Mandir Vani and Cultural Center of the Rockies 7201 S. Potomac St. Centennial, CO 80112 (Tax ID: 84-1301209) Acharya ji Kumar Mishra 201-640-2257 Pundit ji Deepak Raghunath 201-887-5034 www.hindutempleofcolorado.org 303-858-9927 email: [email protected]

The mission of the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of the Rockies (HTCC) is to provide a forum for religious worship and celebrations, and for cultural, religious, and spiritual develop- ment activities based on Hindu / Vedic / Sanatan - traditions. Editorial Board Reva Nayar (President) Prabhakara Rao (Editor) Mahesh Jha (Interim President)

Ganesha Chaturthi Celebration at

Hindu Temple

Volume 21 No. 3 1 December 2017 Mandir Vani Page 1

Interim President’s Page

Dear Devotees of Hindu Temple: Soon after the last issue of Mandir Vani was printed, Reva Ji decided to take a sabbatical leave as President till the 2017 year end and entrusted me with the duties of managing the HTCC business as Interim President. At a Special Board Meeting held on Sunday, July 30, 2017, the HTCC Board of Trustees ratified my appointment as Interim President. I want to thank the Board for giving me this opportunity to serve the temple, the community and through that, the God. I pray to God to give me courage to change what can be changed, the serenity to accept what cannot be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference.

I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank Reva Ji and her husband, Inder Nayar Ji who over last eight years have devoted thousands of hours in planning, fund raising, and getting the beautiful temple designed and built. Before Reva Ji, I was the President for many years and know from personal experience how hard it is to raise funds.

After assuming my new role on the Board, I have been working with the Board on planning and implementing initiatives that would help in better management and operation of the temple. I will highlight some of these initiatives below.

The HTCC Articles of Incorporation and HTCC Bylaws were reviewed and updated by a com- mittee comprised of Dr. Nanda, Reva Nayar, Prabhakara Rao and Mahesh Jha. The Board ap- proved the amended Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws during September Board meeting.

The amended Bylaws call for the Board of Trustees to have 15 members. Each year, five trus- tees will be elected for a three year term with the possibility of reelection for a second term. Out of the five trustees to be elected, three will be elected from nominations submitted by the cur- rent trustees. Other two will be elected from three nominations submitted to the Board by the Advisory Council. The Amended Bylaws also limit the term of the officers (President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer) to 2 years with the possibility of reelection for another 2- year term.

The Amended Bylaws also allowed the formation of Advisory Council. See the separate article on this in Mandir Vani.

For the first time, Hindu Temple organized two social evenings. The first was a Ga- raba-Dandia dance social and the second was a Dhoom dance social. Both events were held in the open basement and included food as well dancing to the music played by DJs. Each event was attended by over 500 people. We plan to organize more such functions next year. The Temple is also planning to publish a 28-page color calendar for 2018. It will have photographs of the present in the temple. and will list all the poojas and celebrations taking place in the temple every day.

I wish you all a very happy and prosperous new year. – Mahesh Jha

******************************* Volume 21 No.3 1 December 2017 Mandir Vani Page 2

Formation of Advisory Council Mahesh Jha

For many years, the HTCC Bylaws have contained a provision for Advisory Council. Now that the organization has grown to the point where its assets are worth more than $5 million and net equity is over $3 million, the Board saw an urgent need for activating the Advisory Council. It was included in the Amended Bylaws approved by the Board during its September 24, 2017 meeting.

The initial concept is that the Board will continue to manage the affairs of HTCC, as provided in Articles of Incorporation and Bylaws with Officers elected by the Board managing the day- to-day business and operations. And the Advisory Council, comprising of community members who have made large donations, will have a say in the management as well as give advice and guidance to the Board on financial and policy matters. It will also help with fund raising and special projects.

Accordingly, about 50 potential members, in three categories of donors were invited to attend an initial meeting of Advisory Council at the temple on Sunday, October 15, 2017. This in- cluded 8 Legacy Donors who have donated more than $100,000 from 2006 (when the land was purchased for New Temple to 2016 (the last year for which we have the total donation record). The group also included 13 Sponsors with total donations of $25,000 to $99,999 from 2006 to 2016 and 26 Patrons with total donations of $10,000 to $24,999 for same time period.

The meeting was attended by more than half the invitees. They positively supported the idea of Advisory Council and its potential role in helping the management of HTCC. Mr. Narender Kumar, CEO of engineering firm Kumar & Associates and a former HTCC VP of New Temple Project volunteered to be Convener of Advisory Council and will help develop the structure of the organization. The council will then discuss and decide other issues.

Based on amended bylaws, the Board of Trustees which has the responsibility for the manage- ment of the organization, will elect five trustees every year for a three-year term. Out of these five 3 will be from candidates nominated by the current trustees and two will be from 3 nomina- tions submitted by the Advisory Council.

The Advisory Council has already embarked on two initiatives. Dr. Murthy of Fort Collins has started a special fund totally focused on Mortgage Payment. Some members have already made a pledge and others are expected to join. The second initiative is to finish the kitchen. Mr. Nar- ender Kumar is leading this effort. The kitchen will get built sooner, if we have the funds, and everyone is requested to pitch in.

Other donors are invited to join this elite group – the people uniquely blessed by God to have the desire and means for helping the community by building a beautiful temple as a gathering place for the community for decades to come. You can add to the donations you have already made over last ten years to become a patron, sponsor or even a legacy donor. If you are not sure of how much you have donated already, please contact Mahesh Jha, Interim President at [email protected] or Satish Kumar, Treasurer at [email protected] to find out. You can give your dona-

Volume 21 No. 3 1 December 2017 Mandir Vani Page 3

tion by check payable to Hindu Temple and mailed to 7201 S. Potomac Street, Centennial , CO 80112 ***************

Advisory Council Meeting Photo (15 Oct 2017) List of Advisory Council Members (As of Oct 2017)

Legacy Donors (more than $100,000 total donation) 1. Chaman & Aruna Malhotra 2. Deepak & Jyotsna Malhotra 3. Inder & Madhu(late) Mathur 4. & Raj Mrig 5. & Ratna Murthy 6. Inder & Reva (Trustee) Nayar 7. M Srinivas & Shyama Reddy 8. (late) & Eileen Saran

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Sponsors ($25,000 to $99,999 total donation) 1. Ashutosh & Sreedevi Ashutosh 2. Deepak & Rita Bhasin 3. Arun (Trustee) & Janet Budhiraja 4. Kamalesh & Rita Dwivedi 5. Mahesh (Trustee) & Subhadra Jha 6. Narender & Camille Kumar 7. Shanthi & Rajanikanth Maddhi 8. Amiya & Rajlaxmi Mansingh 9. C.P. (Trustee) & Asha (late) Mishra 10. Kedar & Hiradevi Morarka 11. Ved (Trustee) & Katherine Nanda 12. Romesh & Ramesh Sharma 13. Asha Vasant (Trustee) Patrons ($10,000 to $24,999 total donation) 1. Rajesh (Trustee) & Chapla Agarwal 2. Pramod & Anita Agarwal 3. Dibyajyoti & Nilanjana Aichbhaumik 4. Niranjan & Padma Bookanakere 5. Mohan & Shobna Chidambaram 6. Sameer & Vandana Chopra 7. Jayaprakash Gnanam 8. Anand & Varsha Kumar 9. Satish (Sam) & Shashi Kumar 10. Satish Kumar (Trustee) 11. Sunil & Sujata Kumar 12. Ganesh & Roopashri Kurse 13. Anil Antal 14. Mohan & Shikha Mishra 15. Narinder & Kusum Mohan 16. Hemanta & Mita (Trustee) Mukherjee 17. Vasant & Asha Pawar 18. Anshuman & Bhargavi Purohit 19. Prabhakara (Trustee) & Revathi Rao 20. Kumar & Anuradha Rao

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21. Raghavendra & Padmini Sametanahalli 22. Bipendra K Sinha 23. Sridhar (Trustee) & Lakshmi Talanki 24. Shashi & Meera Tiwari 25. Krishna & Jaishree Vaidyanathan 26. Namapalli & Rekha Vijay **************** Celebrations at Temple – Mita Mukherjee

Janmashtami —was celebrated on 15th of August at our Temple. Acharyaji performed Gita Path which was followed by a great cultural program; Children from our community performed a skit depicting the events around Lord Krishna’s birth. The story of how King Kamsa ordered the death of 7 children, born to his sister Devaki and how the 8 th child “Lord Krishna” was taken to safety by his father, Vasudev, was narrated and enacted by the children; The scene where all soldiers fell in a stupor and midst of thunder and lightning, Vasudev carried his child, to safety was very real!

There were several dance performances, the opening dance by Anyanna Talanki, who has been performing for the temple since she was a little girl; Tina and Manali were great as well; Punditji had prepared a jhula with baby Krishna and we all took turns in pulling the jhula; Bha- jans were sung till midnight;

All in all it was a great occasion and we paid homage to Lord Krishna with arati at midnight;

Ganesh Chaturthi - Next event was , organized by Kannada Koota, Ganesh by the children was a great success. Dance performances presented by the community were extraordinary. The Kannada community did all the cooking, the food was excellent!

We had a very successful Chaturthi celebration at Hindu Temple on Saturday 26 Au- gust 2017 from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. The Celebration started with Ganesha Avahana, Kalash puja, Gana- , Ganesha making sessions for kids, Ganesha Abhisheka, Procession, Mantra Chanting, Ganesha Keertan, sloka, Pancharatna, Bharata Natyam, Samuhika Ganesha puja performed by kids, Wellness Heath Fair, Anna Dhana, Ganesha Vesarjana at the end. There was a big enthusiastic crowd participating in very part of the celebration. Acharya ji and Pundit ji did a wonderful pujas and made the devotees as a part of the celebration. Here are some of the statistics: 1. No of Devotees attended: 400-450 2. No of sponsors: 24 3. No of people who cooked food for Lunch Prasad : 40 4. No of Artists who sang and did Bharata Natyam, and Mantra Chanting : 15 5. No of Volunteers: Many, Many

Thank to all devotees, sponsors, ladies and gents who cooked the lunch prasad, Taste of for providing additional food free of cost, many volunteers who helped Acharya ji and Pundit ji Volume 21 No.3 1 December 2017 Mandir Vani Page 6 during pujas, many volunteers who helped in distributing the lunch prasad, and cleaning up af- ter the lunch. Thank You, Thank You, Thank you.

We are proud of our Temple Devotees who came to the Temple, did the volunteer work and got the blessings of Bhagavan Ganesha during this Ganesha Chaturthi Celebration event.

Volume 21 No. 3 1 December 2017 Mandir Vani Page 7

Navaratri - October saw quite a few events; Navaratri was celebrated by preparing South In- dian ritual of “Golu” where idols are placed in a staircase fashion; Saris were imported from India, adorned by Durgamata each day and were presented to the community for a donation. The saris were donated by Satish Kumar and CP Mishra.

There were performances of ras and garba, in Gujrati tradition, each day; On maha-ashtami day Shohini and Shom Ghosh performed Ashtami puja and havan; The girls performed the “dhanuchi naach” a dance with fire (they used candles), in the Bengali tradition; A special eve- ning of dandia dance was celebrated on the 29th of October; the community really enjoyed this event, almost 600 people showed up!

Diwali - The last event was the “Diwali Dhoom” another fun event, there was music, fire- works, food and lot of dancing.

We at the Temple are trying to integrate all the traditions of the different parts of India and cele- brating each occasion. Please share your ideas with us!

We will be embarking on our third year, in this new location, in 2018; we extend a heartfelt “THANK YOU” to all of you in the community who have supported us and are continuing to support us—It is your temple, it belongs to all of YOU! Please come forward and help in any way you can. Make your temple a landmark organization! ******************************

Hindu Temple Management Team (2017)

1. Reva Nayar President 2. Mahesh Jha Interim President 3. C. P. Mishra Vice President Operations 4. Mita Mukherjee* Secretary 5. Satish Kumar Treasurer 6. Prabhakara Rao* Mandir Vani Editor & Procedures 7. Madhu Mahajan* Web site & Communications 8. Arun Budhiraja * Building Maintenance 9. Sudhir Verma Building Maintenance 10. Ved Nanda Articles of Incorporation & Bylaws 11. Asha Vasant 12. Sridhar Talanki 13. Rajesh Agarwal

* Expressed their desire to retire in Dec 2017

Priests 1. Acharya ji Shiva Kumar Mishra 2. Pundit ji Deepak Raghunath ***********************************

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Benefit of Donating Stocks Niranjan Bookanakere

I want to highlight the advantages of donating appreciated Stocks and / or Funds / ETFs to the temple.

If you have appreciated stocks / Funds / ETFs and has been held in your name at least for one year, instead of selling them and donating the cash to the temple, you can donate them in kind at which time you will have advantages which I will try to illustrate with following exam- ple;

"You bought one stock of Amazon for $ 254 in April 2013 and donated the stock to the temple on Oct 27 2017. It is worth $ 1100 to the temple as of Oct 27, 2017 - the day you donated the stock. You will get a receipt from the temple for charitable donation of $ 1100, but you will not be paying the capital appreciation tax on $ 1100 - $ 254 = $846. Hence you are getting tax benefits on your itemized deduction for charitable donation and you are avoiding unrealized capital gains of the donated property. Please be sure that the stock was held in your name for at least one full year.

Same thing is true if you are donating the stock or fund from your 401K or IRA and can show the full value of the stock / fund as the distribution you took towards the RMD - but will not be paying the tax on that whole amount as it is charitable donation. (There may be a limit on how much you can give charitable donation per year - please check with your CPA. Rules change each Tax year). If you have a choice, please do not donate from your Roth IRA for obvious rea- sons.

Temple has a brokerage account with Charles Schwab and A/c # is 5681-0096 (DTC 0164). You will have to fill up a “Charitable Donation Form" at your brokerage institution and submit it to them. Once you have initiated the process, please let temple authorities know about it, so that they can follow it up.

If you need more information / clarification, please feel free to email me on [email protected] or call 720-200-3385 .

**************************** Priests Contact Information

1. Acharya ji Shiv Kumar Mishra Email: [email protected] Phone: 201-640-2257 (Note: Bio-data of Acharya ji is published in Dec 2016 issue of Mandir Vani )

2. Pundit ji Deepak Raghunath Email: [email protected] Phone: 201-887-5034 (Note: Bio-data of Pundit ji is published in August 2017 issue of Mandir Vani ) **********************

Volume 21 No. 3 1 December 2017 Mandir Vani Page 9

HINDUISM 114—ATTITUDE Mita Mukherjee

My last article focused on fears that people have and how fear can be paralyzing and a deterrent to a person’s desires and ambition, as well as wellbeing; I had touched a little bit on what peo- ple can do to overcome these fears;

The more I think about it, I feel that a person’s attitude has everything to do with it. In lieu of all the threatening news that we constantly receive, for example threats of terrorism, people going and killing innocent people at a concert, teenager going into an elementary school and killing a bunch of beautiful little kids, natural disasters, economic downturn, 911, etc etc, I can go on forever, it is a miracle that we can lead normal lives; However, it can affect people in different ways.

It is our attitude towards life that keeps us going. We can get inundated with all these negative news and wallow in despair, or we can decide to have a positive attitude and go forward with a smile on our face!

One can say that trying to put a smile on the face when we are sad and upset inside is fake, it is difficult, but that is where our attitude comes in. One’s attitude is a powerful tool for positive action.

To take charge of one’s life we must choose the ways in which we “act” or “react” to the stim- uli that the world throws at us.

The Dictionary describes “attitude” as state of mind or feeling regarding some matter; In other words, it is the state of mind with which one lives “life”.

It is true that attitudes get built by circumstances that we encounter every day, what happens to us influences what goes on within us, unless we master a process of taking control of our atti- tudes and maintain a positive approach to life even when negative events occur, we go through life like a kite blown hither and thither by gusts of wind;

It is a good idea to have a check list or an “attitude tune-up” A) what is the definition of my atti- tude, do I see the glass half-full or half-empty? B) Do I positively interact with other people or do people avoid me, C) who are the people who affect me in a negative way and how do I react to them—if I changed the way I react would it make a difference? D) When was the last time my attitude made a difference - bad or good?

When we stop and think about our attitude towards life, we can self-evaluate and decide to change things about ourselves; For example, I realized that people often complain about things that are beyond control, like the weather or traffic or a flight being late; I do too! This is a very easy fix—choose to look on the positive side; be prepared for cool weather, listen to a book on tape while sitting in traffic, get work done or phone calls done while waiting for the plane!

It is within us to make our lives simple and easy or hectic and difficult! It is our attitude towards

Volume 21 No.3 1 December 2017 Mandir Vani Page 10 our circumstances that we must deal with on an everyday basis, when faced with something negative like an irate boss, or upset spouse or unruly children it is the most difficult thing to hang on to one’s calmness and balance. There is a choice! One can react with anger and loose one’s temper or stop, take a breath and say” I understand how you feel, let us talk about it when we both have calmed down a bit!”

This may or may not work, however it will at least prevent a showdown! We come into life empty-handed, we leave life empty handed, however we spend all our lives accumulating stuff-wealth, houses, furniture, clothes; usually most people have much more than what we need and I myself, am very guilty of that practice;

All learned people say, “Live life in simplicity “meaning it is good practice to cultivate an atti- tude of simplicity, not be attached to worldly goods; When people learn that material things do not bring happiness, when real humility dawns in our hearts, when we accept life with the sim- plicity of a child, our ego and self-importance dwindle to nothing and we realize the infinitude of God ---then we truly start living!

Hari ! ************************** Donor Bricks

All the Donor Brick Devotees have been waiting very patiently for the Bricks to be installed on outside west wall of the temple. We do thank you for your donations and the patience that you have demonstrated. Regretfully as we were getting ready to place the order the vendor we had chosen, closed the doors of business and we were left high and dry. We are close to finalizing a different vendor and should be, placing an order in very near future. We will keep you posted as to when we place the order and have the delivery and installation dates.

This should give an opportunity to those brick donors who have paid and/or pledged for bricks and not paid or paid and not given messages, to do so. Also for those who wish to buy donor bricks, there is still some time to buy them at $250 a piece. For details criteria about messages please contact Mahesh Jha at 303-526-0260

It is still not too late to participate in Donor Brick Program. Please make donations and have your family name permanently installed on the Donor Brick Wall of the Hindu Tem- ple.

********************** Language Classes in Hindu Temple

Hindu Temple has class room facilities with 20 chairs and a black board to teach regional lan- guages. Already Sanskrit, Telugu and Balmukund classes are taking place in the Hindu Temple. If you like to teach any language or conduct other classes, please contact Mahesh Jha at 303- 526-0260 . Here are the contact information for the following classes.

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1. Sanskrit classes: Prabahakar Rao, 303-918-7373, [email protected] 2. Telugu classes: Laxmi Talanki , 202-718-7525, [email protected] 3. Balmukand classes: Kotyal, [email protected]

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Temple Facilities for Community Use

For Rental Information Contact: Mahesh Jha at 303-526-0260

1. Learning Center: This room is suitable for teaching regional languages for children or as a meeting place. The capacity is about 20 people. It has chairs and chalk board to facilitate teaching or presentation. 2. Conference Room: This room can be used for as a meeting place, which has a capacity for about 25 – 30 people. It is in the lower level. 3. Basement Level: This facility can be used for workshops, teaching classes for a large crowd, birthday, graduation, , holiday parties, etc. There is a small stage, sound system, 100 chairs, and ability to serve food, etc. The capacity is about 400 people. Please support the Temple by renting these facilities for a short or long term basis . If you would like to schedule temple or priest services for Wedding, Thread Ceremony, Satyanarayana Puja and other services, please contact Mahesha Jha at 303-526-0260- Thank you ******************************* Previous Priests of Hindu Temple

Hindu Temple devotees and Board of Trustees express their sincere thanks to our beloved pre- vious priests, who have served the temple and Indian community for a long time.

1. Acharya ji Kailash Chandra Upadyay (1998 - 2016) 2. Pundit ji Raghavendra Iyyer ( 2006 - 2016) ********************** Thank You Note from the President Reva Nayar

It is a great privilege and honor to be blessed with the opportunity to serve as the President, for past several years. I sincerely thank you for the support and trust you have afforded me. I did the best of my ability to serve the temple with utmost devotion.

With Grace of the God , since its inception in 1998, Hindu Temple has been serving the spiri- tual needs of the Hindu Community in and around Colorado and beyond. All the religious, spiritual, educational, and cultural activities of our beloved Temple are running smoothly. Your Temple has been a center for Hindu religious learning and cultural activities. We have grown as a community in the last two decades with more and more devotees visiting the temple every day.

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This also has increased the need for spiritual services and financial support. The wonderful and organized disposition of the Temple is the result of numerous hours of selfless service carried out by our Volunteers . I want to ask the community to join me in thanking these individuals who support the Temple selflessly. Please accept our heartfelt appreciation for your incredible support I kindly request all devotees to continue to support the Temple through generous dona- tions.

The Temple was completed and operational in June 2015. We will complete 2.5 years of opera- tions on December 31, 2017 and is solvent as of date and net worth on cost basis is $3.1 mil- lion. From construction till date we have a beautiful temple, permanent financing in place and hired two new priests and many more.

Time has come dear devotees, for me to step down as the President of The Hindu Temple. I have enjoyed the opportunity to serve in the Hindu Temple Board. Managing a volunteer or- ganization is very challenging and there are always different ways of reaching the goals. With your continued support, I am sure our Temple will provide us and our families with the spiritual needs that we seek, for many years. Please continue to donate generously so that the Temple stays healthy financially. .

Conclusion : Community is very happy and excited that the temple is built and just to see the children com- ing with their parents is very rewarding in itself . We should be all proud of our temple.

One of our goal for this year is to make sure that all pujas (inside and outside) and events are performed in the Prayer hall and the basement 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 are very fortunate to have a group of priests who are the best. I welcome all the new Board of Trustees who are nominated for 2018 year to serve the temple. It will definitely be a great year with all your help.

I am humbly requesting your continued generous financial and volunteer supports to keep our temple as a vibrant place and work as a family. We are one big family and our strength lies in unity. We thank God for giving all of us the ability to continue to give more so that we can pay our monthly expenses and mortgage payments.

God bless you and your families.

************************************** Message from the Mandir Vani Editor Prabhakara Rao

Mandir Vani, Hindu Temple Newsletter, is published three times a year in April, August and December. Nearly 2000 devotees get the Mandir Vani either as a hard copy or electronic copy. In order to reduce the cost of publishing and distributing the Mandir Vani, the Hindu Temple Board has decided that only electronic copy will be sent to devotees in future.. Volume 21 No. 3 1 December 2017 Mandir Vani Page 13

I have been the editor of the Mandir Vani for the past 10 years starting from 2008. Before that I served as a Treasurer for 10 years starting from 1998 through 2008. My sincere thanks to all devotees for reading the articles in the Mandir Vani. I express my sincere thanks and gratitude to all writers who have provided articles to the Mandir Vani on schedule for the past several years. My special thanks to Reva Nayar, Mahesh Jha, Mita Mukherjee, Madhu Mahajan, Shashikiran Kunigal, Satish Kumar, and others who have consistently provided articles or infor- mation for the Mandir Vani.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You **************************************************

Major Milestones The following are the major milestones in the history of the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of the Rockies (HTCC).

1984 – Hindu Society of Colorado is incorporated. Community members meet for religious discourses at their residences on sporadic basis. For a brief period, a house in Aurora is rented where several deities are installed and worshipped by community members.

1995 – Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of the Rockies (HTCC) is incorporated and Hindu Society is merged into HTCC.

1996 - HTCC buys a small old church building on South Wadsworth Blvd in Littleton and re- models it to house the Temple. Community members raise funds to pay in cash. Publication of Mandir Vani news letter begins.

1998 - HTCC recruits a full-time highly qualified and experienced Chief Priest Acharya Kailash Chandra Upadhyay from Canada and installs all major deities. HTCC buys adjacent vacant land.

1999 - A web site ( www.hindutempleofcolorado.org ) is established and email broadcasts are used in addition to Mandir Vani to keep the community informed of activities at the Temple.

2002 - HTCC buys the third adjacent vacant land and considers building a new Temple at the site but decides against it due to small total land size (less than 1 acre).

2003 - After obtaining Special Use Zoning Permit from Jefferson County, a major inside re- modeling is undertaken to increase the seating capacity upstairs, and improve food preparation and distribution downstairs.

2004 - Outside improvements (parking lot, sidewalk, landscaping, and fences) are completed.

2006 - HTCC celebrates 10 years of continuous operation of the current temple. A highly- qualified Assistant Priest (Pundit N. D. Raghavendra Iyyer) is recruited from India to expand the Temple operation hours and service to the community. HTCC sells the third lot and signs a contract for purchase of 4.25 acres of land for a new Temple. Volume 21 No.3 1 December 2017 Mandir Vani Page 14

2007 - HTCC purchased 4.25 acres land at 7201 S. Potomac St, Centennial, CO 80112 for a price of $500,000 cash on 30 January 2007 . Community members raised funds to pay in cash. Donors who paid more than $1000 were recognized with their names etched on a granite slab.

2008 to 2010 - Architectural design of New Temple is completed. It included a two-story build- ing with total area of over 20,000 sq ft to accommodate 450 devotees for major celebration and festivals. The City of Centennial approved the preliminary design. The total cost estimate came at $4.5 million.

2011 to 2013 - After considerable deliberations, HTCC decided to scale down the project to about 12,000 sq ft building that can be built for about $2.5 million. The new conceptual design provided for direct access to main floor (Temple) with a walkout basement to house kitchen and cultural center. In Fall 2012, HTCC signed contract with DH Studios as architect for the design which was completed by end of 2013. In Fall of 2013, bids were received from prospective con- struction companies.

2014 - In January 2014, HTCC signed contract with GTC for construction of the designed fa- cilities. The basic construction was completed by year end. Basement was only partly finished.

2015 - Landscaping was completed. Temporary Certificate of Occupation was received and Open House was held in May. In first week of June (5th, 6th, and 7th June 2015), Grand Open- ing and Pran Pratishtha celebrations were held. HTCC moved all its operations from old to new temple the following week. The old Hindu Temple at 8375 S. Wadsworth Blvd, Littleton, CO 80128 is closed as of 15 June 2015.

2016 - Hindu Temple celebrated the first anniversary of moving into a new location at 7201 S. Potomac Street, Centennial, CO 80112. Pundit ji Raghavendra Iyyer left the Hindu Temple to spend more time to take care of the family. Acharya ji Kailash Chandra Upadyay, who has served for nearly 18 years, retired from the Hindu Temple. Hindu Temple hired a new priest Acharya ji Shiva Kumar Mishra in September 2016.

2017 - Hindu Temple celebrated the 2nd Anniversary. Hindu Temple hired a new priest from Bengaluru in March 2017. In October, Advisory Council is formulated with 47 members who have contributed more than 10,000 dollars to the Hindu Temple since 2006 after the purchase of the land for the New Hindu Temple.

************************************ Please Donate generously to Hindu Temple by putting check or cash in the Hundi at the Temple.

Volume 21 No. 3 1 December 2017 Mandir Vani Page 15

Hindu Temple and Cultural Center of the Rockies 7201 S. Potomac Street Centennial, CO 80112 303-858-9927

***************************************************** Please Note

Mandir Vani is published three times a year on the first day of April, August and December. Until now Hindu Temple was mailing the Mandir Vani to devotees. To reduce the cost of publishing and distribution of the Mandir Vani, Hindu Temple has decided to send the electronic copy of the Mandir Vani to all devotees by e- mail. Also the Mandir Vani is available to down load from the Hindu Temple web site : www.hindutempleofcolorado.org

**************************************

Donation Appeal Please continue to show your support by making generous donations at the Temple or by mail (cut and enclose the coupon printed below) to : 7201 S. Potomac St., Centen- nial, CO 80112. The contributions are tax deductible. The Tax ID Number for the Hindu Temple and Cultural Center is 84 -1301209 —————————————————————————————————————

Enclosed is a check for $ ______, my/our contribution for the Hindu Temple and Cul- tural Center of the Rockies.

Name: ______, Spouse Name: ______

Address: ______

City, State, Zip: ______

Phone: ______, E-mail: ______

Volume 21 No.3 1 December 2017 Mandir Vani Page 16