Beautiful temple! My family had a Vivah Sanskar here today,…read moreand everything went smoothly. Everything was prepared by the staff of the temple, and arranged the way requested by the family. The ceremony started promptly on time, and finished by 4pm. The timing was spot one for all the different poojas that were conducted. After the ceremonies, we were able to go into the main temple room and offer our prayer and get blessings from the swamai's. It was beautiful, and a day well spent celebrating 2 lives coming together for happy ever after.

Beautifully architected temple. Has a lot of deity idols which can't be photographed. Eg Rama,…read moreKrishna, hanuman, kamakshi. The place is very organized and came across as well run. The canteen is downstairs and has excellent food. If you are looking for a South Indian temple atmosphere, this place is perfect. I'll be visiting again for sure.

Like what Jack S said, it's a nice temple. It seems like a lot of work and restoration has been…read morehappening within the past year. Downstairs is a gift shop where you can purchase books, meditation CDs, small statues, etc. There's also a small cafeteria next to the gift shop. A bus from Main Street will drop you off right there. Also around the corner from this temple is Dosi Hutt. You can't lose.

Nice temple with a Gujarati community. However, when you go in, take a left and their store sells…read moresome of the BEST sweets and namkeens ever. Most of them are actually made by people who go to the temple, not in a factory.

Divine food served at their canteen. I regretted not going earlier to this place instead of…read moreSaravana Bhavan

The Shiva Mandir is one of the loveliest temple in Elmhurst Queens, walking distance from…read morea few near by bus stops. I came to the Shiva Mandir for a coworker son's wedding and was very impress with the overall decor. Basically the Shiva Mandir has three levels. The first level is where the prayer services, puja, engagement or marriage ceremonies are held. Considering I went to India I am familiar with what to expect in a temple. With that said they have some lovely statues of the Hindu Gods- Shiva, Ganesh, Ram, Vishnu and Krishna. My mother and I were touch by the Hindu Goddess/Mothers - Saraswati, Lakshmi and Durga. Usually in a temple, one is expected to sit on the ground during a service. However, I noticed more temples in Queens have chairs for those who are not used to sitting on the ground. Now the basement level is where the food is prepared and they also have benches where they serve only vegetarian food, tea, non alcoholic beverage and delicious sweets. Awesome place to have a Hindu wedding ceremony. Keep it simple in a holy place that's close to the mighty one and your love ones. If in the area, do stop by ring the church bell, take your shoes off, and learn more about the Hindu religion and culture. For females, just be sure to wear a long skirt or dress. Thanks for reading!

No matter what your religion is, you do not have to be afraid of coming to the Shiva Mandir temple…read more The people who attend services are beyond nice and even when I attend a service, other religions are mentioned and it does not matter to them what your religion is. When people walk into the temple, they take off their shoes and turn off their cellphones before going into the main room. There is a bell that can be rung for clarity of the mind (I do it for fun.) Upon walking through the main doors, Hindu believers kneel a bit and touch the ground first and then touch their head all with their hands. They do a similar action when they touch the Gods feet and the holy water. If they are holding a plate of candles and sacrificial fruits, they lift the entire plate up to make a three circular motion paths around each God. The Gods' platform on bright blue ceramic tiles is brightly lit with a beautiful sky and mountainous background. In addition, there might be lighted props, holy objects, or plants nearby and the windows decorated. During the services, I typically see a child or two walk around even though they are not supposed to. The entire room is carpeted dark red and everybody sits on the floor unless the person has difficulty sitting on the floor. In that case, foldable chairs are provided at the back of the room where mostly the elderly or disabled sit. The person who leads the service, called the Pundit, sits in what looks like a bed, but is not. While he speaks mostly English and some Hindi, there is always live music in the background with a band including a harmonium, electric piano, guitar, and drums to name a few. The music is broadcast through microphones and loud speakers and the entire room is brightly lit with many lights. There are also special people who sit up in the front, though I am not familiar as to what their roles are, but one of them is a singer while the other VIPs who wish to do the service sit and do the service. In between speeches, the band and singer(s) segues into a song. Towards the end, people are allowed to make announcements such as birthdays and events happening at the Shiva Mandir. After the end of the service, contributions are given, prays are done to a candle light, and everyone accepts a spot of milk to drink on their palm. Then, after the upbeat music is over, everybody goes down to the basement level to eat what I believe is Trinidad, Indian, and various vegetarian food and snacks prepared with soda or water and provided by volunteers who use a big kitchen and storage room to prepare it. It's like a mini-party every time I go for Thursday services, especially if it's around somebody's birthday. The women dress in beautiful traditional sari clothes while the men either wear traditional clothes or in their semi-formal attire. I even wore a sari myself when I attended Shiva Mandir for the first time. The looks of wonderment and surprise came from some temple goers and even people who live in the block. They loved how I tried to dress in a sari. Everybody is positive and everybody has fun here and now I know why going to the temple is the highlight of my co-worker's life.

This temple was established to capture our heritage and Culture which we were losing here in our…read morenew adopted homeland the United States. Our aim to promote the madrasee Worship and furthermore have unity, harmony and peace within our community. The general public are welcome. Service every Sunday's at 10:00 am sharp.

This temple is amazing and the people are great. I attend as much as I can. As soon as you walk in…read moreyou are greeted by friendly face and the most down to earth people.

Very good and bless place to be ..always forgets a your problems when your here because of the…read morelovely blessings of Maa and the wonderful people here..I will advise anyone to come here and enjoy the blessings of Maa.

0 star. The guynese lady who does volunteering is not a nice lady. Her job is to monitor camera…read moreand complain. first of all it is invasion of privacy to watch people how much they are eating? secondly her two young daughters are raised here and are a pleasure; they also volunteer and a Spanish lady and some gujrati young guys and another white guy has no time for this BS. They are pleasant and kind and mind their own business. I told them Sai Baba is watching everyone. Don't worry? The poor old man who is sitting alone in Sai baba main hall is left alone to watch whole main room. if someone tries to say hello or ask old man how are you, someone immediately calls and says to the old guy you tell the person to leave. what, is this a jail??? The floors are dirty, old food is served. Anything good or new donated by people is hidden in kitchen and even fresh food is eaten by staff and old food is left on a table outside near elevator and people (Spanish and other white people are told to take from there) which is left on table for hours.? please watch your health eating their not temperature controlled food and it is summer time. I love Sai baba and I have seen him live outside the temple and he is watching these unkind and selfish trustees????

I trained there for a managerial position and the person training me told me that the place was…read moreunderstaffed and counted on volunteers to help. There is a full time voluntary cooking assistant n the mornings through the afternoon and he believes this is what has led the trustees to believe that volunteers can be magically made available as and when required, which is not the case. Therefore he has to take care of all the heavy work himself, including building shoe racks. It is outside of his job description, he does not volunteer for these tasks, yet they are forced on him. He claims to be working on less than minimum wage - given the extra hours he has to put in. When I brought this to the trustees attention and informed them that I would not engage in labor I was told I would need to find volunteers to take care of it. (The same imaginary volunteers that the current manager was unable to find). None of the employees took kindly to my suggestion for organizing and keeping count of the food and supplies inventory. The place gets a lot of food donations and no one keeps track of it, and the staff prefers it that way. I suggested to start taking a count and creating a spreadsheet, and it was at that point every single employee told me I would likely not be returning the next day. Suggestions toward prepping for meals were also not taken kindly; they claim to be overworked, yet don't want a solution, they are just insecure, unhappy troopers. Amidst their misery there is little room left for divinity. You want to find God look inwards, don't look in this direction, God himself would flee from here.

This is the best place for worship. All my brothers and sisters come down and join us today.read more

Amazing institution to learn more about Sanatan Dharma, warm and friendly community, and great…read morefood. As a teen who has attended this temple for most of my life I can say without a doubt that it has transformed my life and made me a much kinder, wiser, and better person overall. I will definitely continue to attend here as much as possible.

A serene environment of sanctity allows one to offer prayers in peace at this Hindu temple…read more I have visited the temple on many occasions to attend service and shall certainly be back several times in the future.

Great place of worship.I like going there to pray. They provide prasad too. The Priests are…read moreknowledgeable and give their blessings to all the temple goers.