October 13, 2009

Dear Devotees,

This message has nine announcements from the Bharatiya Temple of Lansing.

1) Diwali celebration on October 16th, 17th and 18th:

Details: BTL-Diwali-Announcement-2009.pdf

Chhoti Diwali will be celebrated on October 16 (at 7 PM), Laxmi Puja on October 17 (at 7 PM), and a grand Diwali cultural program on October 18 (at 4:30 PM). Tickets for the October 18 program are available at the Temple and in local Indian grocery stores. We encourage you to buy the dinner tickets in the next couple of days, as there are limited dinner tickets and the sale ends on Thursday October 15.

2) Laksharchana Puja for Lord Maha Vishnu on Saturday, October 17, at 11 AM:

Details: http://lansingtemple.org/misc/vishnu.pdf

This event is being organized, for the 8th year in a row, by a group of families from the Detroit area. The sponsors have a special request for the Lansing-area families: "Please come and join the Puja in large numbers so that, together, the attendance will be at least 100. With that attendance, we can complete the Puja with one round of recitation of the Lord's names." The usual weekly Suprabhatam  and Venkateswara Abhishekam will be held at special times (9 AM and 9:30 AM, respectively).

3) Mahavir Nirvana celebration on October 18 at 9:30 AM:

Jain families invite everyone to the celebration of Mahavir Nirvana on Sunday, October 18. There will be Snatra Puja at 9:30 AM followed by Mahavir Nirvana Puja and Nirvana Ladoo at 10:30 AM in the Jain sanctum.

4) Skanda Shashti 6-day Festival on October 18-23:

Details: http://lansingtemple.org/misc/skanda2009.pdf

Tamil families invite everyone to the 6-day Skanda Shashti festival. Details about sponsorship types (Abhishekam, Vivaham, Sahasranamam, Kavadi) and persons to contact (including contact person to volunteer for Prasad dinner making on October 23) are given at the link given above.  As many of you know, our Temple is going through a critical financial situation this year and depends on the donations of devotees to keep up operations. Therefore, we appeal to all of you to sponsor the Skanda Shashti events in large numbers. Please also consider donating in excess of the listed sponsorship amounts.

5) Special times for Ganesh Abhishekam on October 18 and Rudram on October 19:

Because of the Skanda Shashti program, Ganesh Abhishekam on October 18 will start 30 minutes early (9 AM). Rudrabhishekam on the 19^th will start at 5:30 PM.

6) Monthly Havan on Sunday October 18 at 11:30 AM:

The monthly Third Sunday havan on October 18 is being sponsored by Saroj Kapur.  Following the program, lunch will be served.  Please plan to attend.

7) Shastriji will soon be travelling to India to see his ill brother.  We wish his brother a speedy recovery and safe journey to Shastriji.

8) Guest priest Pandit Srihari Kadami:

• During Shastriji's absence, priest duties will be carried out by guest priest Pandit Srihari Kadambi. Panditji will be with us for 6 weeks beginning October 21. He will be available to conduct pujas and rituals at the temple as well as away from temple during this time. To schedule your function, please call Panditji at the temple (517-339-6337) or on his cell phone (858-220-1281); or Mr. Chandu Patel (phone: 517-332-7709).
• We are looking for a suitable car for Panditji to use during his stay with us so that he can perform priest services at devotee's homes. If you can spare a car for 6 weeks, please contact Mr. Chandu Patel.

9) Board member Jai Tripathi, who heads the Human Resource Management responsibility for our temple, will be on a visit to India for some weeks. During his absence, the duties for HR will be managed by Mr. Chandu Patel. We thank Mr. Patel for taking over this important responsibility.

We wish all of you a joyous Diwali. May the festival of lights brighten everyone's life.

Sincerely,

Bharatiya Temple of Lansing
955 Haslett Rd
Haslett, Michigan 48840.
Phone: (517) 339-6337