HINDU TEMPLE SOCIETY 4200 Airport Road Allentown, PA 18109 Ph: (484) 616-9001 www.hindutemple-lehighvalley.org December 2020 NEWS LETTER Volume 33 Issue 12 * Om asato maa sadgamaya, tamaso maa jyotirgamaya, mrtyormaa amrtam gamaya.....Om Saantih,Saantih,Saantih* HTS PROGRAM UPDATES Priest Anand ji (512) 545-9657 ALMANAC JAIN ALMANAC UPCOMING PROGRAMS (Panchang) Dec 10 : Ekadasi Dec 8 - Kartak Vad Aatham Jan 1st 2021: New Year Pooja Dec 12 : Pradosh Dec 13 - Kartak Vad chaudas ( Srinivasa Kalyana) Dec 25: Vaikunta Ekadasi Dec 19 - Magshar Sud Pacham Dec 27 : Pradosh Dec 22 - Magshar Sud Aatham Jan 10 2021: Thiruppavai Dec 29 - Magshar Sud Chaudas Event Date & Time Facilitator Sankat hara Chaturthi Anand ji Thursday, Dec 3 Ganesh pooja (Please contact the priest for timings) Saturday, Dec 12 & Anand ji Pradosha Shiva Abhisheka Sunday, Dec 27 (Please contact the priest for timings) Anand ji Ekadasi pooja Thursday, Dec 10 (Please contact the priest or timings) Temple Anniversary Saturday, Dec 12 (Flyer on page 8) Sai Bhajan Sunday, December 13 (Flyer on page 9) Friday, Dec 25 Vaikunta Ekadasi (Flyer on page 10) 1 An Appeal for Temple Membership Namaskar. We hope you, your family and friends are safe and cheerful during these difficult times. If Covid-19 seriously reduced your family income that you are unable to meet your essentials like food or medicine, please contact Anandji (512-545 9657) or Rashmi Bhai (610-868 1231) for HTS assistance, which will be kept strictly confidential. If thanks to Krishna’s Grace, your family is well protected, please spare few minutes to read what follows below; we all know that our temple is brimming with activities throughout the year. For all of us in Lehigh Valley, the temple is the place to congregate and celebrate religious events, cultural festivals and social gatherings. You also know how much it costs to run a family; now, imagine how many thousands of dollars the temple needs to spend to support all our expenses. During 2019, our total temple expenses are $240,064; that is annual expenses are over $20,000 per month. The temple management runs a very tight ship; we do not spend money easily; we pinch every expense to save money for the temple. We cannot meet our expenses without your financial support. Following the recession post 9/11, temple revenue dropped 31%. During the Great Recession, our temple revenue took a deep dive for five consecutive years!!! During the first four months of 2020, due to Covid-19 lockdown, temple revenue has already dropped a whopping $33,000. We are afraid that by year-end, temple revenue may drop over $100,000 unless we all act NOW. At the very least, please go to https://www.hindutemple-lehighvalley.org/ & begin/renew Annual Membership of $151. If you are able to donate more, this is the time that the temple badly needs all your generous financial support. We would be highly obliged if you can call your close friends/family to do the same. Lord Krishna protects all of us; it is our duty to make sure that His Home is financially stable. Thank You. Pattabi Neelakantan Neela Bera Chair, Board of Trustees President, Executive Council 2 TEMPLE ADMINISTRATION Executive Council Please remember! We all share the Temple. Let us work President: Neela Bera 610-417-1068 Vice-President: Jitesh Rohatgi 862-324-2939 together to keep it safe & clean. Remember to tidy rooms when Secretary: Sarvana Govindasamy 732-379-9611 Treasurer: Venkat Balabhadra 610-530-7863 finished using them. Please refrain from horseplay on temple Asst. Treasurer: Ravi Chitluru 610-349-0662 Program Director: Nirmala Sivakumar 610-909-7865 property. Thank you for your understanding. Asst Program Director: Editor: Swathi Anantasagar 484-772-5210 Asst Editor: Balvihar Director: Pratibha Purani 610-390-9316 Balvihar Asst. Dir: Purvi Bhojani 484-903-1954 !!NO PARKING ON THE CURB!! Comm. Relations Dir: Vindya Raghavachari 610-709-4066 Webmaster: Sridhar Venkatnarayanan 630-363-0673 Note the yellow “no parking” lines next to the Asst. Webmaster: Sameer Phadke 484-695-8761 curbside of the temple. Violations will be strictly Members-at-large enforced by the local police. Nirav Shah 215-450-9987 Seema Garg 404-200-3239 Vinay Satyanarayan 610-628-4101 Shaila Shah 484-347-7749 **No Eating in the Temple Sanctorum** Surender Dayal 610-392-5851 Only small quantity of dry Prasad is allowed in the Program Committee temple sanctorum. No plates and cutlery Rimmi Dawar 610-261-2050 allowed. Please exit out of the temple sanctorum Pratima Patel 646-479-0142 into the main lobby area to eat more Prasad. Rakesh Shroff 610-504-9412 Sujata Singh 610-730-0845 prasad. Maintenance Committee Please refrain from bringing unused items from Satish Patel 646-479-0142 Manish Desai 610-223-7367 your home and leaving it at the temple in boxes Urvish Shah 484-695-3534 labeled “FREE”. Babulal Chauhan Advertisement in the News Letter Board of Trustees Chairman: Full Page(7.5” x 10”) $ 70 Pattabi Neelakantan 610-351-1710 Half Page (7.5” x 5”) $ 50 Temple Tax ID Quarter Page (3.5” x 5”) $ 30 #23-2064729 Vice Chairman: Chetan Pandya 610-336-0454 Please e-mail your ad (in WORD / PUBLISHER ONLY) AS PER Secretary: THE ABOVE GUIDELINES to the editor [email protected] Vikas Joshi 610-360-1210 Send the check payment (made out to Hindu Temple Society) directly to the Temple address. Please note the Audit Committee: Chetan Pandya - Chair 610-336-0454 purpose of the check in the memo field. Bhailal Shah 610-398-1647 RENTAL DONATIONS FOR THE TEMPLE Education Committee: (EFFECTIVE FROM JANUARY 2019) Gayatri Ray 610-776-8110 Temple Hall & Lower Level 0 - 3 hours $250; Each additional hour $75 Finance Committee: Narsu Tatikola (484) 719 5409 Temple Hall 0 - 2 hours $100; Each additional hour $50 Vikas Joshi 610-360-1210 Lower Level 0 - 3 hours $200; Each additional hour $75 Chatargy Kaza 610-614-0128 The above rates are for Paid Members only. Non-Member rate is total bill + Membership and Community Relations: 20%. Charges are based on current (or) prior year Membership. Chatargy Kaza 610-614-0128 Susheer Gandotra (570) 620 6219 A refundable deposit of $100 is required to make the above reservations. Kripa Singh 610-391-1540 Deposit will be returned in entirety if temple is left in the same condition as prior to the rental. Projects & Planning Committee: Kripa Singh – Chair 610-391-1540 Payment in full is required two weeks prior to the rental day. Payment can Ajay Soni (908) 391 3959 be made online or with a check payable to HTS given to Temple Manage- Vikas Joshi 610-360-1210 ment. Ex-Officio Member: Lower Level, Stage only 0 - 2 hours $30 Neela Bera 610-417-1068 Upper Level, Krishna Room 0 - 2 hours $20 Publication Identification Upper Level, Yamuna Room 0 - 2 hours $20 Title: HTS News Letter Issue Date: Monthly / December 2020 Upper Level, Ganga Room 0 - 2 hours $30 Volume: 33; Issue # 12 Published by: Hindu Temple Society, Folding Chairs Each $1 4200 Airport Road Allentown, PA 18109 Please visit “www.hindutemple-lehighvalley.org” for CURRENT newsletter, donation links and other information. 3 Dear Friends, Shubh Deepavali and Happy New Year ! Hope you and your family here, and in India are safe and cheerful. Our heartfelt thanks to everyone, who helped make this fundraiser a big success; businesses that advertised in our brochure, our beloved Amrish Mishra from India to local artists, dancers, choreographers, and countless volunteers. A Big Thank You. We started the year with a bang on Jan. 1st with Lakshmi- Ganesh Puja followed by many pujas until Holi puja and then the Covid-19 troubles began. For the first time in HTS history, the temple closed its doors starting from March 15th. But Covid-19 could not dampen our spirits as Anandji and the Program Committee shifted gears to conduct religious and cultural events on Zoom !! We quickly learned to organize many pujas including Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturti Maha Utsav, Mata Ki Chowki and Navratri celebrations sponsored by families both in person and over Zoom. Of course, other activities like Sai Bhajan, Balvihar, yoga classes and Bhagavat Gita classes continue to happen through Zoom. Finally, our Annual General Body Meeting and EC Election, which was postponed from April 25th, happened on August 30th via Zoom and the new EC team sworn in. What a tumultuous year indeed!! In addition, to meet the growing space requirements of the temple community, the management bought the house adjacent to the temple so that some of our activities can be conducted there. The management is also working tirelessly with the Hanover Township, and the engineering firm to expand the temple hall, basement, and few Murthis and additional parking spaces in the next 1-2 years. Unfortunately, we had to cancel Holi Celebrations, Thyagaraja Aradhana, Diwali Bazaar and other events, which greatly reduced temple revenue during this year. We are counting on your continued financial support to cover temple expenses. So, please become a paid member or renew your membership by donating $150. We urge you all to consider donating 1% of your annual income to our temple so that we can meet our temple community’s current and future needs. Krishna does not need anything from us other than love and devotion. He gives everything to us. Let us make His Home financially secure as our own homes. We wish you all Happy Diwali & a wonderful New Year 2021. (Photos from 2019) Thank you. Pattabi Neelakantan Neela Bera Chairman President Board of Trustees Executive Council 4 TEMPLE BULLETIN BOARD BHAGAVAD GITA VICHAR GROUP Bhagavad Gita and Vedanta Studies Group For all the HTS Poojas, please use Sessions are held every Thursday, 7:00 PM Zoom meeting ID 263 071 1139 to 9:00 PM .