The first things you notice when you enter the vestibule of the Hindu temple on Penhorne Avenue in Secaucus are the shoes. The floor is strewn with footwear of every imaginable style and color, from floppy beach-type sandals to military lace up. This sea of shoe leather flows from several inner doors.
"No one is allowed to wear shoes into the prayer room," said Deputy Mayor John Reilly, who has become a close friend of the Temple’s membership over the last decade.
The Temple, which opened its doors for the first time in 2001, celebrated its first anniversary with the opening of its community room this past Sunday and with the return of H.H. Acharya Shree, the high religious leader of the Shree Swaminarayan Gadi Hindu sect in India.
With the help the Secaucus Fire Department’s Clarendon Tower, Acharya Shree – often reverently called Baba (a variant of Babaji which means father) by his followers – changed the flags, part of a yearly ritual of respect each temple undergoes.
"Sun and rain made the old flags fade said, Shailesh Vyas, media advisor for the temple. "The flags are a symbol of unity. They remind us that we are all human and must work together as human beings."
While not necessary, followers also bared their toes in entering the community room to hear Baba speak. Men and boys gathered nearest the stage with women and girls at the back of the room. The space – which was about as high as a three-story building – could easily have fit a Little League baseball field inside, and followers crammed every inch of floor space to hear words of wisdom and encouragement from the person whom their sect recognizes as the equivalent of the Catholic religion’s pope.
Seated on a golden throne with carved lions for arm rests and sumptuous red velvet pillows surrounding him, Baba talked to his followers as part of the dedication ceremonies. The Muktajiava Swamibaba Community Hall was dedicated to the people of New Jersey, said Vyas, who translated some of the Baba’s speech. Dash Patel, a trustee of the temple, has spent several weeks with the help of five volunteers installing the appropriate symbols along the foot and sides of the stage, scroll work painted in pastel pink and yellow. Strings of lights – imported from India – formed a kind of tent over the heads of the followers, flashing constantly so that the colors seemed to rotate through the room.
Baba’s speech was a mingling of talk, chant and singing, sometimes drawing musical accompaniment among the orange-clad priests on the stage, sometimes drawing response from the crowd of faithful sitting in lotus positions on the floor.
"The first reason his holiness came was to mark the opening of the community room," Vyas said, noting that the temple over the last year has grown in membership, and that its members come from Secaucus, North Bergen, Hoboken, and Jersey City. But each weekend’s services also see many pilgrims coming from around the nation and the world.
"Many come from Chicago and Detroit, Virginia and Pennsylvania," Vyas said. "Some come from England and India."
The 22,500-square-foot facility, built in classic Indian-style architecture with pointed domes and indoor niches for religious paintings, houses a prayer hall. Some aspects are modern such as the skylights and picture window seats. With multipurpose room, administrative offices, and priests’ quarters, the temple sits on 3.7 acres.
The temple, fashioned after a similar structure in Ahmadabad, India, is the first Swaminarayan temple built in the United States and was funded almost entirely by donations from members of the congregation.
In translating some of the Baba’s message, Vyas said much of it involved praying for world peace, especially after the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center. Since that event, priests have been offering prayers in the form of mantras for the victims and their families.
The Baba’s speech also cautioned followers to maintain their moral values, to abstain from the "use of alcohol, tobacco and pursuit of women." The sect has about 900 members in the United States and millions in India, England, and Kenya. The sect espouses a simple lifestyle and an ideology based on compassion, love, and high moral standards. Members are strict vegetarians. The also do not use alcohol, tobacco, tea, or coffee.
"He begs us to become good citizens and obey the laws of this country," Vyas translated. "We after all eat the grains of this county, so we must do what this country requires of its citizens."
Although as in other churches, many children grew restless to the preaching, nearly every adult’s attention remained fixed upon Baba as he spoke, rising up in song at his suggestion, falling into chants whenever ceremony called for it.
"He says he had great sympathy for those who died or suffered as a result of the attack on the Worth Trade Center," Vyas said.
Good neighbors, public officials say
In helping to celebrate the opening of the community center, state Senator and North Bergen Mayor Nicholas Sacco, Secaucus Mayor Dennis Elwell, and Secaucus Deputy Mayor Reilly donned turbans and mounted the stage for a candle-lighting ceremony and exchange of gifts.
Sacco – who was honored for his role as legislator, mayor and school principal – said he had watched the Indian population grow in North Bergen.
"I have learned how hard working a community you are, and I have seen business people in your community working 14 hours a day without complaining," Sacco said.
Although he said he knew little about the Indian population when they first arrived in North Bergen, he soon learned how much an asset they became to the community and helping others – even strangers.
"If your car breaks down in an Indian neighborhood, you can rest assured that there will soon be a number of people to help you fix it," Sacco said, noting that in school Indian students have excelled as well. "I am honored to be here to help you open this community room."
Elwell said a year ago, he had come here to help open the temple.
"Back then, this space was being used as a storage room. Now it is full of color and light," he said.
Elwell said Baba and the Indian community had proven themselves advocates of education, equal rights and better health care.
"This community has been very good to Secaucus," he said. "Knowing that we needed money to help fund our new library, this community has given to that effort."
Elwell invited Baba back in October for the grand opening of the new library.
Reilly, who received cheers from the crowd when he spoke to them in Indian, said he had been part of the planning process for the temple for nearly a decade, and saw them as part of his family.