HTCI Newsletter
September2017
Niveda
3350 N. German Church Road, Indianapolis, IN 46235 • 317-891-9199 • www.htci.org • webmaster@htci.org
Why worship Shakti during Navaratri By: Sharmila Sanka HTCI Newsletter Committee
Navratri is celebrated as a nine day period of worship in India, dedicated to the nine forms of the Hindu Deity Durga. The celebrations begin on the first day of the month of Ashvin according to the Hindu calendar. They culminate in the festival of Dussehra, on the tenth day of the month. The motto behind the celebration of Navratri is the triumph of good over evil. Navaratri is considered very auspicious and powerful, when all the Divine forces are at their highest level of insightfulness. During this time, the Divine Mother Goddess is worshipped in Her various forms as Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. Though the Goddess is one, she is represented and worshipped in three different essential aspects. Divine Mother comes to us to fulfill our various kinds of needs in different forms. On the first three nights of the festival, Durga is worshipped. On the following three nights, Divine Mother is worshipped as Lakshmi and then as Saraswati on the last three nights. The ninth day is referred to as 'Mahanavami'. On this day, a Kanya Pooja is performed. Nine young girls are worshipped during this Pooja. Each one of them symbolises one of the nine forms of Goddess Durga. The following tenth day is called Vijayadashami. It signifies the victory of good over evil, and victory of our soul over our body which can be made possible through the worship of the divine mother in the form of Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati.
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Chairman’s Message Dear Devotees, Greetings!! Hope you enjoyed a wonderful, not so HOT, summer. Now the festive season is upon us. Hope you can include temple activities in your plans to come and enjoy the festivities. In the meantime, the Temple Board and Executive committee have been diligently working to finalize various projects to provide better services to you. HMEC 2017: Hindu Mandir Executives Conference (HMEC) is an organization by and for Hindu temples and institutions. Our Hindu Temple is proud to host the 12th Annual Meeting from September 15-17, 2017 for over 150 temple executives and delegates coming from all over USA, Canada, Hawaii and the Caribbean. Please plan to attend and help various committees by volunteering your time and support. Two priests Pt. Badriprasad and Pt Keertivasan got their permanent residency approved and are waiting for the arrival of their green cards. In past few months the community needs for priest services have escalated to the extent that we, unfortunately, had to turn down some requests. I personally apologize for the inconvenience. Temple has recognized the need and is actively trying to recruit another priest. We should be able to update you very soon. Furthermore, to accommodate the increased community requests for various cultural and social events at temple, I am pleased to report that plans for finishing the basement have been finalized and submitted for required approvals and permits. God willing, we will be able to start construction soon. In addition, to maintain the consistency and excellence in service, the policy and procedures to operate the temple have been approved and will be implemented very soon. Our Temple board has also approved starting a voluntary medical clinic at our temple. We will provide you details at our Templefest. For the first time, we had a special General Body meeting in August. This was specially called to discuss two main agenda items: 1) General Updates on Temple and 2) proposed modifications to the Bylaws. In regards to the Bylaws, the General Body reviewed proposed modifications. Good Governance requires frequent continued on page 3...