Hackney’s only Hindu temple is “struggling” to stay open, said its chief priest.
Swamy Moorthy said that public support for the temple “has been wonderful” but that he would appreciate more financial aid. “I’m not a businessman,” he said. “I need the council to help me.”
Despite 5,000 Hindus living in Hackney, the London Shirdi Sai Baba temple only opened nine months ago. It is the first and so far only Hindu temple serving the borough.
Moorthy opened the temple in what he described as an attempt “to help humanity”. He specifically mentioned helping young people by offering them somewhere to go in an attempt to reduce knife crime.
Moorthy told the Hackney Post that he hopes eventually to have the funds to bring a “massive town hall programme” to Hackney to teach people about the Hindu message of love and peace.
Before he can do that however, he needs to raise enough money to pay the temple’s monthly rent. The temple’s website includes a prominent donations page, which notes that in addition to the building costs, the temple are struggling to fund garments for ceremonial worship of their deities, which need changing weekly. The website states that, “Our volunteers prepare the shawls and stitch according to sizes. However, we are struggling to get quality clothes for Baba and other idols as they are expensive”.
Moorthy was joined three weeks ago by the Mayor of Hackney, Philip Glenville, on the temple’s Palki procession – a walk around Hackney to honour Saint Tukaram. The De Beauvoir Association tweeted their well wishes to the temple in a series of photos which captured the two and expressed their thanks for the tour.
While dealing w/ residents’ concerns at our #DeBeauvoir councillors’ surgery, we noticed @PhilipGlanville go by, in the midst of a procession from the London Shirdi Sai Baba Temple – #Hackney’s 1st Hindu temple
Thank you 4 showing us around ? ? #DeBeauvoirTown pic.twitter.com/msE6YXDY2C
— De Beauvoir Labour? (@LoveDeBeauvoir) October 12, 2019
