BALAGOKULAM (HSS) AZ TIMES - June 2017

VOLUME 2 l ISSUE 3

JUNE 2017

H I N D U

S WAYA M S E VA K

S A N G H

Balagokulam AZ Times H I N D U D H A R M A F O R K I D S, T E AC H E R S & PA R E N T S

HSS

Family Camp2017 WISHESH DIGITAL | JUNE 2017

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NAMAMI GANGE INTEGRATED GANGA CONSERVATION MISSION

THE RIVER, ITS POLLUTION AND WHAT WE CAN DO TO CLEAN IT ‘Namami Gange’, or National Mission for Clean Ganga (NMCG) is a $3.0 Billion ambitious coordinated river cleaning program launched by Government of India in 2014. NMCG projects focus on creation of sewage treatment plants and related infrastructure for stopping pollution caused by domestic/industrial sewage, and pious refuse.

Sewa with IDF-OI is soliciting philanthropic funds from Overseas Indians to fund ‘Namami Gange.’

Sewa International P.O. Box 820867 Houston, TX 77282-0867 Phone: (708) USA-SEWA EMAIL: NG@SEWAUSA.ORG WWW.SEWAUSA.ORG/PROJECTS/NG

India Development Foundation of Oversees Indians

LET US CLEAN UP GANGA

DONATE NOW!

Donations will be 501(c)(3) Tax Exempt

www.sewausa.org/Donate

wishesh digital

Disclaimer

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Balagokulam AZ Times and/or HSS do not warrant or assume any legal liability or responsibility for the quality, accuracy, completeness, legality, reliability or usefulness of any information, product or service represented in this publication. The information provided in Balagokulam AZ Times Magazine is for educational or entertainment purposes only.

Contents JUNE 2017

hss family camp holi Bala Shikshak Varg

Sivarathri kid REPORTERS Decoding path to success Guruvandana story health tips

Balagokulam AZ Times news letter is community information purposes (non-commercial purpose) only for Balagokulam people in Phoenix, AZ and not intended for any other purpose nor for any other location.

Content appearing in this News Letter if taken from other sources ( credits to source are given), respective content owners own the intellectual property rights to the material and Phoenix AZ Times cannot certify the accuracy of the material published from 3rd party sources including any on sourced/ linked publications/site.

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Anyone using the information in Balagokulam AZ Times , whether medical, legal, business or other, does so at his or her own risk, and by using such information agrees to indemnify Balagokulam AZ Times and HSS, and its content providers from any and all liability, loss, injury, damages, costs and expenses (including legal fees and expenses) arising from such use.

No Implied Endorsement : Balagokulam AZ Times news letter does not endorse or recommend any article on this site or any product, service or information found within said articles. The views and opinions of the authors who have submitted articles to Balagokulam AZ Times belong to them alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Balatgokulam AZ Time and/or HSS, its staff or HSS related entities.

Events

HSS & Balagokulam’s HSS Family Camp (On April 2017) HSS Phoenix has conducted a family Sanghik. The weekend was full of action and satisfaction. Total of 144 people from 44 families came together in the weekend to have a wonderful time knowing each other, practising healthy living and exchanging pleasantries.

The familly get together was a memorable one. It has given the opportunity to interact with each other and know about the rich heritage and tradition of Hindustan.

Eve

DECODING PATH TO SUCCESS (OnApril, 2017) A FREE 2 hours information session for parents of middle and high school students by a Subject Matter Expert Ranju Vatsa Thank You Ranju Vatsa for a very useful and highly professional session. Every slide, every point is useful and it was a great session helping many parents.

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s Events HSS AZ Bala Shikshak Varg (On Feb,, 2017)

ents

HSS Arizona Vibhag conducted bala shikshak varg today from 10 AM to 12 noon. The varg was held at Ramakrishna Shakha sanghstaan, coinciding with the shakha time with an extension of 30 minutes. The total sankhya at the end of the varg was 31, including about 10 balas & shishus. We also had few people leave early and a few others join late during the varg.

Guru Vandana (On May, 2017) Balagokulam - Shakthi Shakha celebrated Guru Vandana. Multiple teachers blessed their students, a message from Bagirath Gohil followed with an excellent dance performances along with mouth watering Indian food made this program a memorable one.Guru Vandana means “Reverence for the Teacher” – it is the thanksgiving from a student to a teacher, expressing his or her gratitude.Teacher Appreciation Day is a wonderful occasion for all of us to show our reverence to the teacher, whether he/she is our current teacher, a former teacher, or our kids’ teachers.

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Events : FAMILY CAMP

FAMILY CAMP

By HSS

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HSS Phoenix has conducted a family Sanghik. The weekend was full of action and satisfaction. Around 44 families came together in the weekend to have a wonderful time knowing each other, practising healthy living and exchanging pleasantries. The familly get together was a memorable one. It has given the opportunity to interact with each other and know about the rich heritage and tradition of Hindustan.

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Events : FAMILY CAMP

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Events : HOLI

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HSS Balagokulam HOLI

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CELEBRATIONS 2017

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Events : HOLI

HOLI

By HSS

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Events : BALA SHIKSHAK VARG

HSS AZ Bala Shikshak Varg Feb 2017

HSS Arizona Vibhag conducted bala shikshak varg today from 10 AM to 12 noon. The varg was held at Ramakrishna Shakha sanghstaan, coinciding with the shakha time with an extension of 30 minutes. The total sankhya at the end of the varg was 31, including about 10 balas & shishus. We also had few people leave early and a few others join late during the varg.

We started the varg with dhwajaarohan, warm up exercises and Surya Namaskar.

Lalithaji conducted warm up exercises and Surya Namaskar for combined tarun and bala gana. During this time, she gave many useful tips about how to make these activities engaging and interesting for balas. This was demonstrated right then and there by incorporating her suggestions in the warm up and Surya Namaskar activities.

After this, the tarun and bala ganas were WISHESH DIGITAL | JUNE 2017

separated for khel. Deepaliji conducted khel for tarun gana, and while conducting the games, she covered the khel shikshan vidhi.

After the khel, Sai-ji from Ramakrishna shakha led saanghik geet, and the tarun gana continued with Bala Shikshak Varg focused on Balagokulam activities.

Meanwhile, the bala gana had additional khel with Gopalji Mukkamala and craft activity making bracelets and kites with Deepaliji.

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Bala Shikshak Varg had the following activities components: 1

Introduction to Bala Gokulam by Sudhaji.

Discussion on the challenges when conducting bala activities. Few karyakartas discussed the challenges involved in ensuring discipline when conducting bala activities. There was consensus that it is the collective responsibility of all the parents to ensure discipline, and also to understand and support bala shikshaks in this regard. We also discussed the expectations of the different groups from Balagokulam: 2

(a) Balas expect to have a fun time with friends. (b) Parents expect the balas to learn about Hindu Dharma and scriptures. (c) Sangh itself works to develop balas into good human beings with samskaras / values, selfless service, leadership qualities. So, the challenge for Balagokulam is to fulfill all these expectations.

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Next, the tarun gana was split into 3 groups to discuss how the following topics can be conducted / presented in Balagokulam: (a) Story telling - facilitated by Sudhaji. (b) Hindu festivals - facilitated by Prabhathji Chandran (c) Hindu principles & symbols - facilitated by Aravindji After the split charcha by the 3 groups, everyone came together and shared the learnings from their respective group discussions.

The session was concluded by Aravindji summarizing the points shared by the different groups, a recap of the expectations from different groups, shared / collective responsibility for all of us to contribute towards successful and effective Balagokulam activities and the ultimate goal of helping balas grow up into value-oriented, selfless swayamsevaks / sevikas and leaders.

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Events : SHIVRATHRI

Mahasivaratri

A great recital of LINGA ASHTAKAM by Balagokulam kids for Maha Shivaratri at Ekta Mandir

About Mahasivaratri

According to the Puranas, during the great churning of the ocean called Samudra Manthan, a pot of poison emerged from the ocean.

The devas and the asuras were terrified as it could destroy the world.

They ran to Sri Shiva for help. Sri Shiva drank the deadly poison but held it in his throat instead ovf swallowing it. This turned his throat into blue and since he came to be known as “Neelakantha” which means the blue-necked one. Maha Shivaratri is celebrated to offer prayers to Sri Shiva for saving the universe from the imbalances.

Actual meaning of Maha Shivaratri is “the great night of Shiva” or “the night of great Shiva”. It is also believed that on this day Sri Shiva was married to Parvati.

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Events : YUGADI UTSAV

Sangh has celebrated Yugadi Utsav. For Sangh there is a happy and meaningful coincidence, in that the great founder of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Dr. Keshav Baliram Hedgewar, was also born on this very day of Yugaadi of 1889.

It is on this occasion of Varsha Pratipada that we as Swayamsevaks show our love and respect for Doctorji., in the form of Adya Sarsangachalak Pranam before even the Bhagwa is hoisted.

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Kid Reporters

Family Camp Experience Ananya

Going to family camp was a long journey, we reached there on Friday evening. We went to the camp Tontozona Hall. On Friday we played the family bingo game, then we went to sleep in our cabin. Our room had a bumper bed. My friend Diya got to sleep on the top bed.

On Saturday we went to the dining hall for breakfast. For breakfast I ate cinnamon toast crunch cereal and little bit of mango sweet. Then we went up the hill to do rock painting. I painted Indian flag on the rock. I liked it because it was very colorful. Then I played Hula Hoop Pass.

How to play Hulahoop pass is you should pass the hulahoop without holding it with your hands. If you touch the hulahoop with your hands you are OUT. This was a boys against girl’s game and Sahasra akka asked us to use our head. When we used our head the girls team won!!!. Then we played stack the marshmallows to make

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a castle. The girls made a tall castle with marshmallows and sticks, but the boys just did a circle with the marshmallows. I think the girls won here too.

Then we had lunch, I could not eat ice cream because I was a little sick. After lunch we played team games and I was in team 2. We played lemon and spoon game. This is how we play the game, first you have a spoon in your mouth and a lemon on the spoon. Then you have to run and tag the person who is at the finish line. If you tag their hands first without dropping the lemon you win. I tagged the person first and won the game. The balloon game was a hard for me but my team won because other were able to do it.

Then we went down the hill to play the RAMAYANA game. It was very fun. Frist part we had to run and find our tickets.

This was not fun. The fun part was when hanuman had to fly across the ocean to

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find Sita and give her Rama’s ring. Only kids above 9 could be crocodiles so I was watching Hanuman cross the ocean and give the Sita the ring. When hanuman came back with the sheet we filled the paper with answerers. It was fun to use rice as glue to stick the clues on to the paper.

Then we had performances at the Tontozona camp hall. My performance was the Sun and Moon performance. I also liked tenali raman skit, it was funny. tenali raman wanted gun powder instead of chutney this was the funny part. I was little shy during my performance of the folk dance. After the all the performance we had dinner and did dandiya, since I was sick I slept on my dad’s lap and then Gopal uncle carried me while I was sleeping.

kids hike. It was very fun. We went on the swing we also climbed on the bouncy tray. We when watched the video called “sound of joy” the little boy called “Balle” he was an intelligent boy and scared of nothing.

Finally we got ready to leave. I remembered my rock was still at the rock painting place. So I went with my dad to find it. But it was not there somebody took it, I felt sad. I wanted to take other rocks but my dad said if you take other people’s rocks they will feel sad so you should not take theirs. So I just took my sisters and went feeling happy at least my sister had her rock with here.

Next time I am hoping we can do more stuff, Bye!!!!

- Ananya

Sunday was the last day of the camp. We went to a hike it was called the

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Events : DECOING PATH TO SUCCESS

DECODING PATH TO SUCCESS

By IWEF

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A FREE 2 hours information session for parents of middle and high school students by a Subject Matter Expert Ranju Vatsa Thank You Ranju Vatsa for a very useful and highly professional session. Every slide, every point is useful and it was a great session helping many parents. Close to 100 families got insight in your V-I-P framework you presented. Great going!!! This event wouldn’t have been so successful without IWEF Volunteers & friends...

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CONSULATE GENERAL OF INDIA SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

all are cordially invited to THIRD ANNUAL

International Day of Yoga IDYAZ will be celebrated on

JUNE 24TH , SATURDAY, STARTING FROM 9:00 A.M. LOCATION : Indo-American Community Center 2809 W. Maryland Ave, Phoenix AZ 85017

CONTACT : info@idyaz.org www.idyaz.org Ph: 602-568-8658

SPECIAL

KIDS YOGA SESSIONS

BRING YOUR OWN YOGA MAT

“Let’s make Yoga integral part of our daily lives”

SAVE WISHESH YOUR SPOT NOW : DIGITAL | JUNE 2017 HTTPS://GOO.GL/7MYCYG

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Person of the month reins of the kingdom. However, Rajyavardhana too died, most probably killed by Shashanka, the ruler of the Gauda kingdom following which the young Harsha came to power.

After the downfall of the Gupta Empire in the middle of the 6th century, Northern India had fallen apart to small republics and minor states.

After ascending the throne Harsha united the small republics from Punjab to central India, to create a vast unified empire.

Harshavardhana Indian emperor (590 AD - 647 AD)

Harshavardhana, also known as Harsha, was an Indian emperor who ruled over a large empire in northern India from 606 to 647. The second son of Prabhakarvardhana, he hailed from the Pushyabhuti Dynasty. After the death of his father, his elder brother Rajyavardhana took over the

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Under his rule, the empire underwent considerable expansion and grew to include the Punjab, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bengal, Odisha and the entire IndoGangetic plain north of the Narmada River. He proved himself to be an able administrator and presided over a kingdom where peace and prosperity prevailed for most of the time. He had an intellectual bent of mind and his court was a hub of artistic activities.

Harsha himself was a Mahayana Buddhist and was tolerant towards all Indic faiths.

He was married to Durgavati and had two sons with her, Vagyavardhana and Kalyanvardhana. Both his sons were killed by Arunashwa, a chief minister in Harsha’s court.

Harsha died in 647, having ruled for 41 years. He left behind no heir as both his sons were dead. The empire disintegrated upon his death.

Source: http://www.thefamouspeople.com

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Q&A

Hinduism Volume 13

Hinduism is the oldest religion of this world. During the period when people in other areas were hunting down animals, the great Hindu sages, holy men and Kings were leading their people in virtuous life by chanting the vedas, carrying out great yagas (yagna) and medical research in Sittha, Ayurveda and also in astronomy.

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What is karma?

Karma is one of the natural laws of the mind, just as gravity is a law of matter. Just as God created gravity to bring order to the physical world, He created karma as a divine system of justice that is self-governing and infinitely fair. It automatically creates the appropriate future experience in response to the current action. Karma simply means “action” or “cause and effect.” When something happens to us that is apparently unfortunate or unjust, it is not God punishing us. It is the result of our own past actions.

The Vedas, Hinduism’s revealed scripture, tell us if we sow goodness, we will reap goodness; if we sow evil, we will reap evil. Thus we create our own destiny through thought and action.

And the divine law is: whatever karma we are experiencing in our life is just what we need at the moment, and nothing can happen but that we have the strength to meet it. Even harsh karma, when faced in wisdom, can be the greatest catalyst for spiritual growth.

Understanding the way karma works, we seek to live a good and virtuous life through right thought, right speech and right action.

This is called dharma.

Elaboration: Karma is basically energy. I throw energy out through thoughts, words and deeds, and it comes back to me, in time, through other people. Karma is our best teacher, for we must always face the consequences of our actions and thus improve and refine our behavior, or suffer if we do not. We Hindus look at time as a circle, as things cycle around again. Professor Einstein came to the same conclusion. He saw time as a curve, and space as well. This would eventually make a circle.

treats everyone the same. Because we Hindus understand karma, we do not hate or resent people who do us harm. We understand they are giving back the effects of the causes we set in motion at an earlier time. The law of karma puts man at the center of responsibility for everything he does and everything that is done to him.

Karma is a word we hear quite often on television. “This is my karma,” or “It must have been something I did in a past life to bring such good karma to me.” We hear karma simply defined as “What goes around, comes around.” In some schools of Hinduism, karma is looked upon as something bad—perhaps because we are most aware of this law when we are facing difficult karma, and not so aware of it when life is going smoothly. Even some Hindus equate karma with sin, and this is what evangelical Christians preach that it means.

Many people believe that karma means “fate,” a preordained destiny over which one has no control, which is also untrue. The process of action and reaction on all levels—physical, mental and spiritual—is karma. Here is an example. I say kind words to you, and you feel peaceful and happy. I say harsh words to you, and you become ruffled and upset. The kindness and the harshness will return to me, through others, at a later time. This is karma.

An architect thinks creative, productive thoughts while drawing plans for a new building. But were he to think destructive, unproductive thoughts, he would soon not be able to accomplish any kind of positive task even if he desired to do so. This is karma, a natural law of the mind. We must also be very careful about our thoughts, because thought creates, and thoughts make karmas—good, bad and mixed.

Karma is a very just law which, like gravity, WISHESH DIGITAL | JUNE 2017

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Story

Tolerate like Yogi Bapa

Once, Yogi Bapa and some sadhus were travelling and arrived at keriya village, where they decided to rest.

During the afternoon, the sadhus were all resting except Yogi Bapa. Because he was fasting, he was awake and taking care of various tasks.

Some other sadhus who were opposed to the principle of Akshar-Purushottam arrived to punish them. They entered the mandir where everyone was resting and started beating up the sadhus. They smashed pots, pushed the sadhus and broke things. They even pushed a blind sadhu, Bhagwatswarupdasji, against the wall; such was their cruelty!

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Finally some satsangi villagers arrived with sticks and chased away the opposing sadhus.

After the disturbance, the satsangis were very upset, but neither Yogi Bapa nor any of the other sadhus muttered even one single word against their attackers. This incident truly highlights how tolerance is a definition of sadhuta – ‘saintliness’.

Even after reading this incident, we might think, “How can I stay so calm in such a bloodboiling situation?” The solution: if we always remember that Maharaj is the all-doer and that nothing happens without his wish, then we can see

the above type of situation as an opportunity to erase our swabhavs and increase our control over our emotions and mind. We can use the situation as an opportunity to learn about ourselves instead of looking for faults in others. But this understanding does not come so easily. We must also pray daily to Yogi Bapa and our guru Pramukh Swami Maharaj in our puja. We should ask them to bless us with the ability to learn the virtue of tolerance so that we can be resilient in any difficult situation and behave how they would have behaved, rather than responding to our emotions and mind.

Source : kids.baps.org

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Health Tips

IMPORTANT HEALTH BENEFITS OF

PUMPKIN SEEDS

Pumpkin seeds, more commonly known as pepitas, are green-coloured, oval-shaped seeds which are covered under an external shell of whitish yellow colour. These seeds are considered highly good for your body and can be consumed with the shell as well. According to the experts, health benefits of pumpkin seeds includes presence of health-friendly antioxidants such as vitamin E, zinc as well as phytosterols, which helps in removing various inflammations.

dry pumpkins for about 15 minutes, helps in getting more benefits.

Pumpkin seeds are also helpful in triggering hair growth in balding and men and is highly helpful in reducing the negative impacts in menopausal women. It has also been found that, pumpkin seeds act effectively on reducing the risk of breast, prostate as well as colon cancers. Due to this ability of it, pumpkin seeds are used to cure various diseases since the ancient times. Experts says that roasting

3. Regulates blood sugar level

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To explain more on the benefits of pumpkin seeds, here are the list of important health benefits of pumpkin seeds consumption.

ADVANTAGES OF PUMPKIN SEEDS CONSUMPTION : 1. Antioxidant supply 2. Strengthens heart 4. Prevents skin aging 5. Hair loss prevention 6. Arthritic pain relive 7. Improves sperm count and quality 8. Removes parasites in intestines

Source : www.healthspectra.com 27

INDIAN YOGA Yoga Pose of the Month

Makarasana or

“

THE

CROCODILE POSE

Makarasana in Sanskrit means “Crocodile pose”, because this Pose resembles a Crocodile resting in the ocean. The crocodile keeps its neck and face above the water. A similar form is seen in this pose. Makarasana is an Asana for all spherical stretching of the body. Makarasana straightens and stretches the muscles of the rear, buttocks, legs and the back of the arms and legs. The crocodile posture in yoga is additionally an excellent pose to cut back stress and improves body posture. The aim of Makarasana is to unleash strain caused by other Poses.

“

How to do Lie down straight on your stomach.

While exhaling, your feet should be straight and keep your head steady.

Now join your elbows, making a stand and place your palms under the chin.

Repeat this for 20 to 25 times.

Lift your chest up.

Keep your elbows and legs together.

During inhaling, first fold your one leg at a time and then both the legs together.

During folding, your ankles should touch the hips.

Benefits of Makarasana Beneficial in cervical, slip disc, spondylitis, sciatica.

Beneficial in all spine related problems.

Very useful in Asthama, knee pain, and other lungs related problems.

Stretches the muscles of legs and hips.

This pose is best for relaxing after doing other Asana.

Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh

hssphx@gmail.com

Balagokulam Every Child has the spark of divinity within...

Balagokulam is a forum for children to discover and manifest that divinity. Balagokulam will enable children in the US to appreciate their cultural roots, learn Indian values in an enjoyable manner and make good friends.

• To facilitate children to appreciate, learn and practice Hindu way of life.

• Instill pride and confidence in Indian children about their identity.

• Character building and leadership skills among children.

• Develop social awareness and connectivity in the society.

• Stronger bonding among Indian children.

• Awareness of our rich cultural heritage and traditions.

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Vivekananda Shakha at Ekta Mandir 2804 W Maryland Ave Phoenix AZ 85017 (602) 790-9205 Kesari Shakha at 5955 W Ray Rd Suite #16 Chandler AZ 85226 (913) 484-1869

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LEADERSHIP SKILLS

Jijamata Shakha at Deer Valley Village Apartment 3010 W Yorkshire Dr Phoenix AZ 85027 (937) 877-2242

Shivaji Shakha at Villa Salerno Apartments 17030 N 49th St Scottsdale AZ 85254 (602) 427-8863

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Contact us for more information: hssphx@gmail.com

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