Hari Temple
301 Stigerwalt Hollow Rd New Cumberland PA
Philadelphia 17070, PA, US
(717) 774-7750
haritemple@gmail.com
Timings
Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 1:00 PM & 3:00 PM - 9:00 PM Saturday - Sunday 8:00 AM - 9:00 PM
The mission of the Hindu American Religious Institute (HARI) is to serve as a center for Hindu worship, to promote spiritual development and conduct cultural and educational activities for the benefit of the Hindu community.
VISION
The vision of the Hindu American Religious Institute (HARI) is to bring together people of Hindu faith coming from various parts of the world so as to promote the Hindu way of life and to preserve and protect the rich Hindu cultural heritage in our present and future generations.
Non-Hindus, particularly those from religious traditions that do not use images, often do not understand the role of the deities and their images, or murtis, in the Hindu tradition. An image is a way to focus one's loving attention and devotion on a specific form of the Divine Reality. Brahman, the Divine Reality, is everywhere and in everyone. In order to relate to this infinite Reality in a more personal way, Brahman is happy to manifest in as many forms as we living beings need in order to draw nearer to our divine source. This is neither monotheism nor polytheism, as these are conventionally understood, though it has aspects of both. It is the idea of an omnipresent divinity that can be approached through infinite forms and in infinite ways. The deities of the Hindu tradition are forms that the Divine Reality assumes in order to draw us ever nearer, evoking the experience of bhakti, or sacred devotion, filling the devotee's heart with love and bliss.
