HARI Times... SITA-RAMA * RADHE-SHYAM Vol. 17 No. 05 OCT DEC 2017
INFORMATIONAL HARI Temple Hours Monday Friday: 8am-1pm, 3pm-9pm Saturday & Sunday: 8am to 9pm Daily Aarti: 8am, 12pm, 7pm Priest Services and Hall Rentals: Contact HARI President @ (717) 437-1014 * president@haritemple.org Priest Service request form is available at http://haritemple.org/hari/pdf/priestservicerequestform.pdf Hall rental agreement is available at http://haritemple.org/hari/pdf/temple_hall_use_agreement.pdf HARI TIMES is mailed to all HARI devotees, however if you wish to go-green (read online @ haritemple.org/hari/haritimes.aspx) then inform us accordingly. Also, if you would like to share the news of birth, death, marriage, etc. with the community, then send a detailed request to president@haritemple.org HARI emails: Update your email at haritemple.org OR drop your update in the Hundi (donation box) at the temple. One may also send a request to haritemple@gmail.com HARI CALENDAR: Dates of religious festivals, scheduled events, priests availability, and hall rentals are available online at haritemple.org. Please verify it before requesting priest service and/or hall rental. CLOSING / CANCELLATION ALERTS: Closings are announced on HARI s website and when feasible over local TV channels. Such closings include HARI School and scheduled events due to adverse weather conditions. Local TV channels are ABC27, CBS21, FOX43 and WGAL8 (look for HARI Temple under York County Closings and/or Churches ). OUR HEARTFELT APPRECIATION Shree Naranji Pandya (Shastri Ji) Shri Seetharamaswamy (Swamy Ji), and Office Manager Mrs. Anita Shah On behalf of all HARI devotees, the Executive Committee appreciates both priests and Office Manager for their dedication and support to HARI throughout the year! HARI Times is a publication of the Hindu American Religious Institute (HARI), located at 301 Steigerwalt Hollow Rd., New Cumberland, PA 17070 You may send your comments, suggestions, and announcements to HARI Times Editors using the addresses provided at haritemple.org/hari/haritimes.aspx Editors: HARI Executive Committee, Mr. Sunil Desai, Mr. Adinarayana Rayavarapu, & Mr. Viren Trivedi Page 2
PRIESTS @ Temple: 717-774-7750 Pu. Shastri ji 717.460.1522 Pu. Swamy ji 717.395.6562 EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE: President: Mrs. Kalpana Sheth 717.437.1014 Senior Vice President: Mr. Atreia Sindiri 717.395.7675 Secretary: Mr. Sashidhar Jasty 717.265/6833 Treasurer: Mr. Harish Patel 717.576.1223 Vice Presidents: Mrs. Minoo Amin 717.732.0513 Mr. Laxman Buddineni 717.610.0840 Mr. Raj Das 717.737.4417 Mr. Sambasiva Ellanki 717.439.8821 Mr. Sandeep Gupta 717.579.1375 Mr. Raj Sathanur 518.312.3330 Ms. Amita Shah 717.557.9086 Mr. Sunil Sharma 302.438.0633 Mr. Harit Trivedi 717.215.6894 School Director: Dr. Dinesh Pai 973.668.7459 Youth Forum Director: Mr. Vijay Varadarajan 717.395.2588 BOARD OF TRUSTEES Chair: Mr. Kirit Shah 717.728.9989 Members: Mr. Sadanandam Bharatha 717.712.9907 Mr. Ramesh Bathini 717.460.6556 Mr. Pallav Bhonde 717.586.6900 Dr. Yogesh Parikh 717.979.8886 Mr. Anish Patel 717.756.7841 Mr. Kumar Piraviperumal 717.329.6202 Mr. Basava Sankar 717.460.4635 Mr. Anil Shenoy 717.254.3025 Dr. Deepanker Tewari 717.566.7999 Page 3
Namaste, Students and Parents, Message from HARI School Thank you for your excitement and enthusiasm on the registration day! It gave us immense pleasure to observe such a morning. This is a tribute to the untiring efforts of the senior members of Hindu community, who envisaged the need for HARI and a school within. Yes. HARI School opened on September 10 on a very auspicious note. Over 60 students performed guided Sri Ganesh Puja. Pu. Shastri ji, led the puja and enthralled the devotees with his devotional singing. Close to 200 devotees attended the puja, which was followed by lunch Prasad prepared by HARI School teachers. Leading to the puja, many of our students very devotedly sculpted their own Ganapati murti for performing the puja. What a wonderful spiritual activity to engage in! A group of young volunteers, dressed up as Mahadeva, Parvati Mata, and Ganesh, further added to the environment pregnant with excitement. All students and devotees prayed for the victims of Hurricane Irma. We have planned yet another eventful and learning year for all our students. All of us teachers, parents, and students will need to work together in close cooperation to fructify this plan and give our students what they truly deserve an opportunity to discover self. As always thank you for your support. Sincerely, Dinesh R. Pai (HARI School Director) Vijay Varadhrajan (HARI Youth Forum Director) Namaste all! Message from the PR Committee The Central Pennsylvania is blessed with great weather and by Lord's grace we are somewhat protected against nature's brute forces, similar to those that were encountered in Texas and Florida. Please continue to think about those impacted by recent hurricanes and please donate time, money and resources to local agencies offering relief efforts to those affected. In September, we celebrate United Nations International day of peace. Inter-religious groups celebrate this event with Harmony Walk by visiting different places of worship and faith in the afternoon. The event is slated for September 20th from 2:00pm-4:00pm and will start at Wesley Union AME Zion Church, 2219 N. 5th St. Harrisburg. HARI will be represented at this community event. Please continue supporting such community events to show solidarity. With best wishes for the upcoming holidays, Deep Tewari (PR Committee Coordinator) Page 4
Message from the Committees Wish you a very Happy Diwali and a Happy New Year. As we write the message for this last issue of HARI Times for the year 2017, we feel blessed to have an opportunity to serve HARI. The year went by very fast. We are very grateful to the dedicated team of the Board of Trustees and the executive committee members, who have contributed valuable time from their busy lifestyle to serve HARI for the year. Since the publication of the last HARI Times, we celebrated several more events at HARI, including Janmashtami and Ganesh Chaturthi. We are also very thankful to our community who attends all the functions with true devotion and help us with the success of each program. It was delightful to see our seniors perform Garba/Raas at the Janmashtami celebration event. We had opportunity to see wonderful performances of singing / dance talents from within our community with Dr. Bhargave singing devotional bhajans for Janmashtami and Mrs. Ashwini Sathe, Mrs. Mahima Natraj and Mrs. Saritha Naidu performing various forms of Indian classical dances for Ganesh Chaturthi celebration. As we write this message, we are getting ready to celebrate Navratri and Dussehra at the temple. We invite you to attend the General Body Meeting and Diwali Annakut celebration on Oct 21. We have tried to complete the projects started last year with continued improvement of the temple infrastructure. We have felt the need for handicap access for the upper hall. The board of trustees have been brainstorming the best solution which is not very easy with the current infrastructure. As this is a long-term project, we feel it is better to make sure the project is done the right way. Hopefully, by the end of the year, we can present a good plan to the community. We are also thankful to several community volunteers for their dedicated help and support towards temple operation throughout the year. As we are in the process of selecting our new committee, we encourage our youth to apply and join the executive committee. The satisfying reward to serve for our temple cannot be described in words. We are very thankful for giving us the opportunity to serve the temple. This was a very humbling experience. Finally, we are including HARI s financial information in this message for your information. Please feel free to contact HARI Treasurer Mr. Harish Patel or either of us at haritemple@gmail.com for related details. Thank you very much for your support and contributions to HARI. Mrs. Kalpana Sheth HARI President Mr. Kirit Shah HARI Chair Page 5
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Message from ANANDAM (HARI Seniors Forum) Anandam, as the name suggests, is a group of senior HARI members who are enjoying their retirement with fun, happiness, and being active! It has been my pleasure and honor to serve as Anandam s coordinator this year. As I look back, we really had lots of fun-filled activities throughout the year and we plan to celebrate few more for the remaining of the year. The most notable and memorable event this year was the participation at the HARI Janmashtami program. Several seniors regularly met to prepare (with fun) Garba and Raas under the direction of Mrs. Bharti Upadhyay. It was amazing to see the seniors busting with energy! I am very thankful to Mr. Harish Patel for coordinating the event. Mr. Harish Patel also handled overall communication for the Anandam for the entire year and we all appreciate it. The Janmashtami celebration began with beautiful Bhajans by Dr. Usha Bhargave and her group with a complete devotion. This was followed by Anandam s Garba and Raas, and eventually led to the creation of Gokul on the stage of HARI mandir with Lord Krishna and Radha participating in the dance! The evening ended with Dinner Prasad sponsored by the Anandam group. As I am writing this, we are getting ready for a delicious Mexican dinner at El Serrano, followed by a musical at the American Music Theater, Lancaster. We are also planning for a comedy play with a tasty Veggie Lasagna lunch at the Rainbow s Comedy Playhouse in Paradise, PA, on October 4. Anandam is planning on a Grand Diwali Celebration with a delicious dinner and an entertainment program by the House of Entertainment, New York. It will be on Wednesday, October 18, at 5pm, at the Taj Palace restaurant. This will be our biggest event of the year and we invite you to join us for the fun-filled evening (seating is limited, so reserve your seat now). And to all fellow Anandam members: This will be yet another chance to show your dancing skills on the tunes of melodious Indian music. Along with fun and festivities, Anandam members do believe in community service. As a service to the community, Anandam is planning on conducting a food drive for the Bethesda Mission (tentatively scheduled for the third week in November). Anandam is also planning on an educational seminar in November or December. Stay tuned for more! Anandam will end the year with a grand Holiday Celebrations in late November or early December. Finally, I am extremely thankful to all the members and volunteers for without their help and support I could not have arranged all these activities successfully. If you are a 60+ young at heart individual, I invite you to join the Anandam group. If you prefer to get Anandam emails (separate from HARI emails), then please contact me at 717.979.8886 or email to haritempleanandam@gmail.com or yogiparikh999@gmail.com. Best Regards, Dr. Yogesh Parikh, Anandam Coordinator Page 7
Hindu American Religious Institute Nonprofit Org. 301 Steigerwalt Hollow Road US Postage Paid New Cumberland PA 17070 Harrisburg, PA www.haritemple.org Permit No. 304 Directions: Take Exit 39A, Lewisberry Road, off I-83 Make left at the STOP for Route 114 West Go 1/3 mile; make Left on Steigerwalt Hollow Rd Go 1/2 mile to HARI Temple on right www.haritemple.org * (717) 774-7750 REGULARLY SCHEDULED EVENTS Shri Vishnu Sahasranamam & Govind Namalu Every Saturday, from 6:00pm to 7:00pm (Or from 7:30pm to 7:45pm due to priority of other events) Shri Hanuman Chalisa and Satsang Every Saturday, from 7:15pm to 8:00pm (Or from 7:15pm to 7:30pm due to priority of other events) Lord Shri Satyanarayana Vrat Puja & Katha (A token donation of $21 per family is recommended) Jain Swadhayay / Puja (Organized Conducted by the Jain Samaj of South Central PA) Lord Venkateswara Swamy Abhishekam (A token donation of $21 per family is recommended) On Purnamasi / full moon, from 7:15pm to 9:00pm - Thursday, October 5, 2017 - Friday, November 3, 2017 - Sunday, December 3, 2017 First Sunday of the month, from 2:00pm to 4:00pm - October 1, November 5, and December 3 First Saturday of the month, from 9:30am to 12:00pm - October 7, November 4, and December 2 Monthly Havan (Organized and conducted by HARI Devotees) Shri Ramcharitmanas Sundarkand Recital (Organized and conducted by HARI Devotees) Second Sunday of the month, from 5:30pm to 7:00pm - October 8, November 12, and December 10 Second Tuesday of the month, from 7:15pm to 9:00pm - October 18 (exception), November 14, and December 12 Page 8