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Celebrating 25 years of Blessings
The Sri venkateswara swami temple
of greater Chicago...
thinks that the classes will
greatly improve the basic un-
derstanding of our culture., and
will bring in more visitors to the
temple.
The temple also
greatly helped those who had
newly come to this country
from India. At first, it was very
difficult for them to find others
who would carry out traditional
rites and ceremonies. Now, with
the help of our well-learned
priests, we are able to have
important functions performed
in the comfort of our homes. In
this way, a community was
formed, and people have
been able to meet and make
friends through the temple. Dr.
Yalavarthi said that meeting
new people and devoting time
to the temple has greatly in-
spired him.
All in all, the volun-
teers all believe that we can
look forward to a prosperous
future for the temple!
By Shreya Shanker
Interviews by Vignesh Sarathy,
Shreya Shanker, and Ujwal
Kiran
Special thanks to all interview-
ees!
To pay tribute to the
past 25 years of the temple, the
Totally Awesome Temple Times
staff went out to interview a
few of the long serving volun-
teers in the temple. Through the
questions, we learned a lot
about how the temple was
originally set up, and how it
changed lives for many Hindus
in the community.
All the volunteers
agreed that the temple had
very humble beginnings. Gana-
pathy Narayanan (a volunteer
for 24 years) stated that at the
beginning, very few people
came to the temple. In fact,
since our culture was new to
the area, many non-Hindus
were hesitant to learn about
our religion. Now, however, we
see people of many different
origins coming to learn about
Hinduism at our temple. We
even had a mix of ethnicities at
our 2010 summer camp. There
has also been a great increase
of visitors to the temple, and
because of our temple, devo-
tees do not have to drive all
the way to Pittsburgh to wor-
ship. But new adults are not the
only ones to have benefited;
the volunteers were also as-
tounded at the number of kids
that had become immersed in
the culture of their elders and
ancestors. Dr. Yalavarthi (the
chairman of the temple) is very
impressed with the number of
kids that participate in biweekly
Youth Classes. In the future,
he’s looking forward to seeing
the younger generation taking
more of a part in the temple.
The interviewees all
agreed that the next genera-
tion is very important to the
future of the temple. This was
recognized by Dr. Rao, who is
responsible for the current YC
committee and classes. All of
the interviewees stated that the
younger generation would
eventually have to take over
the temple functions and con-
tinue to spread Hinduism to
their kids. Dr. Koneru (one of the
founders of the temple) re-
marked on how the kids are
inspired by the Youth Classes to
get involved in their religious
community. Krishna Atluri (a
volunteer for 15 years) is look-
ing forward to seeing more
participation by children in the
next 25 years. She thought that
this would not only help chil-
dren, but enhance the relation-
ship between kids and their
parents. Durga Prasad Kanuri (a
volunteer for 15 years) com-
mented on the fact that when
he was young, he did not learn
much about religion when
going to the temple; he merely
prayed, then came home. He
25th Anniversary: Then and Now...
The Balaji Youth Committee Proudly Presents...
25th Anniversary Special Edition!
Totally Awesome Temple Times!
Inside this
Issue:
Reconstruction of
the past…
3
Going Green! The
Future of the
Temple...
4
2011-2012 Class
Schedule
4
Summer Camp
Flier
5
Annual Day Pro-
gram
6
Cover art (from left to right) title and authors: Bal Hanuman by Sriram Ashokkumar, Lord Ganesha by
Shruthi Garimalla, Ayappa Swami by Renu Vardheesh, Lord Shiva by Ramya Ramakrishnan, Scenery of
the Temple, Lord Shiva by Renu Vardheesh, and Sri Balaji Swami by Jayashree Sarathy
Page 3 Totally Awesome Temple Times!
Over the years, as the Balaji Temple has
gone through much reconstruction, it
has also spread its culture to many
other religions. Let’s start at the very
beginning. The temple floor plan was
originally created by Sri Subhash Nad-
karni and Padmasri M.Muthiah Sthapa-
thy. Along with them, nine families do-
nated land, which was located in
Aurora. Thus, the Sri Venkateswara
Swami Temple of Greater Chicago was
born! It took a lot of effort to build, but it
was well worth it - as a result of the tem-
ple being built, residents in the Midwest
do not have to travel far to visit a grand
Hindu temple. The temple priests are
very pious and follow all of the Hindu
traditions. My family started coming to
the temple before I was even born! I
remember all of the renovations that
were made to make the temple even
more appealing for devotees and
priests. For starters, the great Velu-
chamy auditorium was built in 2003. I
remember that when I was a little kid, I
danced for audiences along with my
friends on the first floor area where we
eat today. Now, we use the Velu-
chamy auditorium to spread our cul-
ture, whether it be through dance per-
formances or musical recitals. The
beautiful sculpted paintings on the
front of the temple were carved re-
cently. The gazebo, or Panchavati, is a
relatively new addition as well. When
it was first built, it was open and did
not have the glass walls and ceiling;
these were added in 2009 so that it
could be enjoyed by devotees during
any season. The temple uses the ga-
zebo for a variety of things including
the Vidyaganapati Puja and the an-
nual picnic! Now, think of the temple
without everything I just named; is it
not amazing to see how the temple
has progressed over the years? All this
is possible thanks to everyone who
has helped the temple over the
years, especially to the volunteers,
maintenance staff and of course,
you, the devotees!
By Vruti Venkatesan
Reconstruction from the Past…
Going Green! The Future of the Temple...
bringing in plastic spoons and plates be-
cause recycling companies will not take
food waste.
The temple used to have a com-
pacting garbage bin - the group thought
that if it was reintroduced, it would be
good for the temple. A compacting bin is
useful because the garbage companies
charge on the volume of waste the temple
generates. If one crushes the garbage,
there is obviously less volume, so it will re-
duce costs. This same idea can be imple-
mented with recycling. With less costs put
towards waste disposal, the temple can use
these funds to improve the experience for
the devotees. Until the temple acquires a
bin, the group is thinking of asking for young
volunteers to crush cardboard materials.
The next plan is to get recycling
bins and recycle abhishekam materials -
empty milk cartons, juice bottles, and flower
stems. An idea in the making is a com-
posting bin, to compost flowers from
ceremonies and rituals. The priests are
very enthusiastic about this idea be-
cause they want the flowers that
adorned the Lord to go back into the
soil and enrich the earth instead of go-
ing into the trash.
The group would like to thank
the chairman, the board of trustees, the
kitchen staff, the office staff, and the
building committee for their support in
their endeavors. Without these people,
their mission would be impossible to
complete.
By Vignesh Sarathy
Edited by Shreya Shanker
Special Thanks to Ravi Shanker and
Rama Bhagavatula
With strong support from the chair-
man and other executive committee mem-
bers (such as Durga Prasad Kanuri and Dr.
Yalavarthi), a group of individuals are at-
tempting to change the temple for the
better - by going green. We set out to find
what plans this group had for us. We
learned that they had started with garbage
- earlier, everything was going to a landfill,
which is obviously bad for our ecosystem.
The temple has worked with a trash com-
pany (Groot) to separate trash and recy-
cling. This not only helps our planet, but
reduces the temple’s costs, as Groot
charges less for shipping recyclables. A
rather big change they are going for is to
try to replace all Styrofoam (non-
biodegradable) with compostable material
so that when the food waste goes into the
trash, it decomposes into the soil. They’ve
thought through all the other options with
great detail: the temple will not benefit from
Page 4 25th Anniversary Special Edition! Vis
it b
yctatt.w
eebly
.com
!
Balaji Vidyapitham - 2011-2012 Fall Class Schedule
Class Days and Time Teachers Contact Info
Tamil Language Class 2nd and 4th Sundays
10:00 AM to 11:00 AM Smt. Parvathy Sree
630-851-1659
Sanskrit Language Class 2nd and 4th Sundays
10:00 AM to 11:00 AM Sri Ravi Shanker
630-499-1775
Telugu Language Class 2nd and 4th Sundays
11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Sri Dharma Dumpala
Sri Krishna Bhagavatula
630-215-5154
Hindi Language Class 2nd and 4th Sundays
11:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Smt. Devaki Rau
Smt. Vijaya Krishnamoorthy
Sri Ramesh Krishnan
630-761-9220
Ramayanam (Elementary and Middle
school)
2nd and 4th Sundays
12:00 PM to 12:45 PM
Smt. Jayashree Sarathy
Smt. Vidhya Shanker
630-898-4002
Mahabharata
(Elementary/Middle School Students)
2nd and 4th Sundays
12:00 PM to 12:45 PM Sri Parthasarathy
630-898-4002
Religion 2nd and 4th Sundays
1:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Priest Sri Hanumanth Prasad
Priest Sri Nagendra Rao
Sri Srinivasa G Rajan
Smt. Jayashree Sarathy
630-898-4002
Semi-Classical - Vocal 2nd and 4th Sundays
2:15 PM to 3:00 PM Smt. Bhuvana iyer
815-439-8783
Mahabharata
(High School students)
2nd and 4th Sundays
4:00 PM to 5:00 PM Sri Ganapathy Dharmasankar
630-820-8862
Page 5 25th Anniversary Special Edition!
When: July 18th– 22nd, 2011
Where: Balaji Temple, 1145 Sullivan Rd, Aurora IL
Time: 8:30 AM to 6:00 pm ; Fees: $100
For information go to the temple website @ www.balaji.org or temple
office
contact Anita: [email protected]
Jayashree: [email protected]
Sowjanya: [email protected]
Activities!
Math, science, nutrition
Handicrafts
Cultural Activities
Dance
Skits
Bhajans
Outdoor play
All this and more!
Age 5– 15 for both boys and girls.
Snack and lunch will be provided
Camp at the Balaji temple
can be more friendly than any
other camp known. No bullies,
teasing, or injuries. Only happy
teachers, volunteers, and of
course, students who want to
learn even more about
Hinduism than other classes
offered at the Balaji temple.
- Chandana Tetali
You must be wondering
what summer camp is the
best, it is the one in the
Balaji Temple. I said this
because I have been in
this camp and it is
teaching everything from
India.
- Rishabh
Register your child for
the camp on
www.balaji.org or visit
the temple office!
Tota
lly
Awes
ome
Tem
ple T
imes
Vis
it u
s at
byc
tatt
.wee
bly.c
om!
Thank y
ou f
or r
eadin
g!
Sri Venkateswara Swami (Balaji) Temple
Annual Day Celebrations of Youth Classes
May 22nd, 2011, 3.30 - 6:30 pm
Theme: 25th Anniversary of Balaji Temple
Program
Invocation by Religion Class Students
(Ganesha Dvaadashaitani followed by Madhurashtakam & Lingashtakam)
Program by Sanskrit Class Students
Dance by Youth Class Students
Program by Tamil Class Students
Debate by Youth Class Students
“Which character in Mahabharata shows more devotion - Karna or Arjuna?
Program by Telugu Class Students
Game - Ramayana & Mahabharata
Program by Hindi Class Students
Dance by Youth Class Students
Debate by Youth Class Students
“Who is a better brother to Rama - Lakshmana or Bharata?”
Dance by Youth Class Students
Dance Program by College Students
(Benedictine Univ, UIC and UIUC Students)
Reflections of past 25 years – Chairman and trustees
This newsletter was edited and designed by
Vignesh Sarathy and Shreya Shanker of the
Balaji Youth Committee (BYC). On behalf of the
Youth Committee, BYC, and Board of Trustees,
we thank you for attending the 25th anniversary
celebrations. May Lord Balaji bless you!
Afte
r re
adin
g, y
ou m
ay s
ave
this
new
slet
ter
as a
sou
ven
ir. If
you
do n
ot w
ant
to k
eep
it, p
leas
e re
cycl
e it
! H
elp
save
tre
es a
nd
the
eart
h y
ou l
ive
in.
