A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND PEACEFUL NEW YEAR TO ALL MURUGAN DEVOTEES

As we welcome 2015 we wish all devotees of Lord Murugan a healthy, happy and peaceful year ahead! We can expect this year to be the most eventful of all the years in our temple’s development because we will be completing the Rajagopuram and Temple Expansion Project. Efforts are underway to finalize the plans to celebrate Rajagopuram Kumbhabishekam. It is a tradition around the world to make New Year’s resolutions just so there is some kind of goal for the year. Well, it is better to make one resolution and stick to it than to resolve to do several things and not accomplish even a single one! We sincerely hope your resolution this year will be to contribute gener-ously to complete the MTNA Rajagopuram and Temple Expansion Pro-ject. This resolution is practical, achievable and worthy of our intense devotion to Lord Murugan. There is nothing more gratifying than to visit the Murugan Temple in Washington DC area to see firsthand the progress we are making in the construction of the Rajagopuram and interior architecture. We cordially invite you to visit the temple as often as you can during the year to re-ceive the bountiful blessings of Lord Murugan. May Lord Murugan Bless us all throughout the year and beyond! MTNA Trustees and Members of the Executive Committee

NON-VOTING MEMBERSHIP IN MTNA

Devotees are invited and encouraged to become non-voting members of the temple. Annual fee for non-voting member is $50 per family or

individuals. Benefits of non-voting membership are several:

They can qualify to be nominated for voting membership in the tem-

ple.

They can participate in annual MTNA general body meeting

They can be part of the decision-making process of the temple

tl mbkhpf;f KUfd; Myak;

ahkpUf;f gankd;

Murugan Temple of North America 6300, Princess Garden Parkway, Lanham, MD 20706, USA

THAI POOSAM AND

PAZHANI PERUVIZHA GRAND CELEBRATION SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 2015

All Day Sponsorship $151 ~ Sponsors Welcome

10:00 am Ganapathy Abishekam 10:30 am Palkudam and Kavadi 11:00 am Murugan 108 Sangu Abishekam Murugan Bhajan ‘Pazhani Murugan’—a short talk 12:30 pm Deeparadhanai Food distribution 3:00 pm Thirukalyanam and Murugan Procession 5:00 pm Carnatic Music Session by local artists (MTNA auditorium)

2

MAJOR CELEBRATIONS AND RELIGIOUS EVENTS AT MTNA

JANUARY — MARCH 2015

Please check the MTNA calendar or visit our website: www.murugantemple.org

Information is available with the Temple manager at: 301-552-4889

JANUARY 14 WEDNESDAY

Thai Pongal Makara

Sankranthi —————- JANUARY 18

Pongal Celebra-tion by Children

10 am—1 pm

PLEASE DONATE GENEROUSLY TO THE

MTNA RAJAGOPURAM AND TEMPLE EXPANSION PROJECT

Lord Murugan devotees are captivated by the steady progress of the Rajagopuram project. This is a project of the devotees, by the devotees

and for the devotees. The Fundraising Team is pleased with the re-sponse thus far from the devotees in terms of the donations and

pledges so far. But, the project calls for steady stream of more funds to move forward. Please contact the temple manager at 301-552-4889 to

see about the mode of donating to the project.

PLEASE DONATE TODAY!

You can donate online at: www.murugantemple.org

FEBRUARY 7 SATURDAY

THAI POOSAM AND PAZHANI PERUVIZHA

GRAND CELEBRATION All Day Sponsorship: $151

___________________________ FEBRUARY 17

TUESDAY MAHA SIVA RATHRI Sponsorship: $125

______________________ MARCH 4

WEDNESDAY

MASI MAGHAM

Children's Classes At

Murugan Temple of North America

Murugan Temple of North America has been sponsoring Children's Classes at the temple premises. The classes are open to children of all devotees of our temple. Children's classes provide an effective, semi-formal setting to teach our children Tamil language and to engage them in selected religious and spiritual practices related to Hinduism. The classes are taught by dedicated teachers/parents who contribute their valuable time two Sundays a month for this cause. It is noteworthy that several classes of students have emerged with impressive proficiency in Tamil certified by the American Tamil Academy. Children's classes include lessons in Tamil language at different levels, Bhajan singing, Hindu Religion and Hatha Yoga. Parents accompany the children enrolled in classes, stay around during the lessons and share their experience with other parents. Once a group of children become proficient enough in Bhajan singing, they get opportunities to sing Bha-jans in the temple prayer hall. The value of these classes goes beyond the lessons they learn; the setting provides an environment for children to bond together and to engage in volunteer activities related to the tem-ple.

At the present time there is no dedicated space in the temple to conduct the classes, but the volunteers and the management have been suc-cessful in working together to organize and offer these classes to a num-ber of children. When the Temple Expansion Project is completed, we are expected to have a dedicated room in the lower level of the temple to conduct the classes with minimal disruption. The usual schedule of events on the second and fourth Sundays of the month includes: Bhajan 10:15 am - 10:45 am Religion 10:45 am - 11:30 am Yoga 11:30 am - 12:00 noon Tamil 12:00 noon - 1:00 pm To enroll your child(ren) in a class or to get more details about these classes, please contact: Dr. Pathmathevan Mahadevan appan69@hotmail.com Mr. Vayudeva Varadhan vayudeva@earthlink.net

3

MTNA Gala Fundraiser Event of 2014

The Board of Trustees and the members of the Executive Committee along with the volunteers of the Fundraising Committee planned and organized a Gala Fundraiser Event for our temple on Saturday, Novem-ber 15, 2014. To make the event a memorable one for the devotees, we organized it at an attractive facility in Laurel, Maryland: Laurel-Beltsville Senior Activity Center. About 150 devotees gathered for an evening of light music entertainment, catered dinner and a presentation by MTNA on the progress of the Rajagopuram and Temple Expansion Project. Light music was by Isailaya Artists led by Mr. Joseph Selvanathan and his friends. The talented singers and the orchestra group performed familiar film songs from Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada films catering to the diversity of audience. Mrs. Latha Kannan expertly emceed the program. The nearly two-hour entertainment was very well received by the audience, often accompanied by enthusiastic ovation. At the event a tasty vegetarian menu was catered by Madras Palace, Gaithersburg. A number of donated items were given out as door prizes and several items were raffled off at the event. The success of a fundraiser event could be measured in different ways. One of the measures was the funds actually raised; nearly $91,000 was collected prior to and at the event. The cost of the event was about $8,000 including hall rental, catering, payment to the artists and public-ity, leaving a net collection around $83,000 for the project. Another measure of success was the number of dedicated devotees who volunteered to help with the event at different levels. MTNA prides itself in the countless hours devoted by volunteers at various temple events. The Gala Fundraiser Event was no exception. The annual fundraising campaign by mail between November-December 2014 to devotees across the US brought in about $9,000 demonstrating the financial support to the temple. We thank the devotees for their generous contributions and the volun-teers for their time and enthusiasm. We look forward to future fundraiser events when we can set our objective even higher and achieve it too only with your help!

May Lord Murugan Bless us all!

2014 Tax Information for MTNA Donors

Your year-end contributions letter can obtained from our temple website https://www.murugantemple.us. This is a secure website. Please regis-ter if not already done so. Click ’Register’ and then click ’Help’ adjacent to the Devotee ID field. When you get your devotee ID, it is just a simple step to access the information for your tax purposes.

__________________________________________

Cultural Events

Skanda Shashti and Thiruchendur Vetri Vizha Celebration—November 2, 2014 Artists in the photo (L to R)

Anirudh (Tabla), Abinav Seetharaman (Mridangam), Siddharth Kumar (Vocal), Kamalakiran Vinjamuri (Violin), and Somiya Narayanan (Gatam)

October 18, 2014— Meenakshi Kalyanam Dance Ballet By students of Abinaya Natya Sala,

Directed by Mrs. Revathi Kumar

4

The Murugan Temple of North America is a traditional Hindu Temple. It has a floor area of 7000 sq. ft with main sannidhi for Murugan (Karthikeya) and separate sannidhi for each of the other deities: Vinayaka (Ganesha), Durgai Amman, Siva, Meenakshi Amman and Palani Andavar. Navagrahas are featured as well. Visit our web site: www.murugantemple.org

TEMPLE HOURS: Monday – Friday 9 am – 12 noon & 5 pm - 9 pm;

Saturday, Sunday, & Holidays 9 am – 9 pm.

TEMPLE SERVICES: MTNA Priests are available to perform religious

ceremonies for devotees. Please call the Temple Manager to discuss your

needs and make prior arrangements for ceremonies at the Temple or in your

home.

Also, ask for information about local hotels.

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. Please 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.

MTNA Staff Members (L to R): Back Row:

Sri Ganesan Bhattar— Chief Priest Sri A.S. Raghavan—Temple Manager

Front Row: Sri Gowrishankar—Priest

Sri Subramanian— Assistant to Priest and Sri Visweswaran—Priest

cUtha; mUtha; csjha; ,yjha;

kUtha; kyuha; kzpaha; xspaha;

fUtha; capuha;f; fjpaha; tpjpaha;

FUtha; tUtha; mUs;tha; Ffnd

- fe;jh; mEg{jp

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED

Devotees are the foundation of any temple. Volunteers are the pillars. MTNA needs more volunteers. We cordially invite the devotees to volun-teer a few hours a month to help on various occasions. Please join the dedicated team of volunteers to show y our devotion to Lord Murugan. Please contact Mr. Venkataramanan, the Chair of the Volunteer Com-mittee, at venkataramanan@gmail.com or the temple manager at 301-552-4889. Email contact: managermtna@gmail.com.

MURUGAN TEMPLE OF NORTH AMERICA 6300 Princess Garden Parkway, Lanham, MD 20706, USA www.murugantemple.org 301-552-4889