The Hindu Temple and Heritage Hall of Toledo Presents. August '3 th thru' 5 th

Transcription

1 The Hindu Temple and Heritage Hall of Toledo Presents August '3 th thru' 5 th

2 - r Hindu Temple of Toledo Ujai 1fo" 'Festiva( of'1ndia 2010 Team -' ChairPerson: Cultural Chair: Fashion Show: Finance: Hospitality: Audio Visual: Religion: Sponsorship: Advertisements: Graphics/Publications: Publicity: Vendors: Volunteers: Safety:' Youth Activities: Arun Agarwal Vinita Singhania, Sangeeta Mehta, Rashmi Agnihotri Charu Trivedi Minnie Singh, Pragna Pandhi Rajiv Naik, Naveen Bhojraj Neel Sapre, Sumit Mukherjee, Abhay Prasad Pandit Anant Dixit, Vivek Trivedi Sapna Reddy, Usha Salvi, Rita Ajmera Jay Jindal, Steve Jindal, Raj Kattar, Rajiv Naik Saumin Mehta, Arun Agarwal Minnie Singh, Paramita Mukherjee, Madhu Bais, Mina Naik Sangeeta Mehta, Paramita Mukherjee, Minnie Singh Jay Jindal, Navin Singhania, Atul Agnihotri, Rajesh Laungani, Saumin Mehta Tina Jindal Rajesh Laungani Naveen Bhojraj Richa Agarwal, Sohum Mehta, Rakhi Agarwal, Tina Jindal 4

3 , Hindu Temple of Toledo Namaskar and greetings to you and your families! By the grace of god, we are having another great year. We began the operations this year at the Hindu Temple of Toledo (HIT) with emphasis on important aspects such as celebration of religious festivals, ambience and holistic experience at the Temple for devotees. We are delighted that devotees have positively confirmed our efforts with large increase in attendance at all the HTT events/ festivals celebrated to date in Our efforts have also resulted in an increase in the first half income of HTT. Thank you for your generosity. The following are some major accomplishments so far: Religious Festivals: We celebrated with record attendance on all major Festivals starting with Sankranthi/Pongal, Lohri, Vasant Panchami, Maha Shiv a Ratri, Holi, Ugadi/ Gudi Padva, Ram Navami and Mahaveer [ayanti, Vaisakhi, Tamil New Year, Bhagwad Saptah, Rudra Yagna. Special Events: Started the year with the fund-raising event for capital projects. Received pledges for ~ $85,000. Celebrated India's Republic Day in January, with Toledo Mayor Mike Bell as the Chief Guest. Bhagwad Saptah - a seven day discourse - was offered by Swami Pratyagbodhananda during the last week of April. Rudra Yagna - fourth in the series of Maha Yagna - was performed in May, with over 110 families sponsoring the Yagna. New programs: We have started a number of different initiatives at the Temple: Pre-paid lunch - a very popular program, with over 45 couples and families participating. Membership incentive - special discount at Urban Active fitness center helped drive early membership, which helped improve cash flow during the slower months. Reusable plates - for Sunday lunches, we now use reusable plates. Outreach programs: Andhra flood Relief Fund, Haiti Relief Fund HTT Youth Service Program: The youth group has been actively involved in various programs Cherry Street Mission, Swan Creek park cleanup on earth day Build a Well- Youth Group made a goal to raise $2,500 for a well in India (through The Water Project) and are close to 1/ 3rd of their goal. They need your support - through donating your used aluminum cans. Please drop your cans at the Temple. Vegetable Garden - With help of Tina Jindal and Bindu Mistry, and in collaboration with "Toledo Grows" and Multifaith Council, the youth group has started a vegetable garden, planted tomatoes, spinach and other vegetables. Membership: We have 179 general paid members/families + 31 Board and life members. Kudos to the entire executive committee, starting with vice president Rajesh Laungani, secretary Srini Hejeebu and treasurers Minnie Singh, Pragna Pandhi, Ram Ramanujam and Kalpana Varanasi. On behalf of the Executive committee, I would like to thank all the members and patrons of the temple for placing your trust in us. Finally, the entire executive committee thanks the direction and support of our beloved Punditji, Shri Anantkumar Dixit. Regards, Saumin Mehta

4 , Hindu Temple of Toledo I Dear members, friends, and well wishers of the Hindu Temple of Toledo, On behalf of the Board of Trustees of the Hindu Temple, I welcome you to [ai Ho the Festival of India The Festival is the occasion for us to celebrate the founding of our Temple and showcasing the rich tradition, heritage and culture of India. This is the twenty ninth anniversary of our Temple. The Festival Committee under the energetic chair Arun Agrawal has worked hard to bring the festivities for your enjoyment. Come and enjoy the Festival. Make it a grand success! More on the festival, you will see in Festival Chair's message. Congratulations to President Saumin Mehta and his Executive Committee for the wonderful work they have done in the year. I should specially mention two (2) important and significant events Bhagwat Saptah and Rudra Yagna - fourth in the series of five (5) Maha Yagnas. Kudos to our Youth Volunteer group for their involvement in various programs and for raising funds for a drinking water well in India through The Water Project. Thanks to the temple community in responding to calamities here and elsewhere, for generous contributions to the Tornado relief in our area, Andhra flood Relief Fund and I the Haiti Relief Fund. Our Punditji Anant Dixit has been a guiding light and a great resource to our community. I want to express our gratitude and heartfelt thanks to his untiring devotion to the Temple and community. The roof of the Temple is being replaced. This is a major capital expense. There are plans to install new deities and make additions to the temple area. We need to raise funds for these. There will be a major fund raising effort and we need your help. It is heartening to see the attendance at Sunday pujas and major festivals has increased. But our paid membership has not increased. Those of you who are not members, please become members. Get your friends to become members. Please get involved in the Temple and the Heritage Hall activities. Make this, your Temple, grow and prosper. Regards, Hari Om. S. SubbaRao Chairman, Board of Trustees.

5 _ Hindu Temple of Toledo 7 Namaskar [ai Ho - Victory be yours The theme aptly represents this year's Festival of India This year we have tried to encompass all what India has to offer and showcase India to the city of Toledo. We have taken the festival for the first time to Tam-O-Shanter in Sylvania as our goal was to attract large amount of visitors. This venue gave us enough scope to present our country in form of dances, costumes, and food. Another advantage was the availability of parking space. The format was similar to previous years; however we have tried our best to take the festival to the next level in terms of content, concept and presentation. This year festival involves vendors selling jewelry, clothing, DVD / CD's, arts & crafts, and various services which include free blood pressure checks by Promedica. Food comprises a mix of all varieties from all parts of India. Live Indian cooking demonstration and Henna demonstration. Our temple youth group has helped organize games and activities for children. There would be something for everyone. Our cultural program again represents various parts of Indian culture via dance, songs and music. Friday is dedicated to our "Nanhe Sitare" who will show case amazing singing talents, Saturday is dedicated to world's largest movie industry "Bollywood" and Sunday is dedicated to a special day "India's Independence Day". A special program "Fashion Show" depicting different facets of Indian Weddings will be presented by the largest star cast ever, comprising of our community members on Saturday. An event of this nature and magnitude cannot be successful without the help of volunteers who have worked effortlessly and have put in thousands of hours. I would like to thank all of them from the bottom of my heart. There cannot be any measurement to measure their sincerity and unselfish nature. We appreciate the participation of all our community members, specially the children who so tirelessly, perform in the cultural night. I would also like to show my gratitude to all the valuable sponsors who have opened up their hearts by donating to the festival of India Last but not the least I would like to thank the Temple Board and President in this year's festival team to make this event spectacular and amazing.. for their faith Thanks, Arun Agarwal Festival Chair - "[ai Ho"

6 _ Hindu Temple of Toledo Why Prayers? - by Anant Dixit First of all, the Hindu doctrine of karma should not be confused with the concept of predescnation. According to Sanatan Dharma, your future is not predetermined or predestined. Y~ karmas from past lives (and earlier in this life) do indeed affect you, but they do not necessarily determine your future. Why not? Because the Lord has blessed us all with the power of free will. This power or shakti is so strong, we can overcome the effects of most karmas if we make a sufficient effort. Traditional teachers compare the force of karma to the current of a river. If you are swimming across the river, the force of the current will carry you a bit downstream. But if you are a vee; strong swimmer, you can even swim upstream, against the current! In the same way, if we employ our power of free will and strive with enough effort, we can overcome most of our karmas Suppose we are faced with a crisis like the loss of a job or a health problem. The crisis could be the result of our bad karmas in a past life. Yet, we are not helpless in the face of that crisis. V\Te have no choice over the situation that confronts us, but we have a choice in how we respond to it. Perhaps karma determines the situations we encounter, but we have free will in choosing how we respond to the situation. No matter how desperate the situation, we can still use our power of free will. And we can always use our free will to pray the Lord. Our prayers will certainly invoke God's grace. The Lord will bless us with the strength and wisdom necessary to respond to any crisis. Our prayers may not make the crisis disappear. A crisis born of past karmas is like the current of the river -- it will not simply stop. But whenever we invoke the Lord's grace in prayer, we will be blessed with the wisdom we need to navigate the tricky currents of karma and the strength we need to reach our goals. Whatever situations our past karmas might create, our prayers will always empower us to handle those situations gracefully. The purpose 'Of prayer depends entirely on a person's needs. Those who have financial, emotional, or health problems can pray for the Lord's blessings. Their prayers, if done with sincerity and faith (shraddha), will invoke the Lord's grace in their lives, helping them to manage or overcome their problems. Those who seek spiritual growth, rather than worldly goals, also pray for what they need. But their needs are different. They need the ability to discover the Lord's blessed presence within themselves and throughout the universe. They need the capacity, the preparedness, and the inner strength to achieve the highest discovery, leading to complete fulfillment and contentment in life. For the sake of making this discovery, there are several absolutely necessary factors which they must possess. They must have minds which are disciplined and prepared, capable of discovering the ultimate truth. They must have hearts which are pure, completely free from any emotional problems that would obstruct their journey of discovery. And they must have qualified teachers and appropriate teachings to guide them to discover the ultimate truth. A prepared mind (adhikaritva), a pure heart (antahkarana shuddhi), and a qualified teacher (guru) - these three (3) requirements can be gained only with God's grace. Therefore, spiritual seekers pray to invoke the Lord's blessings for acquiring these three (3). With God's grace, they may be able to reach the final destination of their lives of spiritual growth.

7 Board Members L (Life Member), P (Posthumus) Adappa, Vijay Agrawal, Prem K. Agrawal, Ram (L) & Prerna Ahuja, Rajendra Ajrnera, Prakash Bhandaru, Lakshmanrao & Suyama Bhat, Chandrahas Bhat, Ramachandra Bhatia, Raj K. (L) & Bhawna (L) Chablani, Lachman Chakravarty, Supriya & Jyoti Dasani, Haridas & Deepa Galani, Jay D. Gupta, Jiwan (L) Gupta, Kulbhushan B. (L) & Manju (L) Hegde, Kusum (L) & Kushala (P) Hegde, Sujata (L) & Ravi (P) Jaggi, Ajit (L) Jain, Navin Jhunjhunwala, Jagdish S. (L) & Leena J (L) Jindal, Jay R. & Valentina Jindal, Lachman Jindal, Steve Joshi, Rajendra Kathuria, Narendra Kwatra, Subash Labhsetwar, Lata Lakshimipathy, Narendra Mahajan, Kewal & Neeraja Mahajan, Vijay K. (L) & Ajay (L) Matani, Surendra (L) & Aruna Mehta, Gunvantray B. & Ila G (L) Mistry, Arvind & Bhagwati Mohan, Lala S. (P) & Usha (P) Naik, Rajiv *Please contact Rajni Sharma if there are any ommisions. Pallapothu, Sukeshini Pai, Ajith (L) & Archana Parikh, Nirav Parikh, Parag Patel,Arun Patel, Arunkurnar (P) & Hema Patel, Jagdish & Shobha Patel, Madhusudan F. (L) & Jayalata Patel, Yogesh Purewal, Sukhjit S. Purohit, Sugandha Ramnath, Suresh Rao,Subba Reddy, Damodar Reddy, Sapna Reddy, Sumitra (L) & Gopal (P) Salvi, Ashok & Usha Sehgal, Karan & Mrinalini Shah, Arvind & Daksha Shah, Madhukar Shah, Raju S. (L) & Rama (L) Shah, Rasesh Shah, Shirish & Rekha Sharma, Om (L) & Rajni (L) Sood Satish Tamirisa, Kiran Tandon, Prem Tejura, Manhar J. & Sandhya M. Thapar, Raj Torsekar, Pratap G. (L) & Kiron (L) Trivedi, Robitkumar (L) & Rekba (L) Trivedi, Vivek Kumar & Charulata Upamaka, Gopinath Vyas, Parimal (L) & Dipti (L) Thank you for all your support Members -.Jai Ho! J