NEWSLETTER

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There are only two days in the year that nothing can be done. One is called Yesterday and the other is called Tomorrow. Today is the right day to Love, Believe, Do and mostly Live. -Dalai Lama-

Temple Timings: Sunday

10:00 AM to 12:00 Noon Arati 10:30 AM Tues, Fri & Sat

5:00 PM to 7:00 PM Arati 6 PM

Temple website http://htsnm.org/

Balvihar 2 President’s Message 3 Auspicious days 4 Reminders 5 Past/upcoming events 6-8 Intro to Bhagavat-Gita 9 Subashita 10

Table of Contents

HTSNM Lakshmi puja 24th November

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Balvihar

Balvihar is up and running. Please come join us every

Sunday from 10:00 to 11:00 am.

In Balvihar the story of Mahishasura was narrated.

Mahishasura was a buffalo demon—he pursued his evil ways by

shape shifting. He waged war against the Devas—his boon of no

male personality could kill him enabled him to defeat the Devas.

Their dejection led them to assemble in the mountains and their

combined divine energies gave birth to Durga. Who defeated him.

The values of Dhairya (courage), Aparugraha (non-greediness),

Seva (service), Samaya palanam (timely), and Krita Grita

(thankful) were reviewed as applicable from this narration of

good over evil.

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Greetings, Happy holidays to everyone, hope you are enjoying your time off and the cold weather.

We had a very successful Non-violence walkathon to com-memorate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Ghandi. I would like to thank each and everyone of you who showed up to show your support of temple organized events. We will have many more family centric events to bring the community together.

I would like to also provide an update to you on the temple committee that has been ac-tive to find us an alternate location. Stay tuned as we shortlist properties and visit them to make a decision soon on relocating our temple. If you would like to get involved in the “temple planning” process please contact me at krishna.realtyone@gmail.com as soon as possible.

The membership drive will be our next task to start generating some funds to pur-chase/build our temple. Please support this endeavor—the committee is organizing some benefits to the membership that will be of interest to everyone.

I also invite any input that is of interest to the community to be sent to me so that they may be published in the newsletter. Please share so everyone will benefit from them.

As the end of Year 2019 approaches, and as you plan to prepare your tax return, please consider making a tax-deductible charitable contribution to HTSNM, a non-profit 501 C (3). We truly appreciate your continued support for this cause. Our non-profit tax ID is: 85-0458579. Please make your contribution payable to HTSNM and mail it to: HTSNM P.O. Box 51616 Albuquerque, NM 87181

Wishing you all a very safe and happy Christmas break.

President’s message

Krishna Jaiswal President

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Upcoming Auspicious days

Nov

23 Friday Pradosham

24 Sunday Shivarathri

29 Friday Vinayaka Chathurti

Dec

1 Sunday Shasti vratam, Vivah Panchami, Champa Shashthi

7 Saturday Guruvayur Ekadasi, Gita Jayanti

9 Monday Pradosham

10 Tuesday Karthigai Deepam

12 Thursday Ishti

15 Sunday Sangada Hara Chathurti

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1. No footwear allowed in the mandir and on the

second floor, unless worn due to medical

reasons. Our Temple requirements are that all

footwear be stowed in the cubbies provided to

prevent young children from tripping over

them.

2. During temple sponsored events Board

members and/or Advisory committee members

will be available to answer your questions.

3. For renting the HTSNM Community Hall,

which is available for private functions such as

birthdays, graduation, get togethers etc. the cost

is $250 which includes water and trash bags. It

is up to the organizing committee to provide all

others. There is a 20% discount for members of

Our Temple.

4. New parking signage coming up, please obey

all parking signs to avoid fines.

5. If you would like to access the temple at any

time, keys are available to checkout from

Bombay Spice grocery store (505 232 6661).

6. Thank you for all you do to help ensure Our

Temple’s cleanliness.

Upcoming events Reminders

• Balvihar 10:00—11:00 Sundays

• Ekadasi

• Lakshmi Puja—Nov 24th

• Bhandara Dec 8th

• Pongal/Makara Shankranti Jan 14

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Tulasi Vivah

HTSNM Walkathon

Tulasi Vivah was celebrated on Nov 8th at the temple. The celebration was well at-tended. This ancient ritual is the ceremonial marriage of the Tulsi plant (holy basil) to Vishnu/Shri Krishna.

It was a crisp Saturday morning on November 9 when the volunteers from HTSNM gathered at the

Albuquerque Academy to set up signs, tables, chairs, audio system and banners. It was a cold

morning but the volunteers were hardly affected by it and completed all set up before 9:30 am.

Walkers started coming to the registration station, their names were verified, T-shirts, maps and

snack bars were handed out. Hot tea, biscuits, and fruits were available too. New Mexico Asian Fam-

ily Center was there with their booth and they talked mainly one-on-one about voting and other

services they provide. Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women also supported the event by donating water

(Due to a last minute personal reason, they could not attend and set their booth).

At 10 am, after a brief speech to welcome the walkers and saying a few words about Gandhiji and non-violence, the

“GO” was given and a troop of 150 or so walkers started walking. Many of them were holding the placards and signs

(that were made by the volunteers) signifying non-violence.

The walkers were greeted at two water stations along the route as well

as some passers-by would stop and ask about the event or the placard.

As walkers started returning to the registration area, more snacks were

available. It was by 11:45 am that the last few walkers completed their

5 km walk and they all looked happy to complete the walk for such a

good cause.

Overall, the event went very smooth. The participants were reflecting

positive energy and all seemed happy to be a part of the HTSNM Walka-

thon for such a noble cause.

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Temple news

No parking signs are up—please follow all signage and be mindful to the other patrons—during major festivals the parking lot tends to fill and overflow—this does not mean that

rules may be broken and cars parked in fire lanes. The building committee humbly requests that all signs are adhered to.

The heater is now up and running with the cold weather

upon us. Please refrain from changing thermostats on your own and approach a temple committee member to

make any changes.

Lakshmi Puja

Last Sunday (November 24th), we celebrated Laxmi Puja at the temple. Everybody en-joyed the Puja.

The Puja was sponsored by 11 couples from Albuquerque Indian Community. The food was delicious. Seven items were prepared by 18 community members from different states of India. Chacha Ji performed the Puja. The Puja was followed by devotional songs sung by Balvihar as well as many other community members. Overall, the

event was well organized and ap-preciated by everybody attended. It gave the opportunity to in-volve many community members who participated in this event. Feeling blessed to be a part of this auspicious event.

Please encourage your family and friends to come to the

temple specifically during special and auspicious days. Eve-

ry effort has been made to keep the temple open almost

every day for all devotees to come and worship.

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These are the verses from the Vedas, meaning Annadanam/bhandara is supreme and incomparable to any Charity. Food is the basic requirement for all humans.

Thus according to Vedas, the one who does annadanam to devotees attains heaven (Punya Loka) in this Universe (Brahmanda) itself. In this whole universe, the cre-

ation and its progression depend on food. Hence giving food to the devotees is more than attaining heaven.

Next bhandara is scheduled on Sunday, December 8th. A vegetarian meal will

be prepared at the temple and served to all who come to the temple that day. If you would like to sponsor/donate towards the food service please contact (krishna.realtyone@gmail.com) or any of the board members found at

htsnm.org. Please help support your temple.

Bhandara/annadanam

Youth volunteer credit program, HTSNM is offering the follow-ing programs :

Certificate Program : 40 volunteer hours

Youth Ambassadors: 100+ volunteer hours Youth Volunteers for HS Requirement Credit :

20 volunteer hours Please email : arnab13b@gmail.com with

subject “Youth Volunteering”

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To members of HTSNM: Beginning with this news-letter a series of articles on Bhagavad-Gita will be pub-lished. After the initial introduction, one chapter will be covered in each news-letter.

By Satya Tikare Bhagavad-Gita is contained in the sixth chapter known as Bheeshma Parva of Mahabharata. The author of this monumental work is Sage Vyasa. The date of its compilation is difficult to determine. The Gita contains the teachings of Sri Krishna to Arjuna prior to the start of the Mahabharata war. Here Lord Krishna has sum-marized the essential teachings of all Upanishads. Upanishads are the treasure troves of the philosophy of Sanatana Dharma (Hindu religion). There are three pillars of Hindu Dharma (Prasthana thraya). They are the Upanishads, Brahma Sutras and Bhagavad-Gita. Of these three, Bhagavad-Gita is the easiest to understand for a common man. Upanishads are compared to a number of cows. Lord Krishna has extracted the milk from all these and fed it to Arjuna. The same is available to us all. In Bhagavad-Gita Krishna teaches Arjuna the true meaning of life and its purpose. Krishna distills the loftiest truths of India’s ancient wisdom into sim-ple and beautiful poetry. It offers a path for all spiritual seekers with different temperaments. It is a guide for action and handbook of self-realization. Now, let us look at the reason for this terrible war between the cousins, Pandavas and Kauravas. This war is termed Dharma Yuddha, in other words the righteous war. Udhishtira being the first born among the Panda-vas and Kauravas was the rightful heir to the throne, but was denied it when he came of age. His cousin Duryodhana and his brothers with the help of their uncle Shakuni came up with various schemes to kill the Pandavas while they were young without success. Later the uncle of Pandavas, Dhritarashtra agreed to give them a part of the kingdom most of which was desert and poor areas without resources. The Pandavas ac-cepted that and worked hard to make the land fertile and extended their kingdom and became prosperous. Duryodhana and his brothers became very jealous and wanted to take back that portion of the kingdom. They hatched a plan and invited Udhishtira to a game pf chess. According to the ethics at that time a Kshatri-ya (warrior) could not decline the invitation to a game of chess. Duryodhana using loaded dice given by his uncle Shakuni, won every game. The result was that the Pandavas lost their kingdom, all their belongings and even themselves including their queen Draupadi. Duryodhana and his brothers were elated. With an intention to insult the Pandavas, Duryodhana ordered his brother Dusshyasana to drag Draupadi into the court and disrobe her in front of everybody assembled there including the elders. Fortunately, Krishna an-swered Draupdi’s prayer and saved her from the indignity that she was subjected to. The game of dice was irrevocably lost and as stipulated the Pandavas were sent into exile for twelve years and to live incognito for one year. When their life in exile and incognito ended the Pandavas returned to claim the throne. Duryodhana refused to yield. All attempts by elders failed and the Pandavas reluctantly decided to wage the war against the Kauravas. In the battle field of Kurukshetra, the two humungous armies had assembled to fight. At this time Arjuna asked Krishna who was the driver of his chariot, to place the chariot between the two armies so that he could see the warriors assembled to fight. The fact that his own elders, teachers, cousins and friends were standing on both sides to fight and kill one other – for what? A piece of land. Arjuna was despondent and said “I cannot do this. This cannot be dharma “, Saying this he lowered his bow. At this time Sri. Krishna said “Arjuna do not be a weakling. It is your duty as a warrior to fight for the right cause”. It was then that Lord Krishna explained the true meaning of life and its purpose. This is Bhagavad-Gita, the Song of God.

Introduction to Bhagavad-Gita

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Subhashita

Subhashita is a literary genre of Sanskrit , epigrammatic poems and their message is an advice, fact, truth, lesson or riddle.

Su in Sanskrit means good; bhashita means spoken; together meaning well spoken or eloquent saying. This month’s Subhashita is :

Technology updates

In addition to a new website our temple/devotee list is under construction—please take

a moment to kindly register yourself at the following link

https://forms.gle/LAUwakq4GGX61srWA

The committee requests that even if you are receiving all temple emails currently to reg-

ister for it allows for an updated and comprehensive list to be compiled. There are addi-

tional fields that the form allows you to enter.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc2BE6sRnoRTjtuZ1YfQkcu5Cg_ab2h-yhxtNU3fEL4jjDKjA/viewform