Caribbean Hindus in the US Create Places to Pray
November 30th, 2009Source: hudsonreporter.com
JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, USA, November 30, 2009: Rajendra Persaud was leading services last Sunday as the head priest at the Hari Om Tat Sat Cultural Center on West Side Avenue in Jersey City. About 50 parishioners, Hindus from Guyana and Trinidad, sat on the floor listening to his sermon of the day on what he calls “getting back to basics - Hinduism 101.”“The two most important things that a devotee needs are shraddha and vishwas - trust and faith,” Persaud explained. The 250-odd members of the Hari Om Tat Sat Cultural Center just purchased a mixed commercial/residential building on Kennedy Boulevard close to the Jersey City-Bayonne border for their cultural and religious center.
The other $70,000 needed monthly came from contributions and fund-raising cultural events. That means the Hari Om Tat Sat Cultural Center will have its own home instead of using the basement space donated by one of the parishioners. However, the center is not the only Indo-Caribbean Hindu church in Jersey City hoping to establish its own place to worship.
The Ganesh Shiva Mandir in August acquired their building after spending several years holding religious gatherings in a garage of a residential home on Roosevelt Avenue, blocks away from the current location. Indo-Caribbean performers from New Jersey, New York and Florida sang, danced, and performed comedic skits for an audience of about 200 people. The money raised will finance continued renovation of the building.
