Undertaken by the International Swaminarayan Satsang Organization.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: The town of Allentown, Pennsylvania – a suburb of Philadelphia and home to a sizeable base of Indian Americans – is set to welcome a brand-new temple, which will replace the site of a bingo hall located near the city’s airport.
The undertaking is being headed by the International Swaminarayan Satsang Organization (ISSO), and there is already a Hindu Temple Society based locally at 4200 Airport Road.
Zoning approval has already been granted by the city, and now the only piece left to complete is construction of the actual building, which reports estimate will take somewhere in the neighborhood of four to six months.
Until now, Hindu families in the greater Philadelphia area were at a loss for a religious place of worship they could call their own. The closest such places are in southern New Jersey, Maryland – where the Shri Shiva Vishnu Temple has been a pillar of the community for many years – and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which has one of the most famous Hindu temples in the entire US. These places vary in distance, with New Jersey being about 90 minutes away but Pittsburgh taking as much as four or five hours to reach.
According to a press release issued in announcement of the temple being approved for construction, the primary motivation of ISSO in building the temple is “to advance the Sanatan Dharma, in accordance with the principles and teachings of the Swaminarayan Sampraday, founded and ordained by Lord Shree Sahajanand Swami”. The organization is currently headed up by Shree Koshalendraprasadji Maharaj, and is based in Ahmedabad, India.
The temple-building project itself is headed by local community leader Mike Patel.
Allentown has an Asian demographic statistic of about 2.2%, and a total population of just under 120,000. It is the third most-populous city in the state of Pennsylvania, located slightly northeast of Philadelphia.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com