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The ISKCON temple in Chicago
1716 W. Lunt Ave. Chicago, IL 60626
A Hindu woman entering the ISKCON Temple and a worshipper observing her religion.
The ISKCON temple in Chicago is one of the 108 ISKCON temples from all around the world. Millions of Hindus go to these temples to practise their religion every year. When I visited the Rogers Park (Chicago) chapter ISKCOB temples on May 26, 2002, the worshippers in the temple welcomed me with a special chanting ceremony!
The Hindu community of Rogers Park was celebrating the birthday of Indra Dumna Swami. Mr. Swami is a religious leader for the Hindus and he currently lives in Poland. Kalki Das, the resident of the temple and one of the two people who guided me during my visit, told me that some disciples of Mr. Swami recently came to the United States to visit the ISKCON temple.
In the ISKCON temple of Rogers Park, "bhakti yoga" meditations and "Maha Madra" chanting (a type of prayer which is observed with the drums and lyrics sang in Hindu language) are widely observed. According to Kalki Das, this temple is open to the public.
The chanting mainly based upon gathering around the picture of Mr. Swami and
presenting him religious songs (Maha Madra), flowers, good will and food. As
soon as the chanting began, a beautiful girl speaking in Russian, who is also
seen sitting in front the picture of Indra Dumna Swami in the photos, served
a candle to each worshipper for them to bring their hands close to the light,
feel the heat of it and take their hands to their heads. Right after that, each
worshipper was provided with various kinds of flowers to present to the photograph
of the Religious Leader Swami. 
It's amazing to see, that there's diversity even among the worshippers of the
ISKCON Temple. People from different races were present there on Sunday in order
to practice their belief. 
"Every sunday evening we have a program," said Bhakti Dushyanti,
a young Hindu. "We have 15 full-time devotees," he added. After I
asked him what he thinks about the diversity of religions in Rogers Park he
said that he totally found that necessary and important. He said that through
the others' experiences they could find opportunity to reach the Unified Point,
which is Krishna.
Bhakti Dushyanti, presenting
candle light...
There is also a separate room for Hindus, in which they worhsip their Gods, in the temple.
