ANNUAL REPORT AT GENERAL BODY MEETING 2001
Bharatiya Temple of Lansing
December 2, 2001

Ved V. Gossain, Chair, Board of Trustees

I am sorry I am not here to address you personally, since I am on a visit to India. What you are about to hear should serve as the annual report of the "state of the temple". Let me at the outset state that the spiritual health and the financial health of the temple are in good shape.

I have been a member of this Board for the last three years and I have been the Chair of the Board for the last year. Actually, I assumed the chairmanship approximately a year and a half ago under very difficult circumstances. You will recall that Dr. Suman Kashyap (the previous Chair) had to withdraw for personal reasons sometime in June 2000. She was expected to return to the Board in October but never did come back. So, for six months or so, we functioned in the "holding" pattern. I was elected Chair in January 2001.

Our temple has been and continues to be an "all-inclusive" Hindu temple where the devotees are free to and are encouraged to worship as they see fit, keeping the sanctity of the temple supreme. However, when it comes to certain rituals, people have very strong and sometimes uncompromising feelings. In order to keep the traditions of the temple and still meet everyone's spiritual needs, the Board needs to have people that are open-minded, considerate, cooperative, willing to find solutions, and above all keep the needs of the temple above their own. Let me state at this time that the present Board has functioned much more cohesively, coperatively, and constructively than some previous Boards. I am personally thankful to each and every Board member for their efforts. The issue of the prayer to Shivalinga has been a difficult one which had divided our community for a long time. Prior to the solution we proposed, voices were heard that stated: "If people do not like the way things are, let them go and build another temple". I strongly believe that such divisive voices should be discouraged. This Board found a solution to this problem. While this may not have satisfied each and every member of the community, I believe that most members have found this solution to be acceptable and are happy about it.

Navagraha location was another difficult problem. There were members who wanted the Navagrahas to be located in the northeast corner of an expanded temple, while others did not want them at all. Since the community had already directed the Board against any expansion at this time, the Board once again found a solution. The Navagrahas are now located in the northeast corner of the sanctum inside the temple. Once again, this was a compromise acceptable to most people, which resulted from the hard work of this Board.

The events of September 11 (the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City and on the Pentagon in Arlington) shocked not only the US but the entire world. Our Indian community was no exception. Many Indians lost their lives in that tragedy. Although we were affected and grieved just as much as our American neighbors, for the first time it became important to convince our neighbors that we were as American as anyone else. To this end, we organized a condolence prayer, an all-night prayer vigil, and finally an interfaith prayer held at the temple. Senator Debbie Stabenow attended the interfaith prayer. I believe that never before has our temple been recognized in our community as it now is. While I may try and take some credit for this effort, most of the credit belongs to the Board members, particularly Dhiraj Shah, and several community members. Our plans are to continue with activities that will make our temple remain an important place for religious and social causes for our greater Lansing community at large.

Some constructional modifications of the temple were also done. This was to keep the temple in line with the rules of Vasty Shastra. I know this has resulted in inconvenience to some of you, but please be assured that this decision was not made lightly. If we follow the Shastras, then there is the almighty God to protect us from all evils.

The Board under my leadership has been looking ahead. For spiritual purposes, I have already proposed to the Board and received their approval that Puja should be conducted on all the Sundays. We have continued the First Sunday Puja, Third Sunday Havan, and Fourth Sunday Jain Puja. For the second Sunday, it has been proposed that the "Puja" should consist of discussions and bhajans rather than rituals. We are looking for some more input from the community and, if supported, this program could begin as early as the beginning of the year 2002. In addition, from time to time we have invited religious leaders for discussion and education of our devotees; and we will continue to do this. The youth program and Bal Vihar continue to function but they need strengthening. Please bring your children to attend these functions and also try to attend them yourself whenever possible.

We have also been working hard to make the temple debt-free. At the present time, after the funds received at the recent Diwali function, our mortgage debt is approximately $55,000. We still have some outstanding pledges, which we hope to receive by the end of this year. It is my understanding that some devotees were "withholding" their pledges till the Navagraha issue was resolved. Now that that has happened, it is my sincere hope that those pledges will be forthcoming. If all the outstanding pledges are received, the temple will become nearly debt-free in the next couple of months. I would be failing in my duty if I did not inform you (actually, I have been informing all of you for the last several months) that it takes approximately $6000 a month to maintain our temple. Therefore we have begun a "maintenance" program. We have already contacted several devotees to pledge one thousand dollars a year, which they will send to the temple early in the year, say in the month of January. At the time of this writing, I am pleased to inform you that we have commitments from about 25 families. We are hopeful that we can increase this number to about 50 families, which will result in a donation of about $50,000 per year. In addition, we have recruited some families who are willing to donate about $300 to $500 per year. The ultimate aim is to have about 60,000 to 70,000 dollars a year so that we can not only run the temple smoothly but also begin to have some reserves for future needs. However, let me also inform you that people donate only if they feel that they can support this temple in their heart. So it is important to keep the community together in a cohesive manner, avoiding controversy as much as possible and whenever disagreements develop, find solutions that are unifying and not divisive.

We have alreasy begun a program to welcome new members to the community. A "welcome letter" has been developed and will be mailed to newcomers, informing them of the activities that take place in the temple and encouraging them to become involved in the affairs of the temple by not only becoming members of the temple but also donating their time. We will be recruiting a few volunteers who can go to the homes of these newcomers and meet with them personally. If you can volunteer, please contact one of the Board members.

As many of you must also have noticed, the attendance at the temple has continued to increase. But this has not translated into increased membership of the temple. Therefore I have asked every Board member to have membership cards available, which will be distributed to every devotee who is not a member, starting in the month of December and continuing through the month of June. Our aim is to make every devotee who visits the temple more than once become a member.

Today is also an important annual election day at our temple. The decisions you make today will have important consequences not just for the coming three years but perhaps for a much longer time. So, please give a great deal of thought before you cast your vote.

Thank you, and God bless you.