murugan temple newsletter - july, august, september 2011
DESCRIPTION
Murugan Temple Newsletter - July, August, September 2011TRANSCRIPT
6300 Princess Garden Parkway, Lanham, MD 20706
NALLUR KATHIRKAMA KANTHAN
FESTIVAL: AUGUST 12TH AND 13TH
Mark your calendars
f o r t h e N a l l u r
Kathirkama Kanthan celebrations for the 3rd
successive year. Join
thousands of devotees
from all over North
America as Murugan
parades the Temple along with his
consorts Valli and Devasena in the
chariot. For detailed schedule, see page 2.
ANNUAL FUNDRAISER EVENT
ON OCT 15TH
The MTNA is celebrating the annual
fundraising event with the following two
stage plays on Saturday October 15th at
t h e M T N A a u d i t o r i u m b y
YGee. Mahendra and his troupe of 12
performing artists.
Swadeshi Aiyer and Venkata3.
YGee Mahendra is a popular Tamil
artist, both, on stage and silver screen.
He has penned many a popular drama
and been part of meaningful cinema. He
is also a recipient of the Lifetime
Achievement Award from Tamil Nadu
Government in Feb 2011.
The tickets for the two plays including
sumptuous snacks followed by dinner is
$30 per person. Special seating for the
first three rows is $40 per person.
For tickets or information, contact
Lakshmi Iyengar 410-551-4308
Raghavan (manager) 301-552-4889.
INSIDE
Annual fundraiser on October 15th 1
Message from the Trust 1
Nallur Festival 1, 2
Maha Kumbabishekam celebrations 3, 6
Initiating recurring donations
by credit card: Announcement 3
Volunteers’ experience 4
Nandavanam: Announcement 4
Donors 5, 6
Yajur Upakarma: Announcement 6
Navarathri Celebrations: Announcement 6
July-Sept calendar 7
Salutes to the one Self
within all selves
VINAYAKA CHATURTHI: SEPT 1ST
Vinayaka is the remover of all
obstacles. Please join us for the grand
Vinayaka chaturhi celebrations. Please
refer to calendar on page 7 for details.
MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIRMAN
My dear fellow devotees of Lord Muruga,
I take this as a privilege to thank you all
for coming together and celebrating the
12th anniversary Kumbabishekam on a
grand scale within a short notice. We are
sending the Thiruneeru and Kumgumam
prasadams with the blessings of Lord
Muruga. But for your sincere and tireless
efforts, this great function could not have been successful. My sincere thanks to all
the trustees, executive committee
members, various other committee
members and all volunteers who put forth
their sincere work night and day tirelessly
to make this event a grand success. I hope
and trust that we all will keep up this
momentum and thrust to stay together and
complete the Rajagopuram project which
is our dream. With all the blessings of
Lord Muruga,
Sincerely,
Gopal Guruswamy,
Chairman,
MTNA Board of Trustees.
2
3
JEERANODHARANA ASHTABANDHANA KUMBABISHEKAM:
WHEN THE SKIES THEMSELVES CONDUCTED THE
ABHISHEKAM
The Murugan Temple of North
America celebrated the grand Jeeranodharana Ashtabandhana
Kumbabishekam, 12 years since the
first Kumbabishekam, from May 8th
to 14th. The Maha Kumbabishekam
was conducted on May 13th . The
concluding day celebrations on May
14th included special Abhishekam to
Lord Murugan, Valli and Devasena,
Th ir uka l yan am and Swam i
oorvalam. Delicious prasadams were
served on all days. Here, we present
a photo feature of the magnificent
celebrations.
The rituals on
the first day
i n c l u d e d
G a n a p a t h i
H o m a m ,
G a n p a t h i
Abhishekam,
N a v a g r a h a
Homam and
N a v a g r a h a Abhishekam in
the morning
and Vaastu
Shanti, Kumbablankaram, and Yagasala
Pravesham in the evening. Celebrations
upto May 13th included ten kaala poojas in
t h e m or n in gs an d even i n gs ,
Deeparadhanai and poornahuti. Delicious
dinner was served to everyone on all days.
Priests from various Temple in the USA and Canada
participated in the grand celebrations and conducted the rituals.
The whole function was presided over by Sri Thangam Bhattar,
now at Lousiana. He hails from a family with a long history of
priesthood serving the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple.
He also conducted the
Kumbabishekam for the
Ma dura i Meen aksh i
Amman shrine in 2009. He has also presided over the
Kumbabishekm of several
Temple in the USA. The
MTNA management is
v e r y g r a t e f u l t o
contributions in kind and
spirit from other Temples.
Sri Siva Vishnu Temple
(SSVT, Lanham, MD)
provided a priest free of
charge and also housing for some of the visiting
priests. SSVT and the
Greater Baltimore Hindu– Jain Temple (Baltimore) served
Thambulam on the day of Kumbabishekam.
(Continued on page 6)
Salutes to the
consencrated Kumbam
Deeparathanai Sri Thangam Bhattar presided
over the celebrations
Priests with the consecrated kalasams
Murugan with Valli and
Devasena on the Mayil vahanam
during procession
Delicious, free
food was served to
all devotees on all
days
CAPABILITY TO INITIATE RECURRING DONATIONS BY
CREDIT CARD
You can now initiate periodic recurring donations to the temple
with your credit card. This feature is available while making
donations online from the Temple website. Your credit card will be automatically charged on a periodic basis that you spec-
ify. Take a moment today and initiate your recurring donation.
Priests bringing the kalasams consecrated with the deities
back into the Temple for prathishtai.
4
DAYS TO THE MAHA KUMBABISHEKAM:
VOLUNTEERS’ EXPERIENCE
By Elyathamby Vignarajah and Baskaran
Many volunteers took time off from work or leisure and
worked diligently to renovate the Temple for the grand
Ashtabandha Kumbabishekam celebrations. The volunteers
worked dedicatedly in a spirit of family union as though in
preparation of the home for a marriage. Indeed, it was a happy
and joyous occasion for everyone, who are otherwise teachers,
engineers, scientists and many others, to hold the broom or
brush to give Murugan’s abode a new look. Here, we present
to you a snapshot of the volunteers at work in the days leading
to the Kumbabishekam and some recollections of their
experiences by volunteers.
A devotee volunteer recalls ―I was fortunate to have been a
part of the group for arrangement and join in the celebrations. I
thank the many volunteers who responded to our telephone
calls and helped us do a near perfection job in every aspect: the
external appearance, the internal painting and we had just two
weekends with full-time jobs. We washed every wall,
painting it – everyone whom we called, UMD students with
last minute papers to turn in, exams to do, engineers, doctors, children, husbands, wives, onlookers, and devotees –people
who had never touched a brush or paint joined in to complete
the task – it was a zealous & enthusiastic group of devotees. So
with the others who
helped with the tent,
a place to do the
Yagam, the seats for
the priests, or name
whatever you will,
they were all there
to help including
the priests.
It was a great
s u c c e s s w i t h
everyone doing
whatever they could
from arranging materials from India, to nathaswaram, to
collecting funds without which nothing is possible. The out
pouring of support that followed the announcement of the Kumbabishekam date and the
meeting on Sunday, April 10,
2011 was unbelievable.
Mr. Vignarajah took on
communications, and took on
the challenge to get the
temple ready with less
funding and with volunteers’
help. He thanks the
volunteers for their profuse
help. I had also taken on
Communications; it was great help to have the printing and distribution done expeditiously,
the TV ads, the banners, flyers kept at shops, and at common
places, the calling in State, and out of State.
Sunday, April 10, 2011, Chairman Dr. Guruswamy arranged a
meeting to discuss the plans for the Kumbabishekam
celebrations. He requested
Dr. Baskaran to head the
fundraising committee. It
was hardly four weeks to
the event. During the discussion, Mr. Sundar
Chokalingam, the chair of
t h e Kum bh bi sh e ka m
committee, proposed the
budget of $60,000 for the
week long function.
Although there was not
enough time to raise this
large sum, Dr. Baskaran set a goal to raise
$100,000. He organized about 30
volunteers from Maryland, Virginia,
Pennsylvania and New Jersey, including many trustees and gave each one 15 to 40
devotees’ names to personally call and
in vi t e th em and spon sor th e
Kumbabishekam. All in all about 800
devotees were contacted. Ms. Sundari
Srishkandarajah not only called many
devotees, she also
a r r a n g e d T V
commercial which
h el p e d i n t h e
fundraising. Many volunteers contacted their own friends in addition to the list
given to them. Mr. Vignarajah was given
the responsibility of communication. He,
along with Ms. Manimekalai, printed and
mailed about 5000 invitations, again with
help of many volunteers.
A Few days after the Kumbabishekam,
news came from Mrs Avayam Shankar, the treasurer, that $92,000 was collected for the event so for. It
is a success story of dedicated volunteers who can do miracles
and committed devotees whom we can depend on. We will like
to make it as $100,000 if devotees want to continue giving
towards the Kumbabishekam of the Murugan Temple‖.
Vetri Vel Muruganukku !! Haro Hara !!!
A team of enthusiastic volunteers
Volunteers at work
Volunteers cleaning
the Navagraha
vigrahams before the
re-consecration.
Painting in progress
NANDAVANAM (FLOWER GARDEN)
The flower garden is still in its infancy.
We need flowers on a daily basis for the
poojas and for garlands. We are calling on
all devotees to join in and bring your friends as volunteers to have a beautiful garden. We
need not only flowering plants but help on a
weekly basis to make sure we maintain whatever is planted.
We need to form a team, have regular meetings and decide
how we are going to plan and have a beautiful garden with
plenty of flowers for poojas. We thank the devotees who con-
tributed in the past to the nandavanam project. We request for
more flowering plants and volunteers to help with the watering
and taking care of them continuously, during the summer
months. Please contact the temple at (301) 552 – 4889.
Silpi at work
5
DONORS TO THE MURUGAN TEMPLE
The MTNA management would like to extend its warmest and most sincere gratitude to the devotees. Given below is the list of donors
for the Kumbabishekam celebrations.
6
On the day of Maha Kumbabishekam,
the cloudy sky itself came down with
l i g h t s h o w e r s t o p e r f o r m
Maha Abhishekam to the Kumbam. It
was indeed a divine experience to the
devotees. For more photos, please
visit the Temple blog.
Vel Vel Vetri Vel.
(Continued from page 3)
Kumbam after
Kumbabiishekam
Gopuram
getting ready
for Abishekam
A special note of thanks to Sri S.P Kannan who helped us procure various materials for Kumbabishekam from India.
NAVARATHTRI CELEBRATIONS: SEPT 27TH-OCT 5TH
Navarathri will be celebrated at the Temple from Sept 27th to
Oct 5th. Please refer to the calendar on page 7 for more details.
On Oct 2nd include Ganesh Puja by children at 4PM. All chil-
dren are welcome. The celebrations on Oct 4th, (Durgastami)
include Chandi Homam at 9AM.
YAJUR UPAKARMA (AVANI AVITTAM): AUGUST 13TH
The batch starts at 7AM. Please call manager 301-552-4889
for more details. All are welcome.
7
Ganapati Tunai “Why Fear? I Am Within You and Protect You Always” — Murugan
Murugan Temple Sponsorship Form
Make Murugan Temple’s Rajagopuram Part of Your Legacy
First Brick (Special) - $51
Ten Bricks – $1,010
North or South Gopuram $250,000
SubTotal Rajagopuram Contribution ....................$________
Sponsor Temple Operations
Full day of temple operations ...................................... $750
Full month: Garlands (all deities) ............................... $900
Full month: Abhishekam and Omam provisions ........ $450
Full month: Milk ........................................................ $250
A full week of Garlands (all deities)............................ $125
One day: Simple garland for a deity........ ..................... $ 15
Choice of Deity for garland :_______________
Sub Total Operations ..........................................$________
Please indicate desired dates _________________
MTNA Newsletter Printing and Mailing .................$__________
Kavasam for Peedam in silver for Murugan,
Valli, Theivayanai....................................................$__________
Check Enclosed for................................................................$__________
Name
Address
City State _________ ZIP ___________________
Phone ____________E–Mail ________________________________
Family Gothiram _________________________________________
Birth Star (el:rj;jpuk;) _____ Name of Family Member
Please use separate sheet for additional family members
Mail: The Murugan Temple of North America, 6300 Princess Garden
Parkway,Lanham, MD 20706 – Please address checks to MTNA.
You can now make contributions and fill-out your donation forms
on-line at www.murugantemple.org
JULY
July 7th, Thu—Aani Thiru Manjanam
06:00AM Nataraja Abhishekam
July 10th, Sun
12noon Thiru Murai recital in front of
Shiva sannidhi
July 12th and 27th —Pradosham
06:00pm Shiva special Abhishekam
July 14th, Thu—Guru Poornima
08:00pm Meenakshi special Abhishekam
July 16th, Sat—Tamil Month Aadi
begins
July 18th, Mon—Sankatahara
Chaturthi
07:30pm Ganesha special Abhishekam
July 25th, Mon—Aadi Karthigai
09:30AM Subramanya Homam
10:30AM Kavadi and Pal Kudam
11:00AM Murugan Abhishekam
07:30pm Palani Andavar special
Abhishekam
AUGUST
Aug 2nd, Tue—Aadi Pooram
11:00AM Meenakshi special Abhishekam
07:00pm Meenakshi sahasranamam
Aug 10th and 26th—Pradosham
06:00pm Shiva special Abhishekam
Aug 12th and 13th—Nallur Kathirkama
Kanthan festival
Please refer to page 2 for more details
Aug 13th—Yajur Upakarma
07:00AM—upakarma starts
Aug 14th—Sun
12:00 noon Thiru Murai recital in front of
Shiva sannidhi
Aug 17th, Wed(Avani begins) —
Shankatahara Chaturthi
07:00pm Ganesha special Abhishekam
Aug 21st, Sun—Karthigai
06:00pm Palani Andavar special
Abhishekam
Aug 28th, Sun—Amavasya
02:30pm Adhi Parasakthi Puja
SEPTEMBER
Sept 1st, Thu—Vinayaka Chaturthi
09:00AM Ganapathi Homam and special
Abhishekam
07:30pm Ganapathi Sahasranamam
And procession
Sept 3rd, Sat—Vinayaka Chaturthi
celebrations
09:00AM Ganapathi Homam and
Abhishekam
05:00pm Bajan
06:00pm Ganapathi Sahasranamam and
procession
Sept 9th, Fri—Pradosham (Thiru
Onam)
06:00pm Shiva special Abhishekam
Sept 10th, Sat
06:00pm Nataraja Abhishekam
Sept 11th, Sun—,Purnima
12:00noon Thiru Murai recital in front of
Shiva sannidhi
06:00pm Meenakshi special Abhishekam
Sept 15th, Thu—Shankarahara
Chaturthi
07:30pm Ganesha special Abhishekam
Sept 17th, Sat—Puratadhi begins,
Karthigai
06:00pm Palani Andavar special
Abhishekam
Sept 24th, Sat—Sani Pradosham
06:00pm Shiva special Abhishekam
Sept 25th, Sun
02:30pm Adhi Parakasthi Puja
Sept 27th—Oct 5th—Navarathri
11:00AM Meenakshi special
Abhishekam
07:30pm Lalitha Sahasranamam
Monthly Friday bajans
July 3rd and 17th ; Aug 5th and 19th ;
Sept 2nd and 16th.
8
TEMPLE SERVICES: Please call the Temple
Manager at 301 552-4889 to make prior arrangements
for ceremonies at the Temple or in your home.
Also, ask for information about local hotels.
TEMPLE HOURS: Monday – Friday 9 am – 12
noon & 5 pm - 9 pm; Saturday, Sunday, & Holidays 9
am – 9 pm
AUDITORIUM: The Temple’s auditorium capable of
seating about 200 people in the basement is available
for rent by Devotees. The Temple has also ample
parking space. Call the Temple Manager at 301 552-
4889 for reservations.
DIRECTIONS TO MURUGAN TEMPLE: From I-
95 (also 495, Capital Beltway), take exit 20-A, Lanham
(Rte 450 East), then follow the signs to Princess Garden
Parkway. Turn right on Princess Garden Parkway.
―Murugan Temple‖ is on your left within half a mile
(6300 Princess Garden Parkway)
From Baltimore-Washington Parkway take Exit to Rt.
193 East Greenbelt Road. Turn left on Greenbelt Road.
Turn right on Hanover Parkway, which becomes
Princess Garden Parkway. Drive about 2.5 miles. The
temple will be on your right.
Non Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
So. MD
Permit No. 3958
Murugan Temple of North America
6300 Princess Garden Parkway
Lanham, MD 20706, USA
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
The Murugan Temple of North America is a traditional Saivite Tem-
ple. It has a floor area of 7000 sq. ft with main sannidhi for Murugan (Karthikeya) and 4 small sannidhis for Vinayaka (Ganesha), Nataraja
(Siva), Meenakshi and Palani Andavar. We also have an auditorium
that is available for community use.