fremont temple news letter, january 2009

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January 2009 Fremont Hindu Temple Newsletter 1 Fremont Temple Newsletter FREMONT HINDU TEMPLE Vedic Dharma Samaj Estt 1983 • 3676 Delware drive, Fremont, CA, 94538 • Phone 510-659-0655 • E-mail [email protected] Upcoming Events for January 2009 Jan 9, 2009 10:30AM to 12:30 PM Scientific & Medical Basis of yoga By Hemant Tiwari Jan 17, 2009 7PM to 10 PM MATA Ka Jagrata 10:30AM to 12:30 PM Scientific & Medical Basis of yoga By Hemant Tiwari Regular Events for January 2009 Arti Every day, 7:30 PM Shiva Abhishek Monday, 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM Hanuman Chalisa Tuesday, 6:30 PM followed by Preeti Bhoj Ramayan Katha Wednesday, 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM Senior Citizens Meeting Wednesday, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM (Bhajans, Kirtans and discourses followed by Lunch) Sri Lakshmi Abhishek Friday, 12:30 PM Durga Pooja & Sri Lalitha Saharanamam Friday, 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM Sri Balaji Abhishek Saturday, 11:30 AM Gita Class Saturday, 10:40 AM to 12:30 PM Sri Vishnu Saharanamam Saturday, 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM Sunder Kand Ka Path every 3rd Saturday, 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM Mataka Jagrata every 2nd Saturday, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM. Bhajans & Pravachan Sunday, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM Sri Ganeshji & Navagraha Abhishek Sunday, 2:30 PM Sadhu Vaswani Satsang every 3rd Sunday, 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM Yoga Class Monday and Wednesday , 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM vlrks ek lnxe;A relks ek T;ksfrZxe;AA JAN 2009

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Fremont Hindu Temple News Letter for January 2009

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Page 1: Fremont Temple News Letter, January 2009

January 2009 Fremont Hindu Temple Newsletter 1

Fremont Temple Newsletter

FREMONT HINDU TEMPLEVedic Dharma Samaj

Estt 1983 • 3676 Delware drive, Fremont, CA, 94538 • Phone 510-659-0655 • E-mail [email protected]

Upcoming Events for January 2009

Jan 9, 200910:30AM to 12:30 PM Scientific & Medical Basis of yoga By Hemant Tiwari

Jan 17, 2009 7PM to 10 PM MATA Ka Jagrata10:30AM to 12:30 PM Scientific & Medical Basis of yoga By Hemant Tiwari

Regular Events for January 2009ArtiEvery day, 7:30 PM

Shiva AbhishekMonday, 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM

Hanuman ChalisaTuesday, 6:30 PM followed by Preeti Bhoj

Ramayan KathaWednesday, 7:30 PM to 9:00 PM

Senior Citizens MeetingWednesday, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM (Bhajans, Kirtans and discourses followed by Lunch)

Sri Lakshmi AbhishekFriday, 12:30 PM

Durga Pooja & Sri Lalitha SaharanamamFriday, 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM

Sri Balaji AbhishekSaturday, 11:30 AM

Gita ClassSaturday, 10:40 AM to 12:30 PM

Sri Vishnu SaharanamamSaturday, 6:30 PM to 7:30 PM

Sunder Kand Ka Pathevery 3rd Saturday, 10:00 AM to 12:30 PM

Mataka Jagrataevery 2nd Saturday, 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM.

Bhajans & PravachanSunday, 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM

Sri Ganeshji & Navagraha AbhishekSunday, 2:30 PM

Sadhu Vaswani Satsangevery 3rd Sunday, 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM

Yoga ClassMonday and Wednesday , 7:30 AM to 8:30 AM

vlrks ek lnxe;A relks ek T;ksfrZxe;AA

JAN 2009

Page 2: Fremont Temple News Letter, January 2009

January 2009 Fremont Hindu Temple Newsletter 2

Temple Management

Temple Priests

Temple Administrator

Editor

Dear Devotees,First of all, may the New Year brings Happiness, Peace and prosperity to you and your family.

We are very happy to present you the first issue of monthly newsletter. We hope that with this we’ll be able to serve you better.

The News Letter has been possible by the article provided by the learned member’s of our community. Dr. Shyam Narayan Shukla will be providing one article every month from his un published book.

Joshua M. Geene (Yogesvara Das) will be writing article on Hanuman Ji for our younger generation.

Mrs. Anita Kapoor(Our Temple Administrator) has promised to give at least one poem or article every month.

Now we have about nine hundred members enrolled for News Letter, this is also a very good medium to offer your product or services to the Indian Community in Bay Area by advertizing in this News Letter.

Please let us know what else you want to see in the News Letter and we’ll try our best.

Thank You

Rajesh Tripathi

Editor

[email protected]

Hindu Festivals / Tithis

Dr. Pawan Chadha ChairmanMr. Gokal Gupta Co-ChairmanMr. Rajesh Verma TreasurerDr. Rajiv Ahuja TrusteeMrs. Vijaya Bhatt TrusteeMr. Subru Vhatt TrusteeMr. Heera L. Birla TrusteeMr. Kulbhushan Gupta TrusteeDr. Romesh Japra TrusteeMr. Pankaj Kalra TrusteeDr. Naresh Kapoor TrusteeMr. Radha Krishan TrusteeMr. Mahesh Nirmal TrusteeMr. Abhay Pati TrusteeMr. Surya Patnayak TrusteeMrs. Namrata Patnayak TrusteeDr. Dharam Salwan TrusteeMr. Ashish Sanan TrsuteeMr. Sridhar Sreenivasan Trustee

Mr. Avnish Aggarwal MaintenanceMrs. Rachna Bhatnagar CulturalMr. Ajay Bhutoria YouthMr. Suendra Dalar Sr. CitizensDr. Naresh Kapoor FinanceMrs. Rekha Malik Preeti BhojMr. Govindan Nair EducationMr. Maheswar Singh ReligiousMr. Rajesh Tripathi CommunicationMr. Srikanth Tangirala Community Service

Pt. Sri Damodar Shashtri Ji 510-445-1410

Pt. Sri Govind Srinivasan Ji

510-445-1410

Pt. Sri Bhusan Kumar Ji

510-445-1410

Mrs. Anita Kapoor

Mr. Rajesh Tripathi

Management Board Committee Chair Persons

Festival Name Actual Date Day Celebration DayRAMNAM/Putrda Ekadasi

01-10/11 Tue/Wed From Tue 12:05 PM to Wed 9:26 AM

Pradosh 01 - 08 THU EveningPaush Purnima 01 – 10 SATSankasht Chaturthi 01 – 13 TUE 5:30 PMThyagraj Pushyam 01 – 14 WEDSwami Viveka-nanada Jayanti

01 – 16 FRI Puja / Celebration on Sunday Jan 18

Shatatila Ekadasi 01 - 21 WEDSom Pradosh 01 – 22 THUMAUNI-THAI AMAVASYA

01 - 25 SUN

Vasanta Panchami 01 – 30 FRI Saraswati Puja 8 PM Celebration-Sunday

Page 3: Fremont Temple News Letter, January 2009

January 2009 Fremont Hindu Temple Newsletter 3

HANUMAN – NO ORDINARY MONKEY

A Series of Retellings for Young People Inspired by Valmiki’s Ramayana

by

Joshua M. Greene (Hofstra University)

EPISODE 1 – THE MONKEY KINGDOM

A Devoted Warrior Hanuman was mischievous as a child, a brave warrior in his youth, and a musician and scholar when he was older. And for all eternity he is the symbol of devotion to his beloved Lord Rama. Hanuman looked out at his world through eyes shining with anticipation, with a half-smile of amusement over his own great abilities. We can imagine him walking out from his Himalayan cave where, it is said, he still lives—to scan the horizon in search of his beloved Lord, swaying gently, as if to tell the world by his impatient movements that however well we serve, however good we think we are, there is always more to do and that life’s greatest adventure is in the doing.

Hanuman happened to be a monkey. More precisely he was a Vanara, or member of a monkey-like tribe of forest-dwellers. Most of the time, according to reports in India’s ancient texts, he was not conscious of how he looked. His monkey-like body was like armor to a soldier or robes to a priest: something useful but not more im-portant than that. As a celibate, he held no interest in making himself attractive to the opposite sex. And as a student of scripture he understood the difference between body and soul. His monkey-like nature surfaced from time to time, but those who seek to know him must move past the obvious, for his story strikes at the core of human experience and at the very heart of self-discovery.

Page 4: Fremont Temple News Letter, January 2009

January 2009 Fremont Hindu Temple Newsletter 4

The Traditional Story Retold Hanuman’s story has been adapted by many traditional cultures. The oldest version is contained in the Sanskrit Ramayana of Sage Valmiki who lived in an ancient period of India’s history, and it is his work that inspires our time together today.

Who is Hanuman? According to Valmiki he was the child of Anjana, a celestial woman cursed to incarnate in monkey form; and Vayu, god of the wind. Because his mother had much to do and his father was always traveling, Hanuman was obliged to discover the world on his own. He loved to play pranks, breaking pots and helping himself to the neighbors’ groceries. He was unaware of the havoc he created with the strength he had inherited from his demigod father. On one occasion he mistook the sun for a giant fruit and leaped into the sky to enjoy it. Indra, king of heaven, was flying by at that moment and, mistaking Hanuman for an enemy, knocked him back to earth. The fall broke Hanuman’s jaw, which earned him his name Hanu-man: “broken jaw.”

Vanaras went out of their way to stay on good terms with humans and demigods such as Indra, and one can only imagine their concern over such incidents. When Hanuman broke open the doors of the temple and ate the sacrificial offerings, that was when the Vanara priests held a meeting and agreed that something must be done. They cast a spell that erased the child’s knowledge of his powers. And so it was that Hanuman grew up, studied scripture under the sun god, and developed admirable skill as a musician—but all this time, and despite his evident strength, Hanuman remained unaware of his extraordinary abilities and considered himself nothing more than an ordinary monkey.

Just how extraordinary was Hanuman? That is something worth telling another time, in another story.

Joshua M. Greene is an author, filmmaker, and communications consultant specializing in religion and the peace process. He teaches in the Religion Department of Hofstra University and at Jivamukti Yoga School in New York.

In 1970, Mr. Greene was initiated into bhakti (devotional) practice by A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada and given the spiritual name Yogesvara Das. He spent thirteen years in Hindu ashrams and returned to New York in 1982 to being his career in media.

Before joining Hofstra University he served as Vice President for Global Affairs at Ruder Finn (an international communications firm) and Director of Programming for Cablevision (the nation’s sixth largest cable provider). He is the author of several bestselling books, is a frequent lecturer, and sits on the boards of the American Jewish Committee, the Holocaust Memorial and Educational Center of Nassau County, and the Coalition for Quality Children’s Media. He lives with his family on Long Island.

Page 5: Fremont Temple News Letter, January 2009

January 2009 Fremont Hindu Temple Newsletter 5

Dharma (religion) is the set of laws or values, which holds the society together. Its origin is from the Sanskrit verb ‘dhri’, which means ‘to hold’. Religion is not the exact translation of Dharma. Religion may be loosely translated as panth (sect), sampraday (denomination) or upasana paddhati (method of worship), etc. The old name of Hindu religion is Sanatan Dharma, which means eternal dharma because it is believed that it was started right from the time the human beings came to this earth. It, of course, evolved gradually with time to its present form. The Dharma of human beings is to be compassionate, kind, truthful, loving, just, etc., as described in the Bhagvadgita, Chapter 16, verses 1-3.

The word ‘Hindu’ was coined by Persian traders, who pronounced ‘Sindhu’ (the Indus) as Hindu. Thus ‘Hindu’ is a geographical name for the people living beyond the Indus river. Now the world recognizes Hinduism as the ancient religion followed by majority of Indian people.

The British rulers of India found many common words in English and Sanskrit. Also they observed that some north Indians had lighter complexion and sharper features, which led them to believe that the Aryans of India and the Europeans had a common origin.

In 1834 a young politician, Lord Thomas Macaulay was appointed the Governor General of India. Being a staunch Christian he had a plan to convert the entire population of India to Christianity. However, he realized that the deep reverence of the population to Brahmans and the Vedas would be the biggest hurdle in his way to execute his plan. Therefore, he thought, first he had to malign the Vedas in the eyes of the world. For authenticity he needed a scholar to prove his conjecture. Thus he approached Dr. Max Muller, a young Professor of Sanskrit at Oxford University with a proposal to award him a research grant of £ 10,000 for a period of 10 years. With his research Max Muller was supposed to prove that the Vedas were written by illiterate Aryans, who were nomadic cowherds and came in a mass migration on horse-backs from central Asia, somewhere near Caucasus Mountains, to India as invaders. Max Muller, who never visited India, assumed that the Aryans reached India in around 1,500 B.C. and the Vedas were written in 1,200 B.C. This time frame was arbitrarily chosen

by Max Muller, a staunch Christian himself, who could not choose an earlier date because according to the Bible, the God created the world 3,000 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. Macaulay had also wanted Max Muller to write that the Vedas were nothing but crude verses written by the illiterate Aryan settlers, who were overwhelmed by the beauty of the new land, they had conquered. He thought that only by demeaning the Hindu culture, India could be a fertile ground for spreading Christianity.

Max Muller erected a mental barrier in his own mind when he assumed that the Rigveda was unlikely to have been written earlier than 1,200 B.C. Later he backed out by saying, “Whether the Vedic hymns were composed in 1,000, 1,500, 2,000 or 3,000 BC, no power on earth will be ever able to determine.” He also confessed later that the Vedas were definitely written by highly intellectual people, and not by illiterate nomads.

In spite of the popular historical epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata, it was believed until as late as 1920 that there was no evidence of any civilization in India, prior to the period of the invasion of Alexander the Great. But the excavations at Harappa (by Daya Ram Sahni in 1921) and Mohenjodaro (by R.D. Bannerjee in 1922) proved to be at least 5,000 years old. This put the Britishers in a defensive position. Then they developed a new theory, namely, the ‘Aryan Invasion Theory’. Their new hypothesis was that the Harappan civilization was the remains of the civilization of the Dravidians, who were the indigenous people of India. They also said that the Aryans invaded India, defeated the Dravidians and pushed them southward. This conjecture, without any historical proof, became part of Indian history and it is being taught in Indian schools for the last 150 years. Since there was no evidence of horses being part of the Harappan civilization, it was concluded that the Aryans brought the horses to India

This way the Britishers achieved two things. They divided the people of India into two different races, namely, the Aryans and the Dravidians, under their ‘divide and rule’ policy. They also gave a reply to the freedom fighters, who were upper caste educated Indians, to the effect that even they were outsiders and had no right to ask the Britishers to quit India. One

ARYANS AND THE SANATAN DHARMAShyam Narayan Shukla, Ph.D.

Page 6: Fremont Temple News Letter, January 2009

January 2009 Fremont Hindu Temple Newsletter 6

result of their Aryan invasion theory was creation of the Dravida Munetra Kadagam by Ramaswamy Naiker, who called Lord Rama a destroyer of Dravida culture.

It was Bal Gangadhar Tilak, an astronomer politician, who proved that the Rigveda was at least 5,500 years old. In the Aitareya Brahman of Rigveda there is a description of shifting of equinox from Mrigashiras to Rohini Nakshatra. According to astronomical calculations this could have taken place only in 3,500 B.C.

Actually the Aryan civilization was developed in the ‘Sapta Sindhu’ Valley, which included the region between the Sindhu (the Indus) and the Saraswati rivers. Later, ‘Aryavarta’ or the land of Aryans was the geographical region from Afganistan to the Godavari river in the south and from the Sindhu to the Ganga river valley in the east. It is believed that the Rigveda was written on the banks of the Saraswati river. There are 79 verses in the Rigveda in praise of the Saraswati river. It is said that the Saraswati was the mightiest and the most holy river of India. It is now believed that about a thousand years before the Mahabhatata period, Rajasthan area rose a few feet above its original level due to a massive earthquake. This diverted the flow of the Saraswati to the channel of the Yamuna river and hence the Saraswati dried. In Shalya Parva of the Mahabharata there is a description of Balarama going to the pilgrimage of Sapta Saraswat during the Mahabharata war. Seven lakes formed at deeper parts of the drying Saraswati river made the Sapta Saraswat Tirtha. Perhaps only to perpetuate the memory of the sacred Saraswati river the sages of the time introduced a new goddess of education, music and art, namely, goddess Saraswati.

After independence of India more excavations were made along the old Saraswati river. They have found from these excavations at Kalibangan, Lothal, Surkhotada, and many other places that the civilization in these places is contemporary of the Harappan civilization. Also they found terracotta horses and remains of horses. They found yajna-vedis (sacrificial fire places) and places for five kinds of fire a household should maintain according to the Vedas. Thus it has become very obvious that the Aryan civilization is more than 5000 years old. It may be mentioned that Aryan is not a race as the British rulers assumed. It is the name of the cultured group

of people who lived a civilized life, as compared to illiterate people living in jungles. In the Rigveda there is a mantra which says, “Let us make the entire world Aryan (Krinvanto vishvamaryam). This proves that ‘Aryan’ cannot be referred to as a race.

Swami Vivekananda, who methodically studied the Hindu scriptures, was one of the first college graduate monks of India. He had a very logical and scientific outlook towards religion. He used to say that through the studies of the Vedas one gets a bird’s eye view of the evolution of the Hindu religion. In the Samhita portion of the Vedas there are prayers of different gods, namely, Surya (Sun god), Varun (water god), Agni (fire god), Marut (wind god), etc. It seems that man was afraid of the Nature’s forces and considered them gods. To pacify them he offered prayers to them, which were put in the Samhitas of the Vedas. Then he must have imagined that there should be a world where these gods live and where there are no hunger, diseases and other miseries of the earth. He called it heaven. He saw the flames of fire rising upwards and thought that the gods live in Heaven, which is somewhere up in the sky. To achieve the heaven through the grace of the gods he performed yajna. The Brahmana portion of the Vedas containing the methods of performing yajnas became an important part of the Vedas. Later, the Indian sages who were researchers, did not feel satisfied with the idea that living in the heaven should be the ultimate objective of man. It only gives a better birth in the next life but not ‘moksha’. The sages started living in forests (Aranya), which gave them a good surrounding to think and study. There they realized through meditation and thinking that the Self (Atman) within man is divine and is none other than Brahman (the Supreme Being) Himself. The philosophy they developed was put in the new portion of the Vedas, the Aranyaka. Their experiences of god realization was described in the Upanishads.

Dr. Shyam Narayan Shukla did his Ph.D. (Civil/Structural Engg.) from Ohio State University. He retired from University of California, Lawrance Livermore National Lab after working there for 21 years.

He’s Past President, Brahman Samaj of North America (2001-06) & World Brahman Oeganization(2005-07). World Hindi Foundation.

Page 7: Fremont Temple News Letter, January 2009

January 2009 Fremont Hindu Temple Newsletter 7

Measurement of Time in Hinduismfrom WikipediA

Hinduism’s understanding of time is as grandiose as time itself. While most cultures base their cosmologies on familiar units such as few hundreds or thousands of years, the Hindu concept of time embraces billions and tril-

lions of years. The Puranas describe time units from the infinitesimal truti, lasting 1/1,000,000 of a second to a mahamantavara of 311 trillion years. Hindu sages describe time as cyclic, an endless procession of creation, preservation and dis-solution. Scientists such as Carl Sagan have expressed amazement at the sci-entifically appropriate scale of space and time descriptions given by the ancient rishis and saints, who canonically were supposed to have fathomed the secrets of the universe through their mystically awakened senses.

Small units of time used in the Vedas a trasarenu is the combination of 6 celestial atoms. a truti is the time needed to integrate 3 trasarenus, or 1/1687.5th of a second. a vedha is 100 trutis. a lava is 3 vedhas. a nimesha is 3 lavas, or a blink. a kshanas is 3 nimeshas. a kashthas is 5 kshanas, or about 8 seconds. a laghu is 15 kashthas, or about 2 minutes.[2] 15 laghus make one nadika, which is also called a danda. This equals the time before water overflows in a six-pala-weight [fourteen ounce] pot of copper, in which a hole is bored with a gold probe weighing four masha and measuring four fingers long. The pot is then placed on water for calculation. 2 dandas make one muhurta. 6 or 7 muhurtas make one yamah, or 1/4th of a day or night.[3] 4 praharas or 4 yamas are in each day or each night.[4]

Reckoning of time amongst the Devas. 1 human year = 1 day of the Devas. 30 days of the Devas = 1 month of the Devas. 12 months of the Devas = 1 year of the Devas = 1 divine year. The lifespan of the Devas is 100 years of the Devas (= 36,000 human years)

The Vishnu Purana Time measurement section of the Vishnu Purana Book I Chap-ter III explains the above as follows: 2 Ayanas (six month periods, see above) = 1 human year or 1 day of the devas 4,000 + 400 + 400 = 4,800 divine years = 1 Krita Yuga 3,000 + 300 + 300 = 3,600 divine years = 1 Tretá Yuga 2,000 + 200 + 200 = 2,400 divine years = 1 Dwápara Yuga 1,000 + 100 + 100 = 1,200 divine years = 1 Kali Yuga 12,000 divine year = 4 Yugas = 1 Mahayuga(also called divine yuga)

Reckoning of time for Brahma. 1000 Mahayugas = 1 kalpa = 1 day (day only) of Brahma (4.32 billion human years; which is the actual scientifically estimated age of the Sun, Estimated age of Sun is 4.59 Billion Years).

(Two kalpas constitute a day and night of Brahma) 30 days of Brahma = 1 month of Brahma (259.2 billion human years) 12 months of Brahma = 1 year of Brahma (3.1104 trillion human years) 50 years of Brahma = 1 Pararddha 2 parardhas = 100 years of Brahma = 1 Para = 1 Mahakalpa (the lifespan of Brahma)(311.04 trillion human years)

Page 8: Fremont Temple News Letter, January 2009

January 2009 Fremont Hindu Temple Newsletter 8

One day of Brahma is divided into 10,000 parts called charanas. The charanas are divided as follows:

The Four Yugas

4 charanas (1,728,000 solar years) Satya Yuga3 charanas(1,296,000 solar years) Treta Yuga2 charanas(864,000 solar years) Dwapar Yuga1 charanas(432,000 solar years) Kali Yuga

The cycle repeats itself so altogether there are 1,000 cycles of mahayugas in one day of Brahma.

One cycle of the above four yugas is one mahayuga (4.32 million solar years)

As is confirmed by the Gita statement “sahasra-yuga paryantam ahar-yad brahmano viduh”, meaning, a day of brahma is of 1000 mahayugas. Thus a day of Brahma, kalpa, is of duration: 4.32 billion solar years. Two kalpas constitute a day and night of Brahma

A manvantara consists of 71 mahayugas (306,720,000 solar years). Each Manvantara is ruled by a Manu.

After each manvantara follows one Sandhi Kala of the same duration as a Krita Yuga (1,728,000 = 4 Charana). (It is said that during a Sandhi Kala, the entire earth is submerged in water.)

A Kalpa consists of a period of 1,728,000 solar years called Adi Sandhi, followed by 14 manvantaras and San-dhi Kalas.

A day of Brahma equals (14 times 71 mahayugas) + (15 x 4 Charanas) = 994 mahayugas + (60 Charanas) = 994 mahayugas + (6 x 10) Charanas = 994 mahayugas + 6 mahayugas = 1,000 mahayugas

Our current dateCurrently, 50 years of Brahma have elapsed and we are in the first Day of the 51st year. This Brahma’s day, Kalpa, is named as ShvetaVaraha Kalpa. Within this Day, six Manvantaras have already elapsed and we are in the seventh Manvantara, named as - Vaivasvatha Manvantara. Within the Vaivasvatha Manavantara, 27 Mahayugas (4 Yugas together is a Mahayuga), and the Krita, Treta and Dwapara Yugas of the 28th Mahayuga have elapsed. We are in the Kaliyuga of the 28th Mahayuga. This Kaliyuga began in the year 3102 BC in the proleptic Julian Calendar. Since 50 years of Brahma have already elapsed, we are in the second Parardha, also called as Dvithiya Parardha.

The time elapsed since the current Brahma has taken over the task of creation can be calculated as

432000 x 10 x 1000 x 2 = 8.64 Billion Years (1 Kalpa and Pralaya of Brahma)8.64 x 109 x 30 x 12 = 3.1104 Trillion Years (1 year of Brahma)3.1104 x 1012 x 50 = 155.52 Trillion Years (50 years of Brahma)

(6 x 71 x 4320000 x 1000) + 7 x 1.728 x 106 = 1.840332096 Trillion years elapsed in first six Manvataras, and Sandhi Kalas in the current Kalpa27 x 4320000 = 116.640000 million years elapsed in first 27 Mahayugas of the current Manvantara1.728 x 106 + 1.296 x 106 + 864000 = 3.888 million years elapsed in current Mahayuga3012 + 2008 = 5020 years elapsed in current Kaliyuga.

So the total time elapsed since current Brahma is 155.52 x 1012 + 1.840332096x1012 + 0.00012053302 = 157.36 Trillion Years

The current Kali Yuga began at midnight 17 February / 18 February in 3102 BC in the proleptic Julian calendar.

Think about it, our maximun lifetime of 100 years is just a blip, are you really making best use of your life!!

Page 9: Fremont Temple News Letter, January 2009

January 2009 Fremont Hindu Temple Newsletter 9

Kid’s Corner

Kid’s

Corne

rFoolish Lion and the Clever Rabbit

Once upon a time there lived a ferocious lion in the forest. It was a greedy lion and started killing animals in the forest indiscriminately. Seeing this, the animals gathered and decided to approach the lion with the offer of one animal of each species volunteering itself to be eaten by the lion everyday. So every day it was the turn of one of the animals and in the end came the rabbits’ turn. The rabbits chose a old rabbit among them. The rabbit was wise and old. It took its own sweet time to go to the Lion. The Lion was getting impatient on not seeing any animal

come by and swore to kill all animals the next day.

The rabbit then strode along to the Lion by sunset. The Lion was angry at him. But the wise rabbit was calm and slowly told the Lion that it was not his fault. He told the Lion that a group of rabbits were coming to him for the day when on the way, an angry Lion attacked them all and ate all rabbits but himself. Somehow he escaped to reach safely, the rabbit said. He said that the other Lion was

challenging the supremacy of his Lordship the Lion. The Lion was naturally very enraged and asked to be taken to the location of the other Lion.

The wise rabbit agreed and led the Lion towards a deep well filled with water. Then he showed the

Lion his reflection in the water of the well. The Lion was furious and started growling and naturally its image in the water, the other Lion, was also equally angry. Then the Lion jumped into the water at the other Lion to attack it, and so lost its life in the well. Thus the wise rabbit saved the forest and its inhabitants from the proud Lion. MORAL:Wit is superior to brute force.

Page 10: Fremont Temple News Letter, January 2009

January 2009 Fremont Hindu Temple Newsletter 10

Anita KapoorTemple Administrator

Page 11: Fremont Temple News Letter, January 2009

January 2009 Fremont Hindu Temple Newsletter 11

Peoms by Hetal Anjaria

As A Flower Blooms......

I just noted a little root,

How fine and delicate,

As the sunshine nurtures it, with water as its

freind,

The root has now begun to grow,

In the best of the brown that I could see,

As I get up one morning,

Its the most beautiful bud that I have ever seen.

I thank Thee, Mother Nature

The bud is now a flower,

The painted petals and the leaves

Are all perfect to Thee,

I pray to you Oh Lord,

Let me shine like this flower and grow with purity.

He’s Your Friend....

There was a small child like you ,

Who had a friend called Ram,

He made friend’s with Krishna,

They all grew together,

Like best friend’s could ever be.

They played all day long ,

And swore for each other,

When things turned wrong.

They all smiled together when they were really

happy,

And called in their friend, Ganesha,

In times of despairity,

Let ’s all be like them,

And truly value their friendship,

Be it Ram or Rahim,

They are all Almighty,

In world full of people, of all caste and creed,

I am glad I had you as a friend,

So very much like me.