HTCI Newsletter
April 2018
Niveda
3350 N. German Church Road, Indianapolis, IN 46235 • 317-891-9199 • www.htci.org • webmaster@htci.org
Chairman’s Message
OUR TEMPLE - The Heart of Hindu Community in Central Indiana
Dear fellow devotees of our Temple,
Loan Refinancing
It has been nearly 20 years since our founding members’ dream of having a place of worship, service and fellowship was conceived. Now we have a grand structure that we all can not only be proud of, but have as a great place for worship.
We have done a refinancing of our loan at good rates. One of the key goals of the Temple Board is to become debt free in the next few years. With your support and increasing foot traffic, we will be able to make this a reality.
Our Anniversary function will be held on the first weekend in June (Friday June 1 to Sunday June 3). It is a great time to celebrate together all of our blessings. More information to come. Please see our website. There are many wonderful happenings at your temple: Function Hall After months of dedicated time and effort of all of our Temple volunteers, we are proud to announce that the Temple Function Hall is complete and ready for use! We had our inauguration ceremony on April 11. Special thanks to all the volunteers who helped with the hard labor of cleaning up the basement so that the contractors could work. Thanks to Sathya Thulasiraman, Bharat Jani and members of the Facilities committee for all their dedicated time and effort. It came in under budget and earlier than scheduled! Take a look next time when you come. It is great. Kitchen Service Extension With the basement being done, the Board has approved converting the entire current boardroom as an extension of the Kitchen to better serve you, our devotees. With the extension, we will create a cleaner, more efficient environment to serve food for all of you. Land Adjacent to Temple
Free Medical Clinic This is now up and operational every 1st, and 3rd Saturday mornings to provide care for the loved ones of our devotees. We would like to thank the graciousness of all the folks who have stepped up to volunteer for this wonderful cause. Executive Committee We would like for you all to give a special thanks to our Temple President, Krishna Padmanabhan, and all the Executive Committee members next time you come to the Temple. They are the volunteers that run the day to day happenings there, making it ready for all the events and keeping it running so smoothly. And, they all volunteer their time, many more than 10-20 hours a week. I hope you are as excited as we Board members are about all the wonderful things going on here at your Temple! It is fulfilling all of our dreams. As we continue to grow, please let any one of us know how better we can serve you so you can serve God. On behalf of the Board of Trustees, Regards, Ramu Yeleti Chairman, HTCI Board of Trustees
By God’s grace, we were given an opportunity to purchase an additional 10 acres of land behind and next to the SAVE THE DATE - 2018 Temple. Most of the area that is being farmed up to the wooded trees is now ours! Special thanks to Rama and Templefest - September 15 Nalini Belagaje for helping finance the land purchase. They have been a bedrock of the Temple and still continue Annual Gala Dinner - November to contribute their time and financial resources for our General Body Meeting - Dec. 9 benefit. 1
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NEWSLETTER EDITORIAL COMMITTEE
Sharmila Sanka, Editor, Articles Coordinator sharmilasanka@yahoo.com, 479-899-1307 Madhu Bhargava, Editor Advertising Coordinator & Compiler madhu@bharprinting.com, 317-507-1843 Mohan Sarda, Communications Chair Board mohan.sarda@htci.org, 317-600-5476 Raghava Ayyagari, Communications EC raghava.ayyagari@htci.org, (317) 979-5097 “The views and opinions expressed in the articles in this newsletter are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of HTCI, its office bearers or the editorial committee.” Are you interested to submit an article for the HTCI newsletter? Do you have some feedback on this newsletter? Send an email to feedback@HTCI.org Specifications for Advertisement Newsletter Nivedina (PRINT) Half page 7 ½” W x 4 7/8” L for $400 Quarter page 3 5/8” W x 4 7/8” L for $250 Business card size 3 5/8” W x 2 ¼ L for $150 Full page 7 ½” W x10” L for $900
Email: seva@htci.org facebook: HTCIFriends twitter: HTCIFriends BOARD OF TRUSTEES Ramu Yeleti, Chairman Om Narla, Vice Chair Anita Gupta, Secretary Vijayapal Reddy, Treasurer Mohan Sarda, Jt. Treasurer & Communications Reeta Bhargava, Fund Raising Mahesh Suravarjjala, Long Range Planning Dilip Vadlamudi, Kitchen Sathya Thulasiraman, HR Akshay Bhargava, Community & PR Arun Jain, Facilities Sathyaraj Chawan, Social & Charity
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Krishnakumar Padmanabhan, President Nandi Nagaraj, Vice President Sandeep Gupta, Secretary Vijay Narayanan, Treasurer Kavya Gopinath, Jt. Treasurer Raghava Ayyagari, Communications Haribabu Gollapudi, Puja Sumukha Sheshadri, Kitchen Raveendran Dudhlur, Facilities & Library Ashok Pillai, Maintenance Sunil Nair, Cultural Prakash Mahesh, Membership Chetan Dave, Youth Coordination Nidhi Bhargava, Geeta Session Coordinator
TEMPLE HOURS: Monday - Friday: 9:00 AM - 11:30 AM & 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM Saturday - Sunday: 9:00 AM to 8:00 PM Extended hours on major holidays & long weekends: 9:00 AM -1:00 PM and 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM.
Last Archana - 7:45 PM / Last Vahan Puja - 7:30 PM Please note: Vaahan Puja requires 4 lemons, coconut, camphor and flowers Timings are subject to change without prior notice on Special Puja days or extreme weather conditions.
Address: 3350 North German Church Road, Indianapolis, IN 46235
PUJA / SERVICE REQUEST - seva@htci.org
-Haribabu.Gollapudi@htci.org or Krishna Padmanabhan 317-258-5356 Priests
Ramaswamy Bhattar (ramaswamy.bhattar@htci.org) Badrinath Sapkote (badrinath.sapkote@htci.org) Keerthivasan Srinivasan (keerthi.srinivasan@htci.org) Prasanth Sarma (prashanth.sarma@htci.org)
SPONSOR FLOWERS - seva@htci.org
Deities are decorated with fresh flowers and garlands every week and all occasions. Garlands for all the deities cost more than $200.00. Devotees are requested to come forward and choose the occasion of their choice and sponsor the flowers and garlands.Donations from $25 and up are accepted.
KITCHEN SERVICES - kitchen@htci.org
MAHA PRASAD SEVA - A great way to offer seva during weekends. To reserve your choice of weekend day, please contact Kitchen Committee Chairperson -Dilip.Vadlamudi.htci.org, Sumukha.Sheshadri@htci.org or HTCI office. Lunch is served EVERY Saturday & Sunday from Noon- 2 PM.
MEMBERSHIP - membership@htci.org
HTCI has two categories of memberships: (1) Patron/Life Members - You can become a Life Member by paying a one time fee of $1,500 or you can donate $10,000 or more (cumulatively) to become a patron. (2) Annual Members - $100 per family, $50 per individual and $15 per student. Please download the form and mail the complete form along with your check payable to HTCI Treasurer, 3350 N. German Church Road, Indianapolis, IN 46235. You can also pay online at www.htci.org.
FREE HTCI MEDICAL CLINIC - clinic@htci.org
1st and 3rd Saturdays in BASEMENT of HTCI behind new Auditorium.
BALAGOKULAM & CHETANA (YOUTH) CLASSES
- http://www.htci.org/balagokulam.cfm Balagokulam classes every Sunday from 10:30 to Noon, Pre-Chetana and Chetana classes on 2nd and 4th Sundays of every month from 10:30-Noon. -Chetan Dave 765-894-9768, chetan.dave@htci.org or Hansa Dave 317-4904910. HINDI CLASSES “MATRA” AT THE TEMPLE - SUNDAY 9:30AM-10:30AM -Rajnish Chauhan 317-605-7897, Sanjiv Joshi 317-205-7228 SANSKRIT CLASSES - SUNDAY 9:30AM-10:30AM -Sanjay Kalluparambil 646-722-0785 <sanjay.kalluparambil@gmail.com> YOGA CLASSES AT THE TEMPLE - SATURDAY 10 AM-11AM - Uma Vashistha 317-414-1220 <umavas@hotmail.com> SAHAJA MEDITATION SESSION - SUNDAY 11 AM-12 PM - Manisha Kokitkar 317-625-6385 <ekmanisha@msn.com> All the donations and the pooja services receipts are emailed, if you are not receiving your receipts or your email address or residence address is changed please report to the temple to serve you better. Tax ID for Donations : 35-2092107 To pay online can use PayPal, Donations of all kinds are precious gifts to the temple.
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FINANCIAL UPDATE December 2017
PRESIDENTâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S MESSAGE Om Sri Gurubhyo Namaha! Namaskaram,
The revenue and expenses of various programs and other activities have been summarized below on a functional basis on the statement of activities. Overall, it has been a good 2017 for HTCI.
It is a great privilege and honor to be writing on behalf of the Executive Committee for the year 2018-19. Our Executive Committee is determined to work diligently with the members of our community to improve the relationship and service to the community. Our community is growing by leaps and bounds and so is the need with temple operations. We are ever grateful and salute all our dedicated volunteers who routinely do many of the daily operational tasks of the temple. To name a few, Kitchen Volunteers who help in packing and serving food, committed office volunteers who take turns to cover front desk during all days of the week, facility maintenance volunteer team who tirelessly work behind the scenes for the upkeep of temple assets, Balagokulam teachers who educate our children and youths and many other volunteers without their help, it will be very difficult to serve the needs of our temple devotees
HTCI purchased approximately 10 acres of land across the temple for $230,000 of which $115,000 was paid at the closing of land purchase and remaining principal amount will be paid in equal monthly installments of $3443 per month for 36 consecutive months beginning December 2017. In addition, in April 2018 recently finished construction of a function hall in the basement costing approximately $250,000. Temple donations and your financial support are being used judiciously to complete the above-mentioned projects. HTCI Board, Executive Committee and Priests would like to thank all devotees, donors and volunteers. Without your generosity, time, dedication and devotion none of this would have been possible. May His blessings be with you.
Since January, we have observed festivals like Shivaratri, Holi, Ugadi, Vasant Navaratri and Sri Ramanavami to name a few. I take this opportunity to thank our priests, cook and maintenance crew for their outstanding dedication and commitments to make all these events successful. We are grateful to have the support from the Board of Trustees led by Dr. Ramu Yeleti. Upcoming events for the summer includes Temple Anniversary, Balagokulam Sports Day, Shirdi Sai Centenary Year Celebrations, Yearly Devi Jagran and the most awaited TempleFest. This year Anniversary celebration focus will be to celebrate Maa Durga.
Vijayapal Reddy Vijay Narayanan
2017 Income and Expenses Committee/Function Pooja Committee Maintenance Committee Balagokulam Communication Committee Membership Committee Office Kitchen Committee Annadhanam Geetha Session Hundi Collection Credit card fees EC Management Contingency Temple Fest Annual Dinner Donation Pledges Mortgage Capital Expense Total
Income Expenses $292,455 $199,962 $7,631 $162,138 $11,217 $11,077 $2,748 $13,139 $35,437 $8,809 $7,385 $114,505 $96,607 $42,036 $5,188 $660 $185,075 - $15,001 - $7,123 $25,952 $16,575 $25,146 $14,607 $286,525 $57,279 - $240,000 - $124,544 $1,100,003 $908,819
Our teamâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s main goal for this year is to make sure that all pujas and events are performed to improve devotee experience at the temple. It is always satisfying to hear when a devotee mentions that they had a very positive experience at the temple. We pray to Jagadeeswara to grant us the opportunity to serve his Lotus Feet and his devotees. Once again our sincere thanks for all your help, encouragement and support. On behalf of Team EC Krishnakumar Padmanabhan (KP) President Executive Committee 3
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Interfaith Sacred Tour:
poetry style, of song in worship. Over 50 visitors were thoroughly entertained and had many questions. After the performances, our visitors were given a tour of HTCI by Dr. Anita Joshi. She educated our guests about Hinduism and our temple. Guests then joined many regular temple devotees for lunch, which everyone enjoyed. It was an important opportunity to highlight our place of worship, to those not familiar with Hinduism and for them to hear examples of music that moves the spirit and brings worshipers closer to the Divine. If you are interested in supporting these important interfaith outreach events or bringing outside groups to tour the temple, please contact our temple by email at tours@htci.org. Tours are by appointment only.
On April 21st at 10 am the Hindu Temple of Central Indiana played host to the Center for Interfaith Cooperationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s yearly initiative called Sacred Spaces. This event is meant to invite people from all faiths to come and celebrate the spaces that are most sacred to their neighbors and learn more about the religious diversity of greater Indianapolis. The theme this year was Sacred Song and Recitation. This year is the second year that HTCI has participated in this free community event. The event consisted of beautiful musical performances by our very own members. One groupâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s members included Anita Gupta, Sanjiv Joshi, Madhu Bhargava, and Lokesh Bhatt. They educated and entertained our audience with the Bhajan style of music used commonly during Hindu Worship. We have often enjoyed the beauty of their voices and instrumental accompaniment here at the temple. We were also fortunate to have Prajakta Paradkar and Sanjay Vaze introduce the audience to the Hindustani Classical style. The melodious flute playing and her serene voice carried our visitors on the journey of divine celebration. For our final performance, we were happy to have another well known musician to our temple, Rajesh Kulkarni. His wonderful voice illustrated the Abhang,
SAVE THE DATE WORLD HINDU CONGRESS September 7 - 9, 2018 Event Location - Westin Hotel
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The World Hindu Congress (WHC) is a global platform for Hindus to connect, share ideas, inspire one another, and impact the common good. Held once every four years. Leadership and contributions of Hindu women and youth. Visit www.worldhinducongress.org/ for more details.
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Pilgrimage to the Holy Manasarovar & Kailash A JOURNEY OF A LIFETIME
By: Sharmila Sanka, HTCI Newsletter Editorial Committee
Going to Manasarovar and Kailash was another step on the ladder of self-realization that crowned my life with fulfilment. It is said that, it takes 21 generations of our forefathers’wish to make this happen. Our group of 54 reached Nepal where we were welcomed with Rudraksha mala. We visited the famous and beautiful Pashupathinath temple and a Jyothirlinga in Nepalgunj located on the banks of the Bagmati River. Next day, we started in a bus to Janakpuri Dhaam, birthplace of Maa Sita, in Nepal. We stopped at a place where, Rama broke the bow to prove his valor to marry Sita. The center portion of the bow was fallen in a place near the palace of Janakpuri dhaam. We went and touched the wood like bow piece spreading inside the earth like roots and went to Janakpur palace and saw the wedding hall where Lord Rama and Maa Sita got wedded. The next day, we went to Nepalgunj to visit the Shakthi PeeT called Bhageshwari or Vaageshwari temple, where the tongue of Sati fell. We offered abhishekam to the tongue piece of the Goddess in black in a small pit covered with stone which was shown only during the special Pooja. We then reached Simikot and took a helicopter ride to Hilsa and the scenery was simply beautiful. We reached Hilsa , a town on the northwestern corner of Nepal bordering Tibet Autonomous Region (China). Hilsa was 12,000 feet high from the sea level. The next morning, we crossed the iron bridge crossing Karnali river from Hilsa to Taklakot for the Chinese immigration. We went in a bus to Taklakot that night. We started off to Manasarovar in a bus. It took two hours to do parikrama in the bus, going around the lake. It was a memorable moment in all our lives to glimpse ‘Kailash’ on our way to Manasarovar from the bus. On the way, we stopped at ‘Rakshasthal’, lake in which the demon king Ravana performed penance for Shiva. Finally I witnessed Kailash. It was as if my heart stopped its beat to witness the divinity of Kailash. That was a moment to be inscribed in gold. We saw Gurla Maandhaata Mountains where, Ganesha’s neck was cut by Lord Shiva. The mountain sits roughly across Lake Manasarovar from the sacred peak of Mount Kailash. The other side of Rakshasthal is Manasarovar with a small mountain dividing both the lakes. We travelled for few minutes and we witnessed the beautiful,
indescribable Manasarovar Lake. How beautiful it was! No wonder it was created out of Lord Brahma’s mind. We travelled for an hour around the lake for a parikrama and stopped at one place to take a holy dip in Manasarovar. The weather was so beautiful and sunny. We were lucky to have a dip and it was the coldest and the most auspicious moment of our lives. The priest made us offer ‘PinDam’ to my dad and father-in-law. I prayed to our Pitru Devathas to receive the offering and get blessed. We were told that 21 generations of our Pitru Devathas would plan and pick the child in the family to visit Kailash and Manasarovar and to perform ‘PinDa pradhaan’ for them. We then drove for another hour to complete the parikrama of Manasarovar and finally reached a cottage for the night’s stay.
Youth & Children’s Activity Desk Recent Balagokulam Activities
Balagokulam kids recently celebrated RamNavami with cultural program. The program started with Ganesha stuti and included various performances. This program showcased team work between parents and teachers to put together very nice performance with very limited time and resources. As we near the end of school year, Balagokulam teachers also conducted yearly exams that included written and verbal test, yoga and stage presentation. The yearly test are conducted under ‘no stress’ environment with teachers preparing kids for that. We will like to thank all the parents for their commitment to Balagokulam program and providing kids’ spiritual environment to grow with Hindu values. Last Day of year May 20th, 2018 First Day of the new year classes August 12th, 2018 2010 Hindu Heritage Family Camp This year’s Hindu Heritage camp is scheduled from Aug. 3rd to Aug. 5th at Versailles State Park. The camp provides an opportunity to unplug from day to day activities and focus on spiritual aspect of life. The camp also provides kids to learn and play games that instills values highlighted by Hinduism. Activities includes Yoga, Group Discussions, Skit, Campfire and games. Registrations for camp ongoing and you can find the information at https://balagokulam.htci.org/ For questions or comments on Balagokulam and Chetana activities, please email chetan.dave@htci.org
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NONPROFIT ORG U.S. POSTAGE
Hindu Temple of Central Indiana 3350 N. German Church Road Indianapolis, IN 46235
PAID
INDIANAPOLIS, IN PERMIT # 8042
Upcoming Events 2018 Saturday, May 12 Akhand Ramayan ending Sunday 13th morning followed by Geeta Session July 14 and 22 Jagannath Rath Yatra Friday, July 27 - Guru Purnima Saturday, July 28 Samuhika Sai Vrath Pooja Friday, August 24 Varalakshmi Vratham, Onam Saturday, August 25 Raksha Bandhan Rig/Yajurveda Upakarma Sunday, September 2 Shri Krishna Janmashtami Wednesday, September 12 Ganesh Charturthi September 25-October 8 Mahalayapaksha / Shraddhapaksha Tues. October 9- Wed. October 17 Sharad Navratri Thursday, October 18 Vijaya Dashami Saturday, October 27 Karwa Chauth Wed. November 7 Deepavali Thursday, November 8 Annakut, Gujrati New Year Sunday, November 18 Prabodhini Ekadashi Tulsi Vivah Tuesday, December 18 Vaikuntha Ekadashi
Temple Anniversary Celebration
Friday June 1, 2018 9:00 am Durga/Shakthi Ganapathi Homam 7:30 pm Garba
Saturday June 2, 2018 9:00 am Durga Aavarana Pooja, 10:30 am Lalitha Sahasranama Laksharchana (108 Devotees will do pooja)
3:30 pm Mata ki Chowki
Sunday June 3, 2018 9:00 am Durga Samputitha Maha Prathyangira Homam & Sarva Devatha Homam
Friday, June 15
6:00 pm - 6:00 am (next day) Devi Jagran Temple Anniversary Celebration Sponsorship Amounts: Astothara Satha Modaka Durga/Shakthi Ganapathi Homam. - $51 Ganapathi Utsava Moorthi Abhishekam. - $31 Lalitha Sahasranama Laksharchana (108 Devotees will do pooja) - $51 Durga Abhishekam & Mata ki Chowki - $51 Durga Samputitha Prathyangira Homam, Sarva Devatha Homam - $75 Devi Jagran - $75 Platinum Sponsorship...$1,001 Gold Sponsorship............$501 8