. As soon as you enter the temple, there is a shoe stand on your left side. You have to remove your shoes, wash your hands and then, proceed inside the main temple for darshana. The beautiful, golden color statue of Lord Ganesha was really eye catching and created the feelings of love, affection and the respect towards the Lord Ganesha. The statue was nicely decorated with the gold ornaments and colored flowers. There were also the statues of lord Balaji, lord Shiva, lord Rama with goddess Sitaji, lord Hanuman, and the goddess Laxmiji. All these statues were made of five types of metals and their color was like shining gold. The temple is nicely decorated with the large size of colored photographs and portraits of various gods. The temple has a very holy atmosphere and the most beautiful and melodious bhajans keep on playing all through the day that can inspire all the visitors to sit in solace with full mental peace. The dhyan and meditation can be most effectively performed here. The temple remains open from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm and 5.30 pm to 8.30 pm on weekdays and from 9.30 am to 8.30 pm on weekends. The arthis are performed two times every day. The morning arthi is performed at 12 noon and the evening shayan arthi is performed at 7.45 pm. We could attend the evening arthi on Saturday. The arthi is sung in the most impressive voice by the priest with the lighted deeps all around the lord Ganesha and other gods.
The statue of lord Balaji has been established here in this temple before around 4 years. The temple has gained lot of popularity since then and the visitors keep on increasing day by day. The temple has a capacity of maximum 205 persons. There are special pujas performed here on auspicious days like Ganesh Chaturthi, all Chaturthis, and full moon days. The Prasad is served at both the times of arthis and is kept ready all through the day for the people who visit at other times. The Prasad is donated by the worshippers and can be any type of fresh fruits and dry fruits. There is a small collection of holy and sacred books also in the temple that can be referred and read while you are at the temple. There is a special mahapuja going to be held in the middle of September during Ganesh Chaturthi festival. The temple management has fixed various amounts for donations to take part in this yajna and mahayajna. The donations range from $251 to $2501 for taking part in various types of pujas. The booking for this mahapuja have already begun.
We were extremely delighted to see such a temple here in the USA. I had to change my views on the Hindu culture prevailing in the USA and am proud and happy to convey the same to all my AC friends. I recommend all the Indian people and the Americans also to visit this temple to get the feel of the holy and sacred environment. The nature will act on its own thereafter and you shall keep on visiting this temple repetitively.
