The Sri venkateswara swami temple of greater Chicago...

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1 The Sri venkateswara swami temple of greater Chicago... Celebrating 25 years of Blessings

2 The Balaji Youth Committee Proudly Presents... Totally Awesome Temple Times! 25th Anniversary Special Edition! 25th Anniversary: Then and Now... To pay tribute to the past 25 years of the temple, the Totally Awesome Temple Times staff went out to interview a few of the long serving volunteers in the temple. Through the questions, we learned a lot about how the temple was originally set up, and how it changed lives for many Hindus in the community. All the volunteers agreed that the temple had very humble beginnings. Ganapathy Narayanan (a volunteer for 24 years) stated that at the beginning, very few people came to the temple. In fact, since our culture was new to the area, many non-hindus were hesitant to learn about our religion. Now, however, we see people of many different origins coming to learn about Hinduism at our temple. We even had a mix of ethnicities at our 2010 summer camp. There has also been a great increase of visitors to the temple, and because of our temple, devotees do not have to drive all the way to Pittsburgh to worship. But new adults are not the only ones to have benefited; the volunteers were also astounded at the number of kids that had become immersed in the culture of their elders and ancestors. Dr. Yalavarthi (the chairman of the temple) is very impressed with the number of kids that participate in biweekly Youth Classes. In the future, he s looking forward to seeing the younger generation taking more of a part in the temple. The interviewees all agreed that the next generation is very important to the future of the temple. This was recognized by Dr. Rao, who is responsible for the current YC committee and classes. All of the interviewees stated that the younger generation would eventually have to take over the temple functions and continue to spread Hinduism to their kids. Dr. Koneru (one of the founders of the temple) remarked on how the kids are inspired by the Youth Classes to get involved in their religious community. Krishna Atluri (a volunteer for 15 years) is looking forward to seeing more participation by children in the next 25 years. She thought that this would not only help children, but enhance the relationship between kids and their parents. Durga Prasad Kanuri (a volunteer for 15 years) commented on the fact that when he was young, he did not learn much about religion when going to the temple; he merely prayed, then came home. He thinks that the classes will greatly improve the basic understanding of our culture., and will bring in more visitors to the temple. The temple also greatly helped those who had newly come to this country from India. At first, it was very difficult for them to find others who would carry out traditional rites and ceremonies. Now, with the help of our well-learned priests, we are able to have important functions performed in the comfort of our homes. In this way, a community was formed, and people have been able to meet and make friends through the temple. Dr. Yalavarthi said that meeting new people and devoting time to the temple has greatly inspired him. All in all, the volunteers all believe that we can look forward to a prosperous future for the temple! By Shreya Shanker Interviews by Vignesh Sarathy, Shreya Shanker, and Ujwal Kiran Special thanks to all interviewees! Inside this Issue: Reconstruction of the past Going Green! The Future of the Temple Class Schedule Summer Camp Flier Annual Day Program Cover art (from left to right) title and authors: Bal Hanuman by Sriram Ashokkumar, Lord Ganesha by Shruthi Garimalla, Ayappa Swami by Renu Vardheesh, Lord Shiva by Ramya Ramakrishnan, Scenery of the Temple, Lord Shiva by Renu Vardheesh, and Sri Balaji Swami by Jayashree Sarathy

3 Page 3 Totally Awesome Temple Times! Reconstruction from the Past Over the years, as the Balaji Temple has gone through much reconstruction, it has also spread its culture to many other religions. Let s start at the very beginning. The temple floor plan was originally created by Sri Subhash Nadkarni and Padmasri M.Muthiah Sthapathy. Along with them, nine families donated land, which was located in Aurora. Thus, the Sri Venkateswara Swami Temple of Greater Chicago was born! It took a lot of effort to build, but it was well worth it - as a result of the temple being built, residents in the Midwest do not have to travel far to visit a grand Hindu temple. The temple priests are very pious and follow all of the Hindu traditions. My family started coming to the temple before I was even born! I remember all of the renovations that were made to make the temple even more appealing for devotees and priests. For starters, the great Veluchamy auditorium was built in I remember that when I was a little kid, I danced for audiences along with my friends on the first floor area where we eat today. Now, we use the Veluchamy auditorium to spread our culture, whether it be through dance performances or musical recitals. The beautiful sculpted paintings on the front of the temple were carved recently. The gazebo, or Panchavati, is a relatively new addition as well. When it was first built, it was open and did not have the glass walls and ceiling; these were added in 2009 so that it could be enjoyed by devotees during any season. The temple uses the gazebo for a variety of things including the Vidyaganapati Puja and the annual picnic! Now, think of the temple without everything I just named; is it not amazing to see how the temple has progressed over the years? All this is possible thanks to everyone who has helped the temple over the years, especially to the volunteers, maintenance staff and of course, you, the devotees! By Vruti Venkatesan With strong support from the chairman and other executive committee members (such as Durga Prasad Kanuri and Dr. Yalavarthi), a group of individuals are attempting to change the temple for the better - by going green. We set out to find what plans this group had for us. We learned that they had started with garbage - earlier, everything was going to a landfill, which is obviously bad for our ecosystem. The temple has worked with a trash company (Groot) to separate trash and recycling. This not only helps our planet, but reduces the temple s costs, as Groot charges less for shipping recyclables. A rather big change they are going for is to try to replace all Styrofoam (nonbiodegradable) with compostable material Going Green! The Future of the Temple... bringing in plastic spoons and plates because recycling companies will not take food waste. The temple used to have a compacting garbage bin - the group thought that if it was reintroduced, it would be good for the temple. A compacting bin is useful because the garbage companies charge on the volume of waste the temple generates. If one crushes the garbage, there is obviously less volume, so it will reduce costs. This same idea can be implemented with recycling. With less costs put towards waste disposal, the temple can use these funds to improve the experience for the devotees. Until the temple acquires a bin, the group is thinking of asking for young volunteers to crush cardboard materials. stems. An idea in the making is a composting bin, to compost flowers from ceremonies and rituals. The priests are very enthusiastic about this idea because they want the flowers that adorned the Lord to go back into the soil and enrich the earth instead of going into the trash. The group would like to thank the chairman, the board of trustees, the kitchen staff, the office staff, and the building committee for their support in their endeavors. Without these people, their mission would be impossible to complete. By Vignesh Sarathy Edited by Shreya Shanker so that when the food waste goes into the trash, it decomposes into the soil. They ve thought through all the other options with The next plan is to get recycling bins and recycle abhishekam materials - Special Thanks to Ravi Shanker and Rama Bhagavatula great detail: the temple will not benefit from empty milk cartons, juice bottles, and flower

4 Visit byctatt.weebly.com! 25th Anniversary Special Edition! Page 4 Balaji Vidyapitham Fall Class Schedule Class Days and Time Teachers Contact Info Tamil Language Class 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM Smt. Parvathy Sree parvathy_sree@hotmail.com Sanskrit Language Class 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM Sri Ravi Shanker virashmo@gmail.com Telugu Language Class 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM Sri Dharma Dumpala Sri Krishna Bhagavatula dd@advitconsulting.com Hindi Language Class 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM Smt. Devaki Rau Smt. Vijaya Krishnamoorthy Sri Ramesh Krishnan drau@niu.edu Ramayanam (Elementary and Middle school) 12:00 PM to 12:45 PM Smt. Jayashree Sarathy Smt. Vidhya Shanker jsarathy@waubonsee.edu Mahabharata (Elementary/Middle School Students) 12:00 PM to 12:45 PM Sri Parthasarathy jaysarathy@hotmail.com Religion 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Priest Sri Hanumanth Prasad Priest Sri Nagendra Rao Sri Srinivasa G Rajan jsarathy@waubonsee.edu Smt. Jayashree Sarathy Semi-Classical - Vocal 2:15 PM to 3:00 PM Smt. Bhuvana iyer bhuvana00@hotmail.com Mahabharata (High School students) 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM Sri Ganapathy Dharmasankar gdharmasankar@yahoo.com

5 25th Anniversary Special Edition! Page 5 When: July 18th 22nd, 2011 Where: Balaji Temple, 1145 Sullivan Rd, Aurora IL Time: 8:30 AM to 6:00 pm ; Fees: $100 For information go to the temple or temple office contact Anita: anitavcdh@gmail.com Jayashree: jayashree.sarathy93@gmail.com You must be wondering what summer camp is the best, it is the one in the Balaji Temple. I said this because I have been in this camp and it is teaching everything from India. - Rishabh Sowjanya: sowjanya_dharmasankar@yahoo.com Activities! Math, science, nutrition Handicrafts Cultural Activities Dance Skits Bhajans Register your child for the camp on or visit the temple office! Camp at the Balaji temple can be more friendly than any other camp known. No bullies, teasing, or injuries. Only happy teachers, volunteers, and of course, students who want to Outdoor play learn even more about All this and more! Hinduism than other classes offered at the Balaji temple. Age 5 15 for both boys and girls. - Chandana Tetali Snack and lunch will be provided

6 After reading, you may save this newsletter as a souvenir. If you do not want to keep it, please recycle it! Help save trees and the earth you live in. Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple Annual Day Celebrations of Youth Classes May 22 nd, 2011, :30 pm Theme: 25 th Anniversary of Balaji Temple Program Invocation by Religion Class Students (Ganesha Dvaadashaitani followed by Madhurashtakam & Lingashtakam) Program by Sanskrit Class Students Dance by Youth Class Students Program by Tamil Class Students Debate by Youth Class Students Which character in Mahabharata shows more devotion - Karna or Arjuna? Program by Telugu Class Students Game - Ramayana & Mahabharata Program by Hindi Class Students Dance by Youth Class Students Debate by Youth Class Students Who is a better brother to Rama - Lakshmana or Bharata? Dance by Youth Class Students Dance Program by College Students (Benedictine Univ, UIC and UIUC Students) Reflections of past 25 years Chairman and trustees Totally Awesome Temple Times Visit us at byctatt.weebly.com! Thank you for reading! This newsletter was edited and designed by Vignesh Sarathy and Shreya Shanker of the Balaji Youth Committee (BYC). On behalf of the Youth Committee, BYC, and Board of Trustees, we thank you for attending the 25th anniversary celebrations. May Lord Balaji bless you!