HinduPublished Bi-Monthly Patrika February & March 2012 Hindu Temple & Cultural Center of Kansas City A Non-Profit Organization 6330 Lackman Road, Shawnee, KS 66217-9739 http://www.htccofkc.org Tel: (913) 631-7519 (Temple) Tel: (913) 962-9696 (Priest Shrinivas) Tel: (913) 749-2062 (Priest Atulbhai) Board of Trustees Term Name 2011-2013 Eashwar Reddy 2011-2013 Mohan Gupta 2011-2013 Mana Pattanayak 2011-2013 Priti Mohan 2010-2012 Sanjay Mishra 2012-2014 Ravi Mehra 2012 Srini Bhagavan 2010-2012 Sadhana Bisarya 2012-2014 Kumkum Bisarya 2012-2014 Gopal Aedma 2012-2013 Upendra Shah 2012 Meera Dayal 2012 Annuradha Arinnipalli 2012 Sunil Prabhu 2010-2012 Deb Bhaduri (Chairperson) Vision of HTCC To promote Hinduism’s spiritual and cultural legacy of inspiration and optimism for the larger Kansas City community. Mission of HTCC • Create an environment of worship that enables people to say “yes” to the love of God. • Cultivate a community that nurtures spiritual growth. • Commission every devotee to serve the creation through their unique talents and gifts. • Coach our youth with the spiritual and cultural richness and the diversity they are endowed with • Communicate Hinduism – A way of life to everyone we can and promote inter-faith activities with equal veneration PLEASE REMEMBER TO RENEW YOUR ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP. MEMBERSHIP RUNS FROM JANUARY TO DECEMBER. YOUR CURRENT MEMBERSHIP statUS IS PRINTED ON THE MAILING LABEL. YOUR SUPPORT IS CRUCIAL FOR US. THANK YOU. NON-MEMBERS - PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR COMMUNITY TEMPLE BY BECOMING A MEMBER OF THE HINDU TEMPLE OF KANSAS CITY. Hindu Patrika 2 Message from HTCC President, 2012 Dear HTCC Family Members, Coming year will mark the beginning of “Nandana” Samvatsara ~ Wish- ing us all a peaceful and joyful year 2012. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to serve our community as the President of the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center for 2012. My sincere Prayer to Sri Hanumanji and Pujya Gurudev for “Shakti” to fulfill all the responsibilities in this new role and “Bhakti” in my interaction with all devotees of our Temple. I would like to thank the Executive Committee team members who have agreed to serve the temple for 2012. • Sugandhi Shankar serving as Vice President, • Gopal Venkatesh, Usha Saha, Chetna Ranat, Dinesh Chinalachaiagari and Mukesh Goel serving as Program Chairs, • Vijay Ainapurapu and Atul Agarwal serving as Secretary, • Bhaskar Krishnamurthy and Venkat Manda serving as PR Committee, • Kumkum Bisariya , Suma Hegde and Sadhana Bisariya as Treasurer. Quoting Helen Keller ~ “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.” Having a team of committed individuals, guidance of the Board of Trustees and wonderful support of all sevaks will help us continue the good work. Listen - Learn - Lead We would like to hear from you. We encourage you to provide us your feedback on three questions: • One thing you like most about our temple? • One thing you would like to see happen at our temple? • How you would like to support our temple? Email us your feedback at: [email protected]. We are committed to Listen to what our community is looking for, Learn about our Strengths and opportunities for 2012 and Let that Lead our actions. We would like to continue to nurture community participation in your own area of interest • Working with our Children in Hindi Class, Bal Vihar and Marathi Class Hindu Patrika 3 • Engaging with future leaders of our community in YGKC • Cooking for Sunday Lunch Program • Volunteering for Pujas, Festival and Celebrations • Participating in the Yoga / Pranayam Classes • Being Part of the Carnatic Music • Interfaith Activity Inviting us all to be part of this vibrant community where we can meet, share, contribute and surely make wonderful memories. Quoting a prayer from Rig Veda, “Samaneeva akoothih samaana hridayani vah || Samaanam asthu vo mano yatha vah susahasathi” - translates as “Let our resolve be common. Let our hearts be com- mon. Let our minds be common. Hence, let all our works be got done well.” I request you to join the community with your family members in the regular Puja activities at the Temple and participate in its activities as mentioned above. I would like to take this opportunity to recognize the wonderful work done by Srini Bhagwan and Makarand Deshpande and their dynamic team in 2011. Kudos to the 2011 Executive Committee. At Your Service, Sunil Prabhu Brahmotsavam Vedic Classes With the blessings from the lord on the auspicious occasion of Dhanur- masam, Panditji (Sri Srinivasji) has requested to communicate about upcoming Vedic classes program schedule. He is planning to teach “Sheeksha valli” every week on Friday starting from Jan 13th. Please take every opportunity to be part of these sessions. WHAT: Taittiriya Upanishad Sheekshaa Valli Vedic Class WHERE: HTCC Temple WHEN: Every Friday starting Jan 13th from 6.30 to 7.30 pm until March/April month WHO: All interested devotees can be part of this learning opportu- nity Questions? Please contact the Manager or Panditji directly ASAP. Hindu Patrika 4 New Year Celebrations - Bal Vihar BalVihar has started the New Year with a bang to showcase their talents. They participated in the evening bhajans and kirtan by singing Bada Chitta Chora, Hey Ram, Don’t worry Be Happy, Jay Guru Omkara & Om Tatshree Narayan Tu. The program demonstrated their singing skills and enchanted the Temple devotees. Looking forward to a wonderful 2012. Photos: https://picasaweb.google.com/siruvalure/2012NewYearBhajan?authuser=0&aut hkey=Gv1sRgCJHay97H1JPh3AE&feat=directlink Advertising in the Patrika makes a lot of sense. You not only reach the audience who wants to support local businesses, you also feel good that you are giving back to the community. The pricing of the advertisements is kept low only for defraying the costs of the printing and despatching. Refer to the detailed pricing sheet at the end of this Patrika and is also available at the and send your advertisement and email edi- [email protected] with details of your advertisement. Please use Google Checkout on the Temple website for making the payment. Thank you very much for your support. Hindu Patrika 5 Message from Vice President 2012 Namaste! Wish you all a very Happy New Year, full of Peace, Prosperity, Happiness and Higher Spirituality. As we enter the New Year, let us reflect upon what we have gained during the past years, and what we must strive for during the New Year. As the wheel of time rolls on, days and nights alternate and flow into weeks, weeks into fortnights, and fortnights into months. Thus, as month, years, ages continue to flow on, every human achievement, every object of creation, is caught in whirlpool of time. This is a transient world we live in. Therefore let us not allow our mind be involved in gathering the perishable objects of the world. Our existence has a divine purpose, and that purpose is the attainment of Self realization. While we sincerely applaud the selfless service of our Leaders, Volunteers, Priests and Managers who “just get the job done”, let us also recognize that part of our service or dharma is to train others to do the job. By involving and teaching others, we allow our temple to thrive in the long run. A leader who inspires others to strive for their best is uncommon, yet the invisible leaders are the ones who have built or nurtured many great organizations. Thank you all for the support you have given me and for the trust you have placed in me, I will try not to let you down! I know I have some big shoes to fill, however I will try my best to follow in these footsteps while creating a path of my own. Although we have witnessed many positive changes with the temple in the past years, I believe we always have room for improvement. I strongly believe that together, as a family, we will be able to take our temple to a new level. We have had an excellent and dedicated group of volunteers covering all areas in the past years, I take this opportunity to thank them and express appreciation and gratitude to all of their sterling services. I humbly request for your continued help and support for this noble cause. Please do join us in celebrating the religious and cultural activi- ties of the temple with your family and secure the blessings of Lord. The new Executive Committee has numerous plans in place for the upcoming year which will be published to the community in future communications. We have several experienced as well as new members, which makes the dynamic very worthy of our congregation. This is going to be an exciting year for all of us. Thank you once again for giving me this opportunity to serve the temple and the community. Sincerely, Sugandhi Shankar Hindu Patrika 6 Current Charges For Puja and Priest Services At temple At home Abhishekam $ 75 — Abhishekam with kalasa puja $101 — Aksharabhyasam (beginning of writing) $75 — Anna Prasana (first feeding) $51 $101 Any other Puja (< 2 hours duration) $65 $151 Archna(fruits provided by Temple) $11 — Atma Shanti/Tarpanam $31 $101 Baby shower. $151 $201 Barsi/Annual Ceremony $251 $301 Cremation services Call Temple Manager Grihapravesham & Sri Sathyanarayana Puja/Katha — $301 Grihapravesham(house warming) only — $151 Havan $101 $151 Hiranyasradham $75 $101 Kalyanutsavam (Kanyadan) – Individual $151 — Mundan(Hair offering)1 $75 $151 Namakaranam(naming of baby) $51 $101 Navagraha Archna- One Graha only $21 — Navagraha puja. $101 $201 Sahasranama Archna (1000 names of God) $51 — Sri Sathynarayana Puja/Katha $75 $151 Samohika Satyanaryana Puja/Katha $31 — Sashti poorthi shanti(60th birthday) $201 $251 Satyanarayana Puja & Basement Rental $175 (4 hours) — Sponsor Puja (check with priest/manager) Call Temple Manager Upnayana Sanskara (Sacred thread ceremony) $251 $351 Vahan puja $31 — Vivah(Wedding)2 $701 $501 Above suggested charges do not include Dakshina(donation) to the priest and it should not be less than 25% of suggested service charges.