HINDU SOCIETY OF SASKATCHEWAN

HINDU SOCIETY OF SASKATCHEWAN 107, LaRonge Road, S7K5T3 Newsletter November 2015 Presidents Message Namaste and warm Greetings from the Hindu Society of Saskatchewan Board. It has been an eventful and colorful summer at the temple. As you have noticed our Temple Expansion is going in full swing. We had a very colorful Shilanyas ceremony on July 30th 2015 to begin construction of the Temple expansion. The Temple Expansion committee under the co -chairmanship of Mrs. Leela Sharma and Mrs. Mythili Venkataraman is working very hard to ensure construction process goes smoothly. We had the opportunity to have 2 gurus giving us spiritual guidance at the temple during summer. Swami Kripamayananda ji visited us on August 22nd and rendered us with a spiritual discourse on Practical Vedanta. This was followed by 3 days of Bhagwata Purana discourse by Pujniya Gopeshwari Didi ji in early September. We celebrated Janmashtami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja and Dusshera with traditional gaiety and fervor. We had very unfortunate incident of theft in the Temple in early October. While the theft wasn t that much material in terms of value, we were heartbroken by the incident. By end of this week we are installing ADT security alarm to protect future thefts. Our temple is not only a place of worship for the Hindu Community, but also is a place to fulfill our educational, cultural, spiritual and humanitarian needs of the community. We are thankful to the volunteers and the donors who are helping us tremendously to fulfill our goal. We look forward to your continued support in smooth operations of the temple. Thanks, Subash Biswal President HSS Board. Unique Opportunity We are excited to offer a unique opportunity to our community to have their name attached in perpetuity to the new temple hall. We are creating plates with Geeta shlokas that will be engraved on the plate and will have the donor name. This will then be mounted on one of the walls of the new hall. We are able to create only 50 plates at this time and the sponsorship amount is $5,001. Please let the temple expansion committee know if you are interested in this wonderful opportunity In This Issue Presidents Message TEC Full report Past Events Future Events Program Coordinator report SAGM details contacts 1

Contact personals Please feel free to write an email or phone us (Co- Chairs) for further information. TEC Full Report Dear Friends We started our journey Leela Sharma 306-242-6979 leelasharma@hotmail.com) or Mythily Vankatraman 306-934-5932 (arjun10@saktel.net) Namaste, We are so thrilled to announce that with the blessings of the Lord Laxmi Narayan, the construction work for the temple expansion project has been progressing well as planned. This would not have been possible without your overwhelming support. We thank you for your encouragement, love and support. We want to give the full update of the project. We have 22 very capable members of the Temple Expansion Committee, and four sub-committees for this project. Subash Koneru, Nawal Sharma, Rahul Mukhergee, Kalyana Vankatraman, Suresh Kalagnanam, Subash Biswal, Ramji Khandelwal, Sambshivam, Karan Shukla, Raj Dhir, Anu Kashyap, Nagabhushana Naidu, Heena Desai, Kemp Gowda, J. Changela, Asit Sarkar, Maya Chakravarti, Subash Biswal, Mythili Vankatraman, Jyotsana Custead, Leela Sharma, Monisha Shukla. Technical sub-committee report Nawal K. Sharma - Chair (306-242-6979) Other members; Subash Koneru, Kumar Balachandran, Rahul Mukhergee, Kalyana Venkatraman and Bala Muthuswamy Present status of the schedule for the project: (i) We receive bills from Northridge construction once per month for the work which is completed. (ii) Members of the committee review these bills to ensure that the invoices are appropriate before the payment is authorized 2

Shilanayas ceremony We raised $ 34,000 Lead by Mrs. Maya Chakravarti (306-933-1173) and (iii) The committee members have meeting with Northridge staff once a month to review the progress of the work according to the schedule, go over the invoices and get clarification on any questions and discuss suggestions, which any member of the committee or Northridge may have. (iv) The city inspections by the city engineers are done at different stages of the project work to ensure the standards and requirements by the city are met. (v) Tech. sub-committee is responsible for the site inspection and has a primary contact person to Northridge. committee members Anu Kashyap, Raj Dhir, Jyoti Patel, Jyotsana Custead and Rahul Mukherjee. We had special foundation pooja and all the Shila (Salgram) were placed in the foundation. It was a big get together. Great Success and tremendous support from the devotees. Our sincere thank you to all of you. (vi) The present approximate total budget is $1.2 million. Which does not include the kitchen and basement development. (vii) The kitchen development and all the appliances will cost approximately $200,000 more. We have the city approval for this, and we would like to develop, if funds are available. (viii) The expansion insurance is in place. Finance sub-committee Report Suresh Kalagnanam- Chair, Finance committee(306-292-9251) Other members are: Subash Biswal, Raj Dhir, Anu Kashyap, Nagabhushana Naidu, Heena Desai Bank Balance - After paying some initial bills, our bank balance is $450,000 in The Laxmi Narayan Fund account at present. This account is used for the temple expansion only. Thank you to all the donors. Monthly deposits - $2000 3

Autumn Festivals Autumn in India and fall in Basement is covered Canada, is a very special time of the year. Many occasions are related to this harvesting season. In India we have many festivals, here in Saskatoon also we celebrated some. We had Durga puja, Dussera, Mata ki Chawki, Dil se etc. We thank you all for coming and participating in temple s program Finance sub-committee Report CIBC Mortgage Report: The committee approached four banks. RBC, Affinity, CIBC and TD. Recommended CIBC bank for the mortgage. The Mortgage approval process is almost at the final stage Here are the details of the CIBC summary of the mortgage Mortgage amount: $700,000 (bank willing to increase to $800,000 if needed) Mortgage duration: 15 years (may ask for 20-25 years) Durga Puja Interest rate: Prime plus 0.25% Not required to borrow the entire amount in one shot, can borrow in instalments of $150,000 During the construction period only interest needs to be paid each month Repayment of principal can be made at any time; after the construction is complete. No penalty for early repayment of mortgage Annual financial statement must be submitted each year within 4 months of the completion of the fiscal year Ganesh Chaturthi 4

Temple Progress Fundraising committee sub-committee Report Kemp Gowda - Chair fundraising committee (306-477-3811) Other members: Karun Shukla, J. Changela, Asit Sarkar, Maya Chakravarti, Raj Dhir, Anu Kashyap, Rick Jaggi, Subash Biswal, Mythili Vankatraman, Jyotsana Custead, Megha Lal(youth) Leela Sharma and Monisha Shukla. Past Events Kal Aaj Aur Kal- in Prince Albert $6000 sponsored by Drs. Lalita and Tilak Melhotra. Suhasani- $32,000, sponsored and coordinated - Mythily and Venkatraman and friends. Abhyankar musical concert - $2500. Sponsored by Sunil and Sujata Choubal Dances of India- September 12th in North Battleford. Sponsored and organized by Drs. Mini and Mahesh Khurana. Raised over $12,000 Bollywood concert - 'Dil Se' - approximately - $4000 Dussera Program 5

Public Relations Sub-Committee Anu Kashyap (306) 651-1026 and Sambshivam - 306-249-4392 - Chairs public relation sub-committee In order to meet the monthly mortgage payment and maintenance, Temple needs minimum monthly donation of $ 6000.00 from the members of Hindu Society of Saskatchewan. Please donate either one time lump-sum or commit for the monthly donation The monthly preauthorization form is attached. Fundraising Coordinator's Report At the AGM in April 2015 the membership entrusted me with the responsibility for coordinating all fund-raising activities to raise funds for the smooth operations of Shri Lakshmi Narayana Temple. As you are all aware, our focus this year has been fund raising for our Temple Expansion Project which is going very well. None-the-less we also need to raise funds for the day to day operations of the existing Temple. With all your support and help, we had a very successful summer Food Fair and Clothing sale in June 2015. Our next major event is Lakshmi Puja on November 15, 2015. All the details about this special puja are in the Upcoming events section of this Newsletter. Our target this year is to get 130 sponsors for this puja. We still have lots of sponsorships available and if you have not already sponsored, please contact me (306-374- 4882) or any Board member. The sponsorship amount is $51 or more, and you will receive a beautiful Temple calendar (generously sponsored by Pardessi bazaar), and a box of sweets ( sponsored by Subash and Latha Biswal). The puja will be followed by preeti bhoj sponsored by Dr. and Mrs. K Rai. Our sincerest thanks are due to all our sponsors. As a heads up, please save March 19, 2016 for attending our Annual Vegetarian Banquet. We will be providing more details as we move closer to that date. It is the generosity of our members that we are able to raise funds to maintain our sacred place of worship that is like a second home to us. I urge you all to continue providing that support. Thank you. Hats Off Want to say a massive hats off to all the brilliant volunteers who donate their time, money and skills for the Temple Expansion project (TEC) Volunteers make such a difference to the work that TEC can do and we're grateful to them every day. We want to say special 'thank you' with one voice. we never cease to be amazed at the dedication, love, support and imagination of our volunteers. Over 70 volunteers help to keep our activities running, raising funds, donate their skills, more join us in a variety of other roles. Each volunteer helps us ensure we can achieve our goal. All our volunteers somehow manage to fit in the time and their energies to be part of the temple work. And for that, we all say 'hats off to you!' We are privileged as a community to have so many dedicated individuals who devote their time and effort to ensuring all the events get success. Whether you are a organizer, committee member, performer, parent, teacher, a leader, board member, a technician, a business owner, a volunteer, a doctor, an engineer, a devotee, fundraiser, a donor and all those in between, you deserve nothing but our appreciation. We want to congratulate all the volunteers. Raj Dhir (Fundraising Coordinator) 6 Well done!!!! God Bless.

Future Events Semi Annual General Meeting (SAGM) 1 PM November 8th 2015: Please join us after the worship. Agenda has been circulated and a copy is displayed on Temple Notice Board. Diwali: Wednesday November 11. Temple will be open 7 to 8 pm, puja will be conducted by Sri Bala Muthuswamy Program Coordinator's Report Dear Friends, I have the pleasure of serving our community in the capacity of Temple Program coordinator for past six months.. Two other valuable members of temple program committee are Mrs. Monisha Shukla and Mr. Subash Biswal. Our duties involved organizing Sunday worship schedule for temple opening, harmonium players and religious talks. On the special functions and Poojas, we organize sponsors for the preeti bhoj and volunteers for cooking and serving meals. The altar tiding and cleaning, removing extra items and changing clothes of our deities are done by a group of dedicated volunteers. We are ever so thankful to all of them. Diwali Public Celebration on November 15 Program: Puja by Dr. Suresh Kalagnanam followed by Preeti Bhojan which is sponsored by Dr. Kulwant Rai and Janak Rai. Puja starts at 10 am sharp. We also have sponsorship at $51 similar to previous years. The proceeds will go for the existing temple's operating fund. The sponsors will receive a gift blessed during the Puja along with a Beautiful Temple Calendar. Please contact Raj Dhir 306 374 4882 or any of the HSS Board members for sponsorship.. Booking the temple: Please contact Leela Sharma for booking the temple facility for any special religious groups or private functions. We have developed the rental form and keep updating the form to reflect changes needed to manage the facility in an organized way. Only members of the HSS can rent the temple. Things are going very well. The rental form is attached for your convenience. Please contact Leela Sharma at (306)242-6979 or (306)380-7737 or email - leelasharma@hotmail.com Our heartiest "THANK YOU" to all the community members, and all those who contributed in many ways. We hope to have your continued support for this temple. Your sincerely Leela Sharma (Program and Facilities Coordinator ) Lecture by His Excellency Shri Vishnu Prakash on Expanding India-Canada Engagement - Dimensions of Energy and Nuclear Cooperation. @ University on November 16, 7Pm Room 159 Thorvalson Building. Swami Kripamayananda 7 Janmastami Puja

Semi Annual General Body Meeting Sunday November 8, 2015 1:00 p.m. Notice is hereby given that the Semi Annual General Body Meeting of the Hindu Society of Saskatchewan will be held at Shri Lakshmi Narayan Temple, 107 LaRonge Rd., Saskatoon, S7K 5T3 on Sunday 8th of November, 2015 at 1:00 p.m. for the purpose of: Tabling and approval of the 2015-2016 Budget transacting such further and other business as may properly come before the meeting or any adjournment thereof. Dated Oct.20, 2015 Issued by Board of Directors, Hindu Society of Saskatchewan Agenda Call to Order Opening prayer Approval of the agenda Tabling and Approval of Minutes of Semi Annual General Body Meeting held on November 16, 2014, and tabling of Annual General Body Meeting minutes held on April 26, 2015 Presentation and Approval of budget for 2016, and Treasurer's report HSS Temple Expansion Mortgage approval Director s Reports Bylaw revision Any other business as may arise at the SAGM Adjournment Diwali Greetings Contact Us Board Members Subash Biswal (President) Call: 306-241-7755 Monisha Shukla (Vice President) Call: 306-221-6279 Hemant Anand (Secretary) Nagabhushana Naidu (Treasurer) Leela Sharma (Program and Facilities Coordinator ) Raj Dhir (Fundraising Coordinator) Anu Kashyap (Outreach Coordinator) Atrayee Basu (Member-at-large) Heena Desai (Member-at-large) Isa Shrikumar (Past President) Please visit our website: www.saskatoontemple.net 8