Samarpanam2017

Samarpanam a humble offering. . .

ज्ञानम ् परमम ् ध्येयम ्

(jñānam paramam dhyeyam) Knowledge is the supreme goal

Eleventh Anniversary Issue April 22, 2017 Hindu Temple and Community Center of Mid-Missouri (HTCC)

Picture Gallery

PAGE 1

SAMARPANAM

Contents Daily Prayer Page …..……………….…………….…………………………………….2 Message from the Board of Trustees ……………..…...………………………………..3 Map and Directions to Shanthi Mandir …………………………………………………3 HTCC Benefactors ……………………..…………………….....………………..…….….4 Report from the Executive Board …………….………………………………………..5 HTCC Executive Committee …………….………..…………………………………..…6 Cultural Programs……..-……………………….………………………………………...7 Scheduling ……………………..…………..……………………………………………7 Service Program………..…………………………………………………………………8 Shishu Vihar………...……………………………………………………………………..17 Membership…..…….…………………………………………………………………….17 Financial Report..…………………………………………………………………………18 Operations and Maintenance…………………………………………………………….18 HTCC Eleventh Anniversary Celebrations Organizing Committee…………...…………19 HTCC Directory 2016…..……………………………………………………………….…20 Current Programs at Shanthi Mandir…. ……………...…………………………………22 Our Advertisers Central Bank of Boone County …………… 11 Curries Indian Restaurant…………………. 16 India's House …………………………………. 10 Kumon…………………………………………….. 16 Landmark Bank…………………………………...13 Mid Missouri Chess Academy………………...15

Shanthi Mandir

Hindu Temple and Community Center of Mid-Missouri (HTCC) Columbia, Missouri

PAGE 2

SAMARPANAM

Daily Prayer Page Morning Prayer This prayer is to be recited soon after waking up.

KARAAGRE VASATE LAKSHMI KARA MADHYE SARASWATI KARA MOOLE STHITA GAURI PRABAHATE KARA DARSHANAM On the tip of my fingers resides Lakshmi, the Goddess of prosperity and wealth. In the middle of my hands is Saraswati, the Goddess of knowledge and learning. In the palm of my hands sits Mother Gauri, the Goddess of protection. Visualizing in this manner, I take darshan of my hands every morning.

Meal Prayer This 24th verse from the 4th chapter of Bhagavad Gita is to be recited before every meal.

BRAHMAARPANAM BRAHMA HAVIR BRAHMAAGNAU BRAHMANAA HUTAM BRAHMAIVA TENA GANTAVYAM BRAHMA KARMA SAMAADHINAHA The act of offering is Brahman (The Supreme). The offering itself is Brahman. The offering is done by Brahman in the sacred fire which is Brahman. He alone attains Brahman who, in all actions, is fully absorbed in Brahman. (As we chant this prayer we are offering the different types of food to Brahman).

Gayatri Mantra The Gayatri Mantra can be recited any time, but is ideally suited fot morning prayer-time.

OM BHUR BUVAHA SUVAHA THATH SAVITHUR VARENYAM BHARGO DEVASYA DHEEMAHI DHIYO YONAHA PRACHODAYATH We contemplate the glory of Light illuminating the three worlds: gross, subtle, and causal.

I am that vivifying power, love, radiant illumination, and divine grace of universal intelligence.

We pray for the divine light to illumine our minds.

Asotoma Sadgamaya Prayer This Prayer is typically recited as a conclusion to a meditation/prayer session ASATOMA SADGAMAYA THAMASO MAA JYOTHIR GAMAYA MRITHYOR MAA AMRUTHAM GAMAYA AUM SHANTHI SHANTHI SHANTIHI Lead me from the unreal to the real. Lead me from darkness to light. Lead me from death to immortality.

May there be peace everywhere.

Night Prayer This prayer is to be recited at bedtime.

KARA CHARANA KRITHAM VAAK KAAYAJAM KARMAJAM VAA SRAVANA NAYANAJAM VAA MAANASAM VAA APARADHAM VIHITHAM AVIHITHAM VAA SARVAMETAT KSHAMASVA JAYA JAYA KARUNAABDHE SRI MAHA DEVA SHAMBHO Oh Lord, please forgive me for all the wrong actions that I have committed with my hands, feet, speech, body, ears, eyes and mind. Please pardon me for all the wrong actions that I have done knowingly or unknowingly. Victory to You, oh Lord of compassion and mercy.

PAGE 3

SAMARPANAM

Message from the Board of Trustees without eating grass is indeed a great piece of luck for the poor animals.

Thieves cannot steal it; Rulers cannot tax it, It cannot be divided among brothers. More of it causes no burden. If spent it multiplies.

Knowledge is the greatest among all wealths.

The Subhashita we have chosen is a subtle warning to us not to indulge in trivial pursuits and to devote our lives to the pursuit of knowledge. During the past year we have revived the educational programs for our children, thanks to the voluntary effort of our new and growing membership of young families. The Shishu Vihar and Bal Sabha programs together with the dance and language classes have been very productive. The concerts held at the Shanthi Mandir organized by the Ragas provided a feast of vocal and instrumental music with artistic splendor and spiritual depth. We are richer because of these and are less intimidated as in this Subhashita which taunts us all: One devoid of literature, music and art is a beast without hooves and a tail. The fact that he survives

The Samarpanam you have in your hand is a report of our activities in the past year. As we move on, we wish you all the best in your spiritual and physical lives. Over the years we have gathered in the sacred shrine of Shanthi Mandir to commune and worship. We have listened to thoughtprovoking sermons, delighted in devotional music and deliberated on matters ranging from Vedanta to diet. Our children have received instruction on languages and epics of India. We have made new friendships and nurtured old ones in an atmosphere of love and harmony. We have been attempting to recruit a priest and pursue possibilities of upgrade in our infrastructure by purchasing new land or property. Only time will tell how far and how fast we go.

Let us keep an open mind and abundant hope that our goals will be reachedď ›

Map and Directions to Shanthi Mandir Directions: Take Exit 127 on Interstate 70, Head north on Rangeline Street, Right at first traffic light on Vandiver Drive, Left on Parker Street, Right on Holly Avenue, Shanthi Mandir sign will be visible on the right after 5-6 homes.

Board of Trustees* Holalkere R. Chandrasekhar 1 Meera Chandrasekhar Ritcha Mehra-Chaudhary Balakrishnan Elangovan Srinath Gopalakrishna Anantha Gopalaratnam Vellore S. Gopalaratnam Nila Gupta Arun Jain Kattesh Katti Inder Khurana2 Jasmit Khurana Kalai Kumar3 Kiratadas Kutikkad Sunder Lal Sudharshan Loyalka Anil Malhotra Kusum Malhotra Moonmoon Mitra Ranadhir Mitra Kannappan Palaniappan Visala Palaniappan4 Harsha Patel Nitin Patel Ravi Puri Anuradha Rajagopalan Annayya Rao Aroor3 V. Ramachandran Kannan Raghuraman3 Archana Ramaswamy Gagneesh Rawat Chandra Rawlani Ramesh Rawlani Santosh Sehgal Sanjiv Sethi Krishna Sharma Bharath Srinivasan Hema Srinivasan Meena Thawani3 Ravi Thawani Dabir Viswanath 1.Trustee President 2.Trustee Vice-President 3. Elected Trustee 4. Trustee Secretary

* Does not include four trustees who opted not to serve on the Board

PAGE 4

SAMARPANAM

HTCC Benefactors - 2016 Donor Acknowledgement, January 1– December 31, 2016 We gratefully acknowledge the following monetary donations made during 2016. If we have inadvertently made an error in not including your name, please let us know. We will correct the error at the earliest available opportunity with our apologies. $100 _ Adhikary, Biplab Balla Sudharshan and Archana Bhaskaran, Rajagopalan and Vasanthi Chandrasekar, Holalkere and Meera Chaudhary, Kunal and Ritcha Mehra Hans, Chetan and Ranjana Manusmare, Purushottam and Usha Mohan, Rajiv and Sunilima Sinha Mohan, Saroj Mookan, Muruganantham and Menaka Nagasmitha Akkinapragada Puri, Ravi and Mona Ratneshwar, Srinivasan and Subbalakshmi Rawlani, Vinay & Roshini Sethi, Sanjiv and Punam $101 - $250 Anand, Sathish and Sushma Basu, Asit and Sandra Cutkosky, Dale and Hema Srinivasan Krishna, Gopal and Santosh Mahal, Satnam and Jasvir Patel, Nitin and Harsha Sehgal Santosh Sharma, Krishna and Sandhya

Shukla, Shivendra and Asha Singh, Amalok and Kuljit Thawani, Ravi and Meena Tolani, Bhisham and Rajini $251 - $500 Aggarwal, Kul and Archana Malhotra, Anil and Kusum Raganathan, Raman and Anusha Rawat, Gagneesh and Aditi $501 - 1,000 Kalavala, SriRamachandra and Gowri Khurana, Inder and Jasmit Rawlani, Ramesh and Chandra $1,001 - $2,500 Gopalaratnam, Vellore and Anantha Loyalka, Sudharshan and Nirja Ramadoss, Umasankar and Sasi $2,500- $5,000 Balakrishnan, Elangovan and Abirami Gopalakrishna, Srinath and Uma Senthilkumar, Annamalai and Smruthi

Make Regular Donations to HTCC via Direct Bank Transfers

PAGE 5

SAMARPANAM

Report from the Executive Board A British Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, once said “Religion creates community, community creates altruism and altruism turns us away from self and towards the common good... There is something about the tenor of relationships within a religious community that makes it the best tutorial in citizenship and good neighborliness”.

We have witnessed and participated in this phenomenon at Shanthi Mandir over the past eleven years during which we have come together as a community to practice Hinduism thru worship, serve the community and to provide education to our youth. Over the years we are happy to have built lasting relationships with all involved.

HTCC’s volunteers serve the community and the City of Columbia with great devotion and enthusiasm. Thanks to the founding officers of HTCC, we have a committee structure to address most all the needs of the community. Please be sure to read individual committee reports for the year 2016 to get a better idea of all the work the volunteers have performed last year.

The “Devotional Programs Committee” co-chaired by Hema Srinivasan and Chandra Rawlani, “Service Programs Committee” chaired by Anantha Gopalaratnam, “Operations and Maintenance Committee” chaired by Kalai Kumar are the key committees that keep the Shanthi Mandir humming with activity year round. Volunteers serving on the “Devotional Program Committee” plan, organize and execute all the devotional programs at the Shanthi Mandir. Several volunteers of the “Operations and Maintenance Committee keep the Mandir clean by taking turns to clean the Mandir in and out on a regular basis. “Service Programs Committee” volunteers provide selfless service outside the Shanthi Mandir via various programs viz: Shram Daan, Narayan Seva, Clean-Up Columbia, CROP Walk etc.

The volunteers of the other committees

provide the necessary support structure for all the other activities of the HTCC. We can’t thank all the volunteers enough, without their help it would not be possible to keep the Shanthi Mandir running. The 100% volunteer -run operation that has been in place since inception has allowed us to keep our operating expenses to a minimum. We salute our many volunteers who have helped HTCC with full devotion and commitment over the past eleven years.

A BIG THANK YOU to all Volunteers!

We are happy to share that Shanthi Mandir and members of the community celebrated most major Hindu festivals through out the year with great devotion. Maha Shivratri (March 5, 2016), Holi (March 26, 2016), Akhand Ramayan Paath (April 9 & 10, 2016), Annual Devotional Program (April 23, 2016), Janamashtmi (August 27, 2016), Ganesh Chaturthi (September 10, 2016), Devi Jaagran (October 2, 2016), Diwali (October 30, 2016), Guru Nanak Jayanti (November 13, 2016) and Gita Paath (December 10, 2016) are some of the major festivals celebrated last year.

Based on the suggestions of the members of the community, the executive board officers decided not to have ANNIVERSARY BANQUET this year.

Samarpanam2017, HTCC’s annual report for 2016, the copy of which you are holding in your hands is the result of several volunteers’ hard work who solicited advertisements from businesses in the community and spent several volunteer hours in preparing Samarpanam2017. Please save this keepsake document and refer to it often.

We welcome “Shishu Vihar”, a new program in the community started in January 2017 by Krishna and Nithya Shanmugham. “Shishu Vihar” a separate entity with its own officers and a membership roster, similar to “Bal Sabha”, serves a niche market within the growing population of young

professionals in Columbia area. HTCC is happy to provide space to “Shishu Vihar” and “Bal Sabha” who hold their meetings at the Shanthi Mandir.

You may remember that Educational Center located in the trailer located behind the “Shanthi Mandir” building was in dire need of renovation.

Volunteers of the “Facilities and Maintenance Committee” have diligently worked this past year to get the necessary walls and floors replaced. We look forward to an upgraded “Educational Center” soon after the new flooring is installed.

Elections: The 2017 Election Committee will soon send out the "Call for Nominations" for the positions of Vice President and Treasurer of the Executive Board (currently held by Das Kutikkad and Abirami Elangovan, respectively) and for one Elected Trustee on the HTCC Board of Trustees currently held by Meena Thawani. The elections will be conducted using Survey Monkey. Please be sure to nominate yourself and/or some one else to serve in these key positions. HTCC and Columbia community can surely use your help to make things better for everyone. At this time we would like to thank Abirami Elangovan, Das Kutikkad and Meena Thawani for their service Priest for the Mandir: Currently all the devotional activities are performed by the volunteers and as previously informed HTCC’s Board of Trustees appointed an Ad-Hoc Priest Hiring Committee in April, 2015. After almost 18 months of diligent work, HTCC’s petition (Form I-129) was approved by “US Citizenship and Immigration Services” (USCIS) in December, 2016.

Shri Shiv Naresh Gautam, the priest who was offered the position, visited US Consulate in New Delhi on February 3, 2017 for a non-immigrant’s (R-1) visa (Continued on Page 6)

PAGE 6

SAMARPANAM

Executive Board Continued from Page 5

interview. Unfortunately, the US consulate in New Delhi denied his application for R-1 visa and left the door open for him to reapply and the priest hiring committee is assisting Sri Gautam.

We are hopeful that we will soon have a new Priest at the Shanthi Mandir.

members are working diligently to identify a new property that can meet our needs and to put forth a formal proposal to the HTCC Board of Trustees for approval. Their search will include both land and existing buildings that may be suitable for a Mandir.

New Volunteers needed: John F. Kennedy said “Change is the law of life.

And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future”, Financials: In the calendar year 2016, HTCC spent $34,936.73 and had incoming meaning that for a bigger and better future, HTCC must continually embrace revenues of $44,472.44 with a net of $9,508.71. The positive cash flow is made change. Please contact any officer of HTCC’s Executive Board and nominate possible by generous donations by our benefactors and also because of the fact yourself and new members to serve in an official capacity in a committee or two. that 100% of the operations are run by You will not only be helping your our volunteers. With no debt and over community, but you will also make new $360k in cash, HTCC is very sound friends, maybe learn a few new skills and financially also have lots of fun doing it  A Look at the future: In September, 2016 HTCC’s Board of Directors (BoT) appointed an Ad-hoc committee for “New Property Acquisition” for a newer, bigger Mandir.

The committee is co-chaired by Srinath Gopalakrishna and Krishna Sharma. Its

Executive Board Ravi Thawani (President) Kiratadas Kutikkad (Vice President) Kusum Malhotra (Secretary) Abirami Elangovan (Treasurer)

HTCC Executive Committee Comprises Executive Board (elected) and Committee Chairs (appointed) HTCC Executive Board

Educational Programs – Open

President – Ravi Thawani

External Relations – Leela Jashnani

Vice President – Kiratadas Kutikkad

Facilities and Maintenance – Kiratadas Kutikkad

Secretary – Kusum Malhotra

Financial Policy – Krishna Sharma

Treasurer – Abirami Elangovan

Library – H. R. Chandrasekhar

HTCC Committee Chairs

Membership – Inder Khurana

Assistant Treasurer– Kusum Malhotra

Operations and Maintenance – Kala Kumar

Capital Campaign – H. R. Chandrasekhar

Publications – Tarang Parashar

Communications—Gagneesh Rawat

Safety and Security – Kiratadas Kutikkad

Cultural Programs – Hema Srinivasan

Scheduling – Anantha Gopalaratnam

Devotional Programs – Chandra Rawlani and

Service Programs – Anantha Gopalaratnam

Hema Srinivasan

Youth Activities – Prasad Calyam

PAGE 7

SAMARPANAM

Cultural Programs

C

ultural Programs committee consists of Hema Srinivasan, (chair), Anand Chandrasekhar, Shuba Ratneshwar Shubra Gangopadhyaya, Anandhi Upendran, Anuradha Rajagopalan and Abirami Ilangovan (Liason to Executive Board).

Most of our cultural programs, like music, dance and poetry happen either during religious festivities like Diwali, Dassera, Krishna Jayanthi or Rama Navami. So much of our music and dances are influenced by spiritual topics and they in turn are integral parts of our spiritual rituals. Thus, cultural programs have naturally become an obvious part of our Hindu Temple Community. The committee was first formed in the year 2009.

Cultural Program committee encourages culture that originates from India or of interest to the members of HTCC that as appropriate to a Hindu temple. We encourage and nourish local Columbia artists who are in par excellence to renowned ones, and cultural programs to accompany, augment and enhance the devotional part of the festivals like Krishna Jayanthi, Ramanavami, Dasara and New Year. We also work with other related groups interested in a similar culture, such as Cultural association of India and Raagas of Columbia.

In 2016, HTCC hosted the following programs.

Sunday, May 7th -2016: We held a double feature with Nurani Brothers Shiva and Hari ( Classical Devotional Music) and Sreemati Srividhya Sairam (Carnatic Vocal concert). They were accompanied on Mridangam by Sri Sivananda Murthy from Kansas City, of the Palghat Raghu school and on Violin by Columbia’s own, Sri Shiva Sankalp, a student of Padmasri

Kanyakumari.

September 11, 2016: Yoga for Body and Soul: Yoga program followed by spiritual music. Yoga class was led by Ms. Kate Walker. Ms. Walker is a well known Yoga teacher, who has taught yoga for over 20 years and is also a world champion weight lifter. She has led meditations at Shanthimandir in previous years for the new year program.

October 22nd, 2016: Classical music concert by Srividya Sairam accompanied by Shiva Sankalp on Violin and Shiva Murthy on Mridhangam. Srividya is an award winning Carnatic vocalist who currently lives in New Jersey. She has performed in many prestigious venues in US and India. She enthralled us with her music in the style of Legend like M.L. Vasanthakumari who is her grand Guru ( Guru’s Guru) 

Members Hema Srinivasan1 Aibrami Elangovan2 Anand Chandrasekhar Shubhra Gangopadhyay Anandhi Upendhran Ranadhir Mitra 1. Chair

2. Executive Board Liaison

Scheduling Committee

T

he scheduling committee’s operations have been going smoothly. Apart from the regular programs such as the devotional programs and the Bal Sabha there have been a few requests for the use of the Mandir facilities for one-time programs.

In the past year, the Mandir has been used for a couple of music concerts, private family birthdays, a farewell get together, Sundar Kaand recitations, and other private celebrations. The Mandir has also been used for practices for the Pongal celebration. Visits were also scheduled for the Hickman and Battle High School’s World Religions classes.

Timely communication with the President and Treasurer of the Executive Board has allowed us to track facilitiesuse donations. Constant reprogramming of the thermostat to facilitate all regular and special programs has allowed us to keep the Mandir at comfortable

temperatures while at the same time conserving energy and leaving as small a carbon footprint as possible. The facility-use donations have also been accounted for in the appropriate manner 

Members Anantha Gopalaratnam1 Ravi Thawani2 1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

PAGE 8

SAMARPANAM

Service Programs

T

he Service Programs Committee has been active and productive through all of 2016. Many of the programs continue from years past and a couple of others were added to the mix, in 2016.

Clean-up Columbia We started the year with Clean-up Columbia, which was held on Saturday, April 9, 2016. HTCC has two groups which participate in this event every year, this city-sponsored

prayer hall flags, painting and installing new sign board, cleaning and varnishing window interiors, installing new window blinds, sanding, cleaning and painting exterior lumber and stairs, sawing off unwanted trees on the lot, tending to garden berm and landscaping, and thorough cleaning of theprayer hall. Donated labor from our volunteers for this Fall projects is estimated to be between 175 – 180 hours. We are grateful to those who were generous with their time and talent. Thank you!

volunteer opportunity to clean neighborhoods. The children and parents of Bal Sabha cleaned their Adopt-a-Spot, the area around Ridgeway Elementary School. Despite the slightly chill morning, about 20 kids and parents scoured the school playground and the streets surrounding Ridgeway to fill three bags of garbage and two bags of recyclables. The second group of four adults worked on cleaning the area around Shanthi Mandir and filled four bags.

Edupack Project 2016 It was back-to-school time in August and the execution of the Edupack Project. Donations were collected to buy school supplies to fill 30 backpacks full of supplies for elementary school children of the Columbia Public Schools. Based on the supply lists provided by the different schools, each set or backpack was filled with two ruled notebooks, a box of No.2 pencils, a box of markers and one of color pencils, a pencil pouch with an eraser, 2 glue sticks, a ruler and a pencil sharpener along with a couple of coloring books, a water bottle and box of tissues. The assembled backpacks were donated to the city’s Voluntary Action Center which organizes a “Back to School Health Fair” at which the backpacks are distributed to needy families.

Mandir Renewal Projects 2016 The summer provided a great opportunity to take care of much-needed maintenance projects at the Mandir itself. A team of 44 volunteers, including many youth, worked 4 days in August and September to undertake several repair and renewal projects at the Mandir. The projects included painting the altar wall, cleaning the ceiling grid, installing new ceiling tiles, sealing to fix minor roof leaks, washing and reinstalling

Crop Hunger Walk – 2016 The HTCC Helping Hands team once again had a great showing at the 2016 CROP Hunger Walk. This year the event was held at the Stephens Lake Park on September 25 and did not include the traditional 5K Run. HTCC was represented by a team of 23 walkers. The team of walkers raised $1,203 and was represented by many youth, our youngest at just under 1 year old. We were the 3rd highest fundraising team at this annual event. Despite predictions of rain, the day turned out to be wonderful for outdoor activities. A great big THANKS to all our walkers and donors!

PAGE 9

SAMARPANAM Sharing the Warmth Prior to the Thanksgiving holiday, a clothing drive for warm clothes and winter coats is organized, to collect and distribute warm clothing to benefit the refugee center and the Columbia Public School children. Youth and young adults in the HTCC membership called to inform and encourage the membership of HTCC to donate their gently used jackets, sweaters, gloves, socks and caps and other warm clothing.

The donated clothes were then sorted by volunteers to form groupings by age and gender. They were then labeled and boxed and taken to the refugee center to help out newly arrived immigrants from Asia and Africa. Some of the clothes suitable for children were donated to the Columbia Public Schools which maintains closets of clothes in the various schools to help out children in need. This year HTCC volunteers met twice over the space of a week, in the Mandir, to sort and pack donated clothes. There were about 7 adults and 3 youth who helped in this effort. About 20 boxes of blankets, jackets for men, women, boys and girls as well as sweaters, gloves and caps – nearly 300 individual items were sorted and distributed.

Other Monthly Projects The other regular and ongoing programs are Narayan Seva, held on the 2nd Sunday of every month. A group of volunteers, prepare a complete lunch consisting of an entrée, bread, salad, fruit, juice and dessert and take the food to St. Francis House to serve the residents there. St. Francis House is a homeless shelter for men. Some volunteers help in cooking the meal while others donate items needed for the meal. At noon, the volunteers serve 30-35 residents and visitors to the shelter and have a chance to interact with them.

A group of 8-10 dedicated volunteers worked all spring and summer to get the flower beds on the berm in front of the Mandir going. In late spring the berm was cleared of dried plants and weeds. Over the next four weeks, volunteers met once or twice a week to plant a wide assortment of flowers like petunias, marigolds, zinnia, vincas and chrysanthemums.

They kept the flowers watered and weeded throughout the hot summer. The hard work paid off in an array of colorful blooms which served to provide lots of flowers for worship during the main festivals starting in August. The curb appeal of the Mandir was also greatly enhanced.

Every week one family from among the Mandir membership volunteers to vacuum the Mandir, clean the bathrooms and freshen up the whole place. Without this dedication and assistance, our Mandir would not be such a welcoming place.

Thank you to all our family volunteers.

On the 4th Sunday of every month, volunteers participate in the Soup and Sandwich Project by cooking up 8 quarts of minestrone soup and by making vegetable sandwiches to feed about 30-35 people. This effort is to benefit the residents of Harbor House of the Salvation Army. While a couple of volunteers work on cooking the soup, others assemble the sandwiches by spreading mayo on slices of bread and adding slices of cheese while yet others slice tomatoes, green bell peppers and red onions. The sandwiches are packed in aluminum trays and dropped off on the following Monday morning at Harbor House which the only shelter that serves entire families.

On the first Tuesday of every month, volunteers meet at the Food Bank on Vandiver Street, quite close to the Mandir, to help in the re-packaging of food received in bulk at the Food Bank of Central and Northeastern Missouri. Donations are received from corporations as well as federal agencies. These may be dry provisions such as pasta or cereal. There are also donations of vegetables like potatoes or packaged meat or canned food. The food has to be re-packaged into smaller portions so that they can be donated to families. The Food Bank also makes packages of food for a program called the Buddypack Program which is to help out Columbia Public School children to provide nutritious food to children over the weekend when they would not have access to the school meals 

Members Anantha Gopalaratnam1 Ravi Thawani 2 Tarang Parashar Ranjana Sharma Pranavi Tella Travis Neely Kala Kumar

Rajini Tolani Chandra Rawlani Vellore Gopalaratnam 1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

PAGE 10

SAMARPANAM

Congratulations to HTCC from the Tamil Families!

VALUES TO LIVE BY

India’s House An Indian Kitchen Tuesday to Sunday Lunch hours 11:00 am to 2:30 pm Offering daily lunch buffet Dinner hours 5:00 pm to 9:30 pm Closed Monday's

Love all, Serve all Help ever, Hurt never Sai Bhajans are open to everyone!

Thursday: 7:00 - 8:00 pm

Shanthi Mandir

All interested are also welcome to join us in our regular community service projects

1101 East Broadway Columbia, MO 65201 (573) 817-2009

SAMARPANAM

PAGE 11

PAGE 12

SAMARPANAM

SAMARPANAM

PAGE 13

PAGE 14

SAMARPANAM

यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्मवनि र्ारि । अभ्यत्ु थािर्धर्मस्य िदात्र्ािं सज ृ ाम्यिर् ् ॥४-७॥

“Whenever, O Bharat, righteousness (dharm) declines and unrighteousness is rampant, I manifest myself." पररत्राणाय साधि ू ां वविाशाय च दष्ु कृिार् ् । धर्मसंस्थापिाथामय सम्र्वामर् यग ु े यग ु े ॥४-८॥

"I manifest myself from age to age to defend the pious, destroy the wicked, and strengthen dharm."

PAGE 15

SAMARPANAM

Join Bal Sabha of Columbia, MO

Youth and young children are welcome to attend monthly forums for exciting interactions and learning!

Contact: Prasad Calyam at pcalyam@gmail.com or see https://balsabhacomo.wordpress.com

PAGE 16

SAMARPANAM

May the colors of Holi brighten your everyday A ToGo Restaurant Open Tuesday to Sunday 4:00 pm – 8:00 pm

Contact 2518 Business Loop 70 E Columbia, MO 65201 Phone: 573 355 5357 www.currieskitchen.com

Best Wishes and Compliments from the Columbia

Holi Milan Families See you at the 7th Holi Milan in 2018

PAGE 17

SAMARPANAM

New Program at Mandir-Shishu Vihar

H

ari Om! Shishu Vihar is a Hindu Sunday school program.

We started in January 2017 to bring our young minds, bodies, and hearts together. What an honor and privilege it has been for us to bring this program to our Shanthi Mandir! We are certainly grateful for the opportunity that our HTCC Board of Trustees and Executive Board have given us to help spread the pride and values of our Sanathana Dharma to our children.

Shishu Vihar starts from 10:15-11:15 AM every Sunday morning (approximately 4 classes per month) and runs for exactly 1 hour for each session. So far, we have been blessed to have approximately 30-35 children in our class, with approximately 20-25 children attending on a regular basis.

opens each week with Shishu Vihar opening prayers, and a Hindu pledge. This is followed by a storytime, skits, bhajans, arts and crafts activities, yoga poses, and snack time. We then end our class with a standard closing prayer.

With the help of all of our dedicated parents, we create our own color filled and bright story books and various skits, with the aim to tell our ancient stories and culture through an engaging tone and through vibrant, colorful characters that kids can love and appreciate. It’s important for our young Hindu children to meet likeminded friends and as a group, we participate in “the glory of Satsang.”

Furthermore, we host special events for kids and help them celebrate Holi, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Janmastami , and Our class structure is divided into several modules, where we many more religious functions in a fun, kid friendly way. For learn about Ganesha, Krishna, Hanuman, Rama, Shiva, Vishnu, Holi 2017, we had a potluck, hand painting, pinata, bubbles, a and Devis, with each module spread out over several weeks to Holi photo booth, and many more fun activities. allow our children to effectively absorb our content.

Currently, we have kids ranging from ages 6 months to 10 In the age of Pokémon, Spider Man, Harry Potter, Elsa, years, although children and parents of all ages are invited to Tinkerbell, and so many fantastic superheroes, our Hindu attend. With time, we hope to expand to several classes of stories and lessons can also have a beautiful place in our different age groups. young children’s hearts. Our kids at Shishu Vihar are very We certainly invite each and every one of you to come and keen to learn about God, and we emphasize our Hindu values participate in our Shishu Vihar class. Special thanks to Tarang and morals with utmost passion. Most importantly, our kids Parashar and all of our parents for making our class learn from a young age that you can be proud to be a Hindu! successful. For questions about our program, please email Shishu Vihar consists of activity filled sessions where our kid’s Krishna and Nithya Shanmugam: krishna.baylor@gmail.com attentions are held for every minute of the class. The class and nithya1232@gmail.com 

Membership

W    

e have over 188 members on our roster. The schedule of membership fees is as follows:

Sustaining Individual members (dues, $600) Sustaining Family members (dues, $1,000) Annual Individual members (dues, $30) Annual Family members (dues, $50)

We are looking for volunteers to serve on the Membership Committee. If you are a family member and have only provided us one email address, then please provide us the second email address for the family vote. Also if you need to provide a different email address for receiving email notifications from temple, then please let us know as well.

Also, please make sure that you add shanthimandir@yahoo.com to your Contacts/Address book to ensure that you do not miss any temple emails Thanks to all Annual members who have already renewed their membership. Please consider upgrading to Sustaining

Membership. If you have not already done so, please renewed your Annual Membership. You can now make membership payment online by using the paypal button on the Shanthi Mandir website.

Thank you all for your continued support, which is essential for our operations. The Mandir needs you 

Members Inder Khurana1 Abirami Elangovan Gagneesh Rawat 1.

Chair

PAGE 18

SAMARPANAM

2016 Financial Report Period: January 1, 2016– December 31, 2016 Prepared by: Abirami Elangovan, Treasurer, HTCC Executive Board, February 11, 2017 Dated: February 20, 2016 Balance Forward (From December 31, 2015)

$357,339.85

Interest Income Interest from CDs and Money Market account Membership Dues Annual Family Member (AFM) Annual Individual Members (AIM) Donations Capital Campaign Charitable Donations/Special Events Prayer Services/Hundi Other Revenues

$728.84 $728.84 $1,180.00 $1,150.00 $30.00 $23,095.90 $13,017.00 $9,381.70 $697.20 $19,467.70

Facilities Use Fund Raiser (Cook-Books & Plant, Malalai & Snack sales) Summer Workshop (Astronomy) Tenth Anniversary Celebrations TOTAL REVENUES Expenses Administrative Charges Bank Charges Insurance and Fees Lawn/Garden Maintenance and Supplies Printing and Mailing Special Events Sponsorships Tenth Anniversary Celebrations Upgrades & Repairs Utilities TOTAL EXPENSES

$885.00 $1,065.70 $280.00 $17,237.00 $44,472.44 $612.46 $47.59 $1,889.00 $2,206.43 $412.49 $373.46 $4,035.65 $100.00 $9,435.32 $10,623.45 $5,227.88 $34,963.73 $366,848.56*

ENDING BALANCE (December 31, 2016) * Includes $56.92 in Uncleared checks and $9,763.00 in late deposits.

Operations and Maintenance

T

he committee volunteers along with the service committee were also involved in cleaning the weeds and maintaining the garden in the temple. As always, both annual and perennial plants were planted and had abundant crops of colorful flowers throughout the summer.

We are seeking more families to offer their services to the temple so the cleaning schedule for each family comes once a year. In conclusion the volunteer families have a done a great job in maintaining the cleanliness of the mandir and we sincerely anticipate this service spirit will continue in the

future. We also request the volunteers to spread the word to the families who are new in town so they are aware of this service opportunity to the Mandir ď › Members Kala Kumar1 Meera Chandrasekhar Anantha Gopalaratnam Ravi Thawani2 1. Chair 2. Executive Board Liaison

PAGE 19

SAMARPANAM

यत्र योगेश्वरः कृष्णो यत्र पाथो धिुधरम ः । ित्र श्रीववमजयो र्ूनिर्ध्ुव म ा िीनिर्मनिर्मर् ॥

yatra yogeshvaraha krishno yatra paartho dhanurdharaha | tatra shreervijayo bhootirdhruvaa neetirmatirmama || ”Where there is Krishna, the Lord of yogas, and where there is Paartha, wielder of the bow, there is fortune, victory, prosperity and infallible morality, in my opinion.

Sanjaya (charioteer to Dhritarashtra, the ruler of Hastinapur in a commentary to him) Bhagwad Gita, Chapter 18, Verse 78 Heartiest congratulations to HTCC on the Eleventh Anniversary and Special Thanks to Shanthi Mandir for offering a place to meet and study Bhagwad Gita

Gita Study Circle

HTCC Eleventh Anniversary Celebration The devotional committee planning for the HTCC Eleventh Anniversary Celebration has been toiling for several months, to make sure that the event goes without a hitch. Even with the best of planning, we can almost always do better. If you have any ideas to improve the event, please pass them on to any of the HTCC officers. We will try our best to implement all good ideas next year.

Chandra Rawlani Hema Srinivasan Inder Khurana Kalai Kumar Srinath Gopalakrishna Kusum Malhotra

Ravi Thawani Meena Thawani Anandhi Upendaran Sushma Malik Abirami Elangovan Ranjana Sharma

Abilash Gangula Ajit Zhambre Chetan Parkash Tarang Parashar

PAGE 20

SAMARPANAM

HTCC Directory 2016 Honorary Members Norman G. Barrier, Robert Bussabarger, Ginny Morgan, Murarilal Nagar, and Art Robins, our five Honorary Members are deceased.

Sustaining Members

Aggrawal, Kul and Archana

Gowda, Bhaskar and Shoba

Nair, Satish and Jyotsna

Anand, Satish and Sushma

Jain, Arun

Palaniappan, Kannappan and Visala

Annamalai, Senthilkumar and Smruthi

Jashnani, Ghansham and Leela

Panneerselvam, Ayyakannu and Gandhi

Arunachalam, Vairam and Alagu

Katti, Kattesh and Kavita

Patel, Nitin and Harsha

Bal, Sharanjit and Ranjit

Khanna, Sanjeev and Vinita

Pendurthi, Kavita

Balakrishnan, Elangovan and Abirami

Khurana, Inder and Jasmit

Puri, Ravi and Mona

Banerji, Shanka K

Krishna, Gopal and Santosh

Radhakrishnan, Nandhu and Selvi

Basu, Asit and Sandra

Krishnan, Hari and Latha

Raghuraman, Kannan and Anandhi Upendran

Batchu, Sudhir and Priya

Kulkarni, Rajesh and Indira

Battula, Ravindra and Vijaya Kattumuri

Kumar, Ashwath

Ramachandran, V. and Anuradha Rajagopalan

Bhaskaran, Rajagopalan and Vasanthi

Kumar, Arpita

Ramadoss, Umasankar and Sasi

Chandrasekhar, Anand and Chiengkham Baccam

Kumar, Senthil and Kalai

Rangnekar, Nitin and Kirthi

Kutikkad, Kiratadas and Geetha

Ratneshwar, Srinivasan and Shuba

Lal, Sunder and Nila Gupta

Rawat, Gagneesh and Aditi

Loyalka, Sudarshan and Nirja

Rawlani, Ramesh and Chandra

Chockalingam Anand and Smrita Dorairajan

Mahal, Satnam and Jasvir Kaur

Sadhu, Vijay and Smita

Cutkosky, Dale and Hema Srinivasan

Malhotra, Anil and Kusum

Sahota, Pradeep K and Shaku

Dhand, Rajiv and Upinder

Mantrala, Murali and Surya

Satpathy, Sashi and Namita

Faizer, Rumi and Archana Ramaswamy

Manusmare, Purushottam and Usha

Sehgal, Santosh

Gangopadhyay, Keshab and Shubhra

Mitra, Ranadhir and Roma

Sethi, Sanjiv and Punam

Gopalakrishna, Srinath and Uma

Mohan, Rajiv and Sunilima Sinha

Sethi, Yash and Anjna

Gopalaratnam, Vellore and Anantha

Naik, Yogesh and Rashmi

Sharma, Krishna and Sandhya

Chandrasekhar, Holalkere and Meera Chaudhary, Kunal and Ritcha Mehra

PAGE 21

SAMARPANAM

HTCC Directory 2016 (continued 2/4) Singh, Amolak and Kuljit

Shukla, Shivendra and Asha

Vasudevan, Ajit K & Deepa Ajit

Srinivasan, Bharath and Manjula Narasimhan

Tejwani, Lokesh and Varsha Pherwani

Viswanath, Dabir and Pramila

Thawani, Ravi and Meena Subramanian, Krishna and Raji Annual Members

Aluri, Bhaskar Anandan, Saravanaperumal and Sorna Ramasamy

Jain, Nishant and Karikachery, Alice Raphaael

Puri, Raman and Rachna Puttur, Santhoshkumar and Shuba

Manusmare, Purushottam and Usha

Aroor, Annayya Rao and Sudha

Raghu, Krishnan and Aparna Mittal, Mayank and Sonal Dhuper

Bhandari, Rabindra and Alka Mookan, Muruganantham and Menaka

Rajamani, Sriram and Eswary Letchumonan

Nayar, Lakshmi Sankaran

Raju, Murugesan and Sudha

Chandrasekhran, Premkumar Duraiswamy, Kempura Nistala, Ravi and Puja

Shanmugam, Krishna and Nithya

Calyam, Anjaneya Prasad and Sudha

Parashar, Ranjana and Tarang

Srikanta, Nangangud and Hemalatha Tella, Pranavi

Gautam, Sandeep and Manisha

Patil, Ashutosh and Sonal

Gupta, Sumit and Neha

Prativadi, Narasimhachar and Anjana Satyamurthy

Tolani, Bhisham and Rajini

Hans, Ranjana and Chetan Premnath, Venkatesan and Vasanthy Hatwalkar, Shrikant and Sudha

Yerrapu, Surendranatha and Swarnalatha Seva

PAGE 22

SAMARPANAM

Current Programs at Shanthi Mandir

T

hese regular programs held at Shanthi Mandir are open to all interested. While all these events are compatible to and support HTCC goals and objectives, events not organized by HTCC are appropriately listed. The contact information for each activity is provided. Please visit our web site at <http://shanthimandir.missouri.org> to be informed of special festival celebrations, pujas and other educational programs such as short courses and workshops scheduled at various other times during the year at the Mandir. We strive to keep our web site up-to-date on an ongoing basis

HTCC Organized Regular Events Open Prayer Time (Every Tuesday and Saturday from 6 pm- 8 pm, Aarti at 7:45 pm) Shanthi Mandir is open for devotees to meditate, offer their prayers, and participate in the Aarti. On Tuesdays, there is a Gita Study Circle from 7:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Please help us in volunteering to keep the Mandir open at these times. If there is interest in this type of open prayer time, and we receive adequate volunteer support to keep the Mandir open, we will consider longer and more frequent access to the Mandir.

For more information contact: Chandra Rawlani at 446-5960

Suprabhatam and Sahasranaamam Prayers (Every Saturday from 9 - 10 am) The Saturday morning prayers are Shram Daan (Some Fridays from 6 pm to dedicated to Lord Venkateshwara, 8 pm and Saturdays from 10 am – 12 pm at another form of Lord Vishnu. He is also the Mandir as needed) known affectionately as Balaji or Volunteer and service projects at the Srinivasa. These recitations are in Mandir and at other locations as Sanskrit, the language used for most required. For more information contact: Hindu scriptures. For more information Vellore or Anantha Gopalaratnam at 446- contact: Vellore S. Gopalaratnam at 4460663 0663

Other Events Organized at the Mandir Bal Sabha* (4th Sunday from 3 – 5 pm at the Mandir) The objectives of the Bal Sabha of MidMissouri are: (1) To create among youngsters an awareness of India's history and culture, (2) To provide youngsters an avenue to research topics related to India and present it to Bal Sabha membership, (3) To provide youngsters a means of acquiring knowledge about India from their peers, and (4) To provide youngsters a means of being involved and to serve the Columbia community. Bal Sandesh is published along with the HTCC quarterly Shanthi Sandesh.

For more information contact: Anand Chockalingam at: (573) 256-2572.

interested persons are welcome to * Facilities use and infrastructural attend. Followers of Bhagawan Shri support provided by HTCC but not Satya Sai Baba strive to live the five organized by HTCC important human values. These include: Truth (Sathya), Righteousness (Dharma), Peace (Shanthi), Love (Prema) and Non-violence (Ahimsa).

The group also cooks a complete vegetarian lunch every 2nd Sunday and serves it at the St. Francis Home, a local shelter for the homeless.

For more information contact: Anantha Gopalaratnam at (573) 446-0063.

Shishu Vihar: Shishu Vihar starts from 10:15-11:15 AM every Sunday morning (approximately 4 classes per month) and runs for exactly 1 hour for each session.

For more information contact: Krishna and Nithya Shanmugam: krishna.baylor@gmail.com and nithya1232@gmail.com

Sai Bhajans* (Bhajans Thursday from 7 - 8 pm. Narayan Seva 2nd Sunday from 11:30 am – 12:30 pm at the St. Francis Home on Rangeline) Yoga sessions : Yoga sessions are Sai Bhajan Group meets for a singalong devotional program every week conducted based on demand and and on pre-announced special festivals. instructor availability It is a non-denominational group. All

Picture Gallery