Source: Staten Island Advance

http://www.silive.com/news/advance/index.ssf?/base/news/106544790193420.xml

On October 6, 2003 Staten Island Advance reported that "Staten Island's Hindu community is preparing to build the borough's first Hindu temple in Sunnyside...The temple is expected to become the center of the Island's growing Hindu community and has a deep spiritual significance." The Staten Island Hindu Temple was founded in 1998, and the new temple will serve the 100-150 people who currently worship together each Friday. In keeping with Hindu tradition, it will be open to people of all faiths. "For the Hindus, a temple is not just a place of worship,"said Sundar Ramaswamy, the spiritual leader of the Staten Island Hindu Temple."We look upon it as a residence of the Lord. We invoke the presence of the Lord by rituals and an elaborate consecration.'"