Ganapathi Temple, located at 45-57 Bowne St, Flushing, New York, was opened for worship on July 4 th 1977. The temple which was started in a small frame house subsequently added a wedding hall, auditorium, Ganesha patasala, canteen & staff quarters over a period of time.

The deities at the temple include Lord Ganesha, Shiva & Parvathi, Venkateswara, Shanmukha & Valli, Devasena, Mahalakshmi & Navagrahas. The temple offers a wide range of services like Abhishekam, Annaprasanam, Ganapathi Homam, Namakaranam, Satyanarayana Pooja, Upanayanam, Vehicle Pooja, Weddings and so on.

The announcement of the Palmyra New York Temple placed the Church’s 100th announced temple in the “Cradle of the Restoration.” The temple site is on the border between Manchester, Ontario County, and Palmyra, Wayne County. The temple district serves about 18,000 members in the Buffalo, Jamestown, Owego, Rochester, Rochester Palmyra, Syracuse and Utica New York stakes.
The temple is on Church property located near the Sacred Grove where Joseph Smith received the First Vision, the Smith log cabin where Joseph Smith received visitations from the Angel Moroni, and the Joseph Smith Sr. farm home. Also near is the Hill Cumorah where Joseph Smith retrieved the golden plates that were translated into the Book of Mormon. About 30 miles away is the Peter Whitmer Farm in Fayette, New York, where the Church’s organization in this dispensation was made official.

This particular temple is unusual because of its location in midtown Manhattan. Most Latter-day Saint temples are free-standing structures surrounded by manicured gardens in suburban settings. However, the Manhattan temple, similar to the Church’s temple in Hong Kong, was built in an existing building and rises six stories above ground in an urban setting one block west of Central Park. Temple visitors will use four of the building’s levels; the other levels house a chapel, classrooms and church offices.

The temple will be the second in New York state (the Palmyra New York Temple was dedicated in 2000) and the 119th in the world.

Govardhana Puja is the celebration of Krishna’s pastime of lifting Govardhana Hill. As Srila Prabhupada relates in the Krishna book (chapters 24 and 25), Krishna dissuaded his father, Nanda Maharaja, from performing ritualistic sacrifice to the demigod Indra, and encouraged the residents of Vrindavana to worship Govardhana Hill.

All the cowherd men of Vrindavana had arranged to worship King Indra. Because Vrindavana is a village of vaisyas (farmers and dairymen), and especially dependent on the rain to grow crops and feed the cows, the cowherd men felt obliged to offer Lord Indra some worship in order to ensure regular supply of rain.