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Hindu Temple Society of Capital District, NY Inc.

450 Albany Shaker Road, Albany, NY12211

Tel: 516-459-7272

HCC Basement Renovation Project Launched

The Board of Trustees of the Hindu Temple Society and the Board of Directors of the Hindu Cultural Center are pleased to inform General Body members that we are launching the HCC basement project.
A resolution for project for a cost of $50,000 was originally approved by the General Body meeting in 2009. Since then, we expanded the project scope to meet our ever-growing needs for 2 Classrooms including Yoga /Dance rooms and storage area, library, and a large banquet area with food warming and serving facility. We also had to make additional modification such as rest rooms in the basement, safe fire exit, and other safety consideration to fulfill the town planning board's requirement. Therefore, the cost of the current project has gone up from the original 2009 estimate. HCC Board will raise funds needed to complete the project.
The basement project with expanded scope was discussed at length in subsequent General Body Meetings in 2011 and 2012. General Body did approve by voice vote undertaking of Basement Project and dining hall expansion provided required funds are raised for those purposes. In the 2012 GB meeting, we presented cost of Basement Project as $341,000, and sought approval for the project subject to rising of funds. This is an effort to keep everyone informed of the status of the project and to meet the constitutional requirements of informing membership.
We are pleased to inform you that we have signed a contract for the basement project, and it is currently awaiting approval of the construction plans by the Town of Colonie Building Department. We expect the construction will start in early June, and be completed in mid-October.
We request our members to make generous contributions for this worthy project, which will offer even more benefits to our community. If you would like to make a contribution or have any questions about the project, we encourage you to contact Dr Swatantra Mitta (BOD Chair), Dr. Shashi Patel (BOD Vice-Chair), Dr. Govind Rao (BOT Vice-Chair), or M.R Balakrishna (BOT Chair).
Please get involved now and be part of this vital Cultural Center Basement project for meeting the critical needs of Heritage Class and other programs. You will be glad to see that your HCC becomes even more vibrant and dynamic center for all community cultural activities.
Our goal is to raise $100,000 to complete the construction of HCC basement project and have some balance for operation and maintenance. Your contributions are tax deductible. All donations will be recognized.

Welcome to Albany Hindu Temple

Disclaimer : Pooja schedule below is subject to change, especially when multiple pooja's fall on the same day/teethi. Please check the temple event's calendar for weekly updates in the schedule.

Regular Religious Poojas

Service	Weekday	Time
Parvati Abhisheka/Lalitha Sahasranama Parayana	Friday	7:00 PM
Shri Lakshmi Narayana Suprabatham, Abishekam, Puja	Saturday	9:00 AM
Subramhanya Abhishekam	Tuesday	9:00 AM
Sundarakaand Paarayaan	Third Thursday every month	7:00 PM
Shiva Abhishekam Pooja	Everyday	9:00 AM
Somavar Shiva Abhishekam Pooja	Monday	7:00 P.M
Sri Ram Bhajans	First Tuesday of every month	7:00 P.M
Sankataharana Chaturthi Ganesha Pooja	Varies Once a month	8:00 P.M
Subramanya Krittika Pooja	Monthly	7:00 PM
Pradosha Shiva Abhisheka	Every Fortnight	7:00 PM
NAVAGRAHA ABHISHEKA / POOJA	Every Saturday	09:30 AM
Pradosham	Sun

Deities:

Sri Ganesh, Sri Lakshmi Narayana, Sri Siva, Sri Sreenadhaji, Sri Radhe Shyam, Sri Swaminarayana, Sri Navagraha, Sri Naga Parivar, Sri Saraswathi, Sri Durga, Sri Rama Parivar, Sri Mahavir, Sri Subrahmanyaswami, Sri Buddha, Sri Dharma Shasta,

Priests:

Sri Shridhara Jayateerthachar and Sri Srinivasa Sharma

Welcome to Cultural Center

The Cultural center completed in 2007, is located on the same campus as the temple and offers facilities for rent like a well equipped Auditorium (550 seat capacity), Dining Hall, fully equipped commercial kitchen and three class rooms.Cultural Center is dedicated to promoting and preserving culture and fine arts, Dance, yoga and meditation, conducts language classes -Samskritam, Kannada, Telugu Etc., and social services such as medical Clinic and Women's connection. Cultural Center facilities are available for very reasonable rental charges when they are is not being used by temple and CC.

Spring & Summer Timing
(April 1st to September 30th)

Weekdays: Morning 9:00 am to 11:30 am, Evening 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm
Weekend: Morning 9:00 am to 1:30 pm, Evening 6:30 pm to 9:00 pm

Winter Timing
(October 1st to March 31st)

Weekdays: Morning 9:00 am to 11:30 am, Evening 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Weekend: Morning 9:00 am to 1:30 pm, Evening 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm

Support Us

Different ways you can help us:

Volunteer or Donate (click to download the form)
Serve on a committee
Perform Seva (click to download the form)
Sponsor, coordinate and support events
Educate, train and mentor
Provide Support: Gifts of cash / securities / real estate / personal property; Gift of Life Insurance /Charitable Lead Trusts / Trust Beneficiaries / Deferred Gifts; Gifts in memory of a loved one.
Volunteer in the kitchen during Sunday Brunch

Chairman’s Message

Chairman’sMessage, July 15, 2013

Greetings and Welcome
Hindu Temple Society celebrated 37th Temple Anniversary last month in a grand manner and the highlight of of three day event was Heritage Class Students dressed in divine costumes accompanying the ParakaraUtsabva (see Temple Website special link). This is the time to pause and reflect on the 37 years of Temple history and accomplishments.I would like to express our sincere thanks to our founders, visionaries, donors and volunteers.

In the next six months we will be celebrating Janmastami , Ganesha Chaturthy, Navaratri Vijaya Dashami and Diwali; all major festivals. I would welcome everyone to participate in the above festivals. Last year, we had very successful Janmastami, ten day Ganesha Festival and Navaratri with very attractive and captivating alankaras of Devi Parvathi by our priests and finally 3 day Grand Diwali with Lakshmi pooja, Chopdapooja, Fireworks and excellent food.
Diwali is a festival of lights removal of darkness. It is not only physical removal of darkness but also removal of ignorance and illusion. Diwali is the time for giving and sharing. Traditionally people go out and share sweets with others. It is said happiness is multiplied when shared with others. In the same way pain and suffering is reduced when shared with others. This has been a fundamental principle and tradition everywhere. Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha are human goals- or Purusharthas. Ultimate goal of human life is to achieve happiness and bliss
One of the high priority tasks the Temple wanted to pursue at the beginning of this year was to complete the HCC Basement Project and to undertake much needed temple improvements like repair of exterior stucco wall and painting, lighting improvement and interior painting project. I am very happy to report that we will soon have above projects completed in about three months. Another project, PVC solar project expected to be operational within next three months,which will save HCC power cost by fifty percent. We have received building permits for both projects.
Our new Website is fully functional now and needs regular update of programs and events that is responsive to our growing needs.Temple owes a deep sense of gratitude to everyone who contributed their time, energy and knowledge towards the development of our new Website.

I strongly believe that the core strength and wealth of the Temple is in the pool of willing volunteers (over 100 ) who are making it possible to conduct all major festivals and programs and manage the ever growing Temple and HCC facility at minimal cost. I thank everyone for their contributions over the years. It is very heartening to see that many of them have been supporting and helping the Temple and HCC from the beginning.
Temple will soon have three very qualified, experienced and multilingual priests who are able to take care of all religious services needs of everyone. I urge everyone to make use of their services instead of going elsewhere. Temple Website includes profiles of our priests highlighting their skills and accomplishments

Our Annual General Body Meeting and Election is scheduled for November 17th and I welcome every member and supporter to attend the meeting and hear the state of your Temple and Cultural Center. Although in the thirty seven years what we have accomplished is significant and impressive, there is still a lot more to be done including Temple expansion project which includes Rajagopuram and HCC Dining Hall expansion. Please feel free to contact Temple for details about how you can get involved in the Temple and HCC activities and to support Capital Projects mentioned above.
SarveJanahSuskhinoBhavantu. May everyone be happy.
M.R.Balakrishna
Chairman, BOT

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Hindu Temple and Cultural Center

The Hindu Temple Society of Capital District, was founded in 1976 and is located in Loudonville, NY. It is a place of worship by Hindu devotees in and around Capital District and also visitors from other areas and all over the world. Albany Hindu Temple is unique because all segments of Hindu Community have a special place for worship of their own with Ganesha, Lakshmi Narayana, Shiva, Parvathi, Shrinathji, Radha Krishna, Swaminarayana, Navagrahas, Nageswara, Saraswati, Durga, Buddha, Iyyappa Swamy, Mahavira, Shri Rama Parivara and Subramanya (see descriptions of Deities (Moorthies ). Religious discourses and cultural activities are held at the temple and all major Hindu religious festivals are celebrated. The temple offers variety of regular religious services at the temple and at individual homes and offices, on request by well trained and qualified priests . Albany Hindu temple is centrally located between Boston and Buffalo and Montreal and New York City (see directions).
The Cultural center completed in 2007, is located on the same campus as the temple and offers facilities for rent like a well equipped Auditorium (550 seat capacity), Dining Hall, fully equipped commercial kitchen and three class rooms.Cultural Center is dedicated to promoting and preserving culture and fine arts, Dance, yoga and meditation, conducts language classes -Samskritam, Kannada, Telugu Etc., and social services such as medical Clinic and Women's connection. Cultural Center facilities are available for very reasonable rental charges when they are is not being used by temple and CC.

Management of Temple and Cultural Center is committed to provide high quality services to members and visitors. Hindu Temple and Cultural Center is a 501(c)3 tax exempt organization. All donations tax deductible for both state and federal Tax purposes.
Operating Model
Our management team consists of three Boards, whose members are elected by our general members at the Annual Meeting. The Board of Trustees focus on the Temple and overall direction, the Board of Directors focus on the Cultural Center, and the Board of Governors look after long term growth, and also resolve any operational conflicts at the Temple and Cultural Center. Current office bearers are listed on the back side. Our management team has several responsibilities: the duty of care, duty of loyalty, and duty to the organization’s mission.
Our Mission
According to article 2 of our Constitution, the purpose of HTS is to establish a place of worship, provide a permanent place of holding religious and cultural congregations, and conduct religious discourses. It shall also institute meditation and cultural centers, celebrate Hindu religious festivals, conduct religious classes, and provide facilities for conducting marriage and other religious ceremonies and rituals
The facilities of HTS and HCC are available to support the above. In addition, the temple has resident priests who are highly educated and proficient in all Vedic and Hindu ceremonies, prayers, and rites which may be performed either at the temple or at individual homes.
Our Society
The Hindu Temple Society of Capital District, Inc. located in Loudonville, NY is a place of worship for devotees of the Hindu religion. While it's primary goal is to serve residents of the capital district, visitors from all over the world take part in its activities. Religious discourses and cultural activities are held at the temple and all the Hindu religious festivals are celebrated. The temple offers religious services at the temple and at individual homes, on request. It is a non-profit, tax exempt organization.

Desk Duty at the Temple

The temple relies on volunteers to man the Information Desk at the temple and to provide critical services to our devotees. Some of the duties involve:

1. Answering phone calls

2. Accepting payments (cash, checks, and credit cards) for memberships and pooja services

3. Assisting devotees with their queries on various topics.

In most cases the temple manager will provide guidelines and thus these tasks are very easy to perform. We urge you to please volunteer and help us with our temple opertaions. Without your help over devotees will have no way to learn about the temple services and we won't be able to attend to their needs. All we need is at least 2.5 hrs (after 6:00 P.M) of your time the day you signed and on major temple events when we see a huge turnout. If you can please devote your time at least once a week or once a month consistently that would really help us schedule people for desk duty. The calendar below shows the current availability and if you are interested in volunteering please contact at 518-459-7272.

Community Outreach Programs

It is said that service to humanity is service to God (Seva Parmo Dharmah). Temple and Cultural Center have an important role in reaching out to the Community at large and urges members to take an active role and help in any way possible. Temple has initiated a number of activities and would like to empower members to take initiatives and start new programs. Facilities of Temple and Cultural Center are available for such efforts, and Members are encouraged to look for such opportunities.

The range of activities initiated over many years by our long standing member K.Balasubramanian (K.Bala) include:

Soup Kitchen work on a regular basis
“CROP Walk” related to world hunger
Volunteering at the homeless overflow shelter
Equinox Thanksgiving Day help
Leading our youths for monthly volunteering at the Regional Food Bank
Collecting dry food items at the Temple for donation to Capital District Food Pantries
Working with Albany County to participate in “Adopt a Road Side” program to clean the portion of Albany Shaker Road, twice a year.

Thanks to K. Bala and others who started above programs. Please contact albanyhindutemple@gmail.com, or Bala at balandraji@aol.com to get involved.
Other important outreach activities include Interfaith activities, conducting tour of our Temple for High School and College students, conducting Blood Drive and Bone Marrow Drive, Capital District Religious Leaders Conference Etc.

To get involved in such projects, please send an email to albanyhindutemple@gmail.com

SUNDAY BRUNCH WILL RESUME IN SEPTEMBER

Every Sunday from September to May the Cultural Center provides hot and delicious vegetarian brunch that is freshly prepared in our professional kitchen by our seasoned volunteers. From Chole Poori to Dosa's and from Vada Paav to Bengali Khichadi we cook everything. Every Sunday is different; our volunteers use their imagination to put out a delicious brunch that caters to every palate and every generation.

There are many ways to enjoy the food. The easiest way is to show up between 11:30 A.M and 1:30 P.M and enjoy the food for a nominal cost (all proceeds go to the temple). The next best thing is to volunteer and help us out on any Sunday you want. No appointment required and no skills are required either! We have veteran cooks who can guide you along the way. Lastly if you have a real passion to cook, be the lead coordinator and we will hand over the kitchen to you (well almost, don’t take that literally). You bring in your team, your decide the menu and you cook! All the proceeds from the Brunch sale go to the temple after you deduct your expenses (you can waive your expenses as a donaion)
If you love to eat like we do, we look forward to seeing you, either inside the kitchen or in the dining hall savoring our food.
There are many ways to sponsor Brunch/Annadanam.

Namaskaram

HERITAGE CLASS IS HELD EVERY SUNDAY AT THE HINDU TEMPLE CULTURAL CENTER FROM 10:30 am - 12:15 pm from October to May.
The goals of the Heritage class are to expose the children of Indian origin to their cultural roots; to bring awareness of the rich Indian traditions and values, and to understand the significance of religious and spiritual practices.
The class follows the core texts of PURNA VIDYA, which is the version of Arsha Vidya Gurukulam's Vedic Heritage teaching program (arshavidya.org), as well as material from the BAL VIHAR books. Shlokas, Stotras and Bhajans are taught.
Eligibility for Classes:
K - 2 grades: SUB JUNIORS
3 - 5 grades : JUNIORS
6 - 10 grades : SENIORS

The curriculum this year focuses around the 'Stories from the Puranas' and 'Significance of festivals', for the Sub-Juniors;
'Value of Values' through stories for the Juniors; and 'Ishvara and Religious Discipline' for the Seniors.

“One's wisdom and appreciation of beauty manifests through various forms of one's culture.
And the study of one's cultural heritage leads to the appreciation of beauty and wisdom in life...”.
Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati
We try to make the classes interactive and fun for the children. We celebrate festivals. We sing, chant and through stories, explore our rich heritage!

~ Heritage Class Sevaks and Sevikas
Contact us at heritageclass@yahoo.com

Activities At Cultural Center

Activity Schedule

Yoga by Preeti Bawdekar (Class room 1)
Preeti Bavdekar
Saturday
8:30 A.M - 9:45 A.M
GITA GROUP At Auditorium
Jyoti Swaminathan
377-4377
Sunday
11:00 AM To 12:00 PM
HERITAGE At Class Rooms 1,2 and 3
heritageclass@yahoo.com
Sunday
10.30PM TO 12.15PM
BREATHING At Class Room 1
C S Rao
391-2889
Sunday
9.30-10.30AM And 12.30-1.30 PM
SAMSKRITAM At Class Room 2
Naresh Cuntoor
240 271 8585
Sunday
9.30AM To 10.30 AM
GITA At Class Room 1
K K Gupta
877-6468
Saturday
9:00AM to 12:00PM
CLASSICAL DANCE At Class Room 2
Bindiya Prasad
Friday
6:00PM To 8:00PM
MEDICAL CLINIC By prior Appointment only
Dr.Mohan Potluri
478-9007
Thrusday
6:30 PM to 7:30 PM
Yoga At Class Room 2
Jo kitzman
374-3911
Thrusday
9:30 AM TO 11:30 AM
TABLA At Class Room 1
Devesh Chandra
542-1143
Tuesday
6:00 PM To 7:00 PM
GUITAR At Class Room 2
Vishvesh Obla
785-6831
Tuesday
6:00 PM To 7:00 PM
Yoga At Class Room 3
Jennifer Webb
262-9749
Tuesday
5:30 PM To 7:00

ANNUAL YOUTH CAMP AUGUST 19-23
From: Mon, August 19, 2013 - 8:00 am
To: Fri, August 23, 2013 - 5:00 pm

Hindu Temple Society of Capital District, NY, Inc.
450 Albany Shaker Road,
Albany, NY 12211
Phone: 518-459-7272
e-mail: Email/Contact us

Om Tat Sat

(Continued...)

(My humble salutations to the great devotees , wikisources and Pilgrimage tourist guide for the collection )

Hindu Vedic Philosophy (Holy Pilgrimage - Theertha Kshetra)