Houston Smith (1919 – 2016)

“Enter Hinduism’s myths, her magnificent symbols, her several hundred images of God, her rituals that keep turning night and day like never-ending prayer wheels. It is obtuse to confuse Hinduism’s images with idolatry, and their multiplicity with polytheism. They are 'runways' from which the sense-laden human spirit can rise for its "flight of the alone to the Alone".

Global Hindu Heritage Foundation is extremely happy to inform that Ajay Varma organized a 20 kilometer Pada Yatra from Gadimetta Village to Sri Kankamaha Lakshmi Temple. Our Associate, Ajay Varma, who volunteered to participate in this effort has a long history of propagating the richness of Hindu Dharma. He has a very rich background in Hindu Dharma. He has deep knowledge of the traditions and has the ability to explain all our customs. For example, he can talk about the significance of Tilak on the forehead, and the reason to wear bangles, nose buds, earrings, toe rings, and so on. People get surprised to know the inner meaning of these age-old customs. From childhood, he worked as a priest in their heritage Hanuman Temple and used to do all kinds of Pujas, conduct homas, Satyanarayana Pujas, and many festivals bring bringing everybody to these festivals. He is very enthusiastic about propagating and preserving Sanatana Dharma and gives lectures at different Temples depicting the greatness of our culture and age-old traditions. He also has experience of knocking on the doors of Christian families in and around Kakinada. He met them wherever he was able to approach and talk to them. Some of them he met at their houses, and some met in the neighborhood.

Kartik Masa Celebrations

               He was talking about the importance of Karthik Masam and Karthik Purnima and the significance of Lighting the lamps all around the Temple as well as in the houses. He also talked about the importance of preserving and protecting our Heritage. He reminded the sacrifices our national heroes made to ensure that we enjoy the fruits of democracy and the richness of our Sanatana Dharma. We should take pride and ensure our rights are protected. We should shun our indifference, apathy, and lethargy. We should actively participate in preserving our culture. They should not remain silent when our Dharma is being attacked.

            Vijay Varma reminded us about the Temple attacks and how our Hindus are not getting organized to express their sentiments and anger. In general lakhs of people attend the Antarvedi (Radham) Chariot festival where the devotees pull the Chariot and celebrate the festival. But when the Chariot was burnt about a year ago only a handful of people came to express their concern and anger. He admonished them to wake up and take interest in preserving our heritage.

            The participants in the 20 Kilometer  Pada Yatra have been singing Bhajans all the way through. He explained how bhajans will purify the mind and inspire them to be spiritual. Our history is replete with so many religious leaders who dedicated their lives to glorifying the Gods and Goddesses.  Sri Swami Sivananda Saraswati, Mataji Geetha Vani, Mataji Vara Lakshmi, and others participated and spoke about the need to rekindle our efforts to protect Sanatana Dharma. They also spoke about the greatness of mother and how she is the backbone of our culture and the role they have to play in preserving our heritage.

Why offer Arthi to Sacred Rivers on Karthik Purnima.

For Hindus, lighting Deepam, worshipping rivers, and Karthik Purnima have special meaning and significance. Hindu scriptures are replete with information on all these rituals. India is rich in customs and traditions. Everything is connected, everything has meaning, everything has relevance, everything is divine, and everything has importance.

Deepam is light. It is lit every day in many houses in the morning and evening. Symbolically, light evokes Chaitanya (consciousness). It is considered the source of knowledge, remover of darkness, eradicator of ignorance, and germinator of higher ideals. Whenever the knowledge is awakened, the negative Vasanas are slowly eliminated while new seeds (Vasanas) are sown for this and the next life. Also, the light always burns upwards implying that one should grow upward better living. Hindus also light the lamp before starting any auspicious event. In fact, Hindus call it Divya Deepam – Divine Lamp.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

Ghar Waapasi is going uninterruptedly. We also celebrate the festivals, support them and also inspire them to conduct all the festivals. We appreciate it if you can help in hiring more pracharaks who can go to these villages to do Ghar Waapasi. We have employed twenty people as of the end of July. More people we hire more villages can be covered to welcome them back and also create Chaitanya (Awareness) among the students and villagers.

1) Donate any amount to help the Dharma Pracharaks to work at the ground level.

2) Sponsor one Pracharak: In order to expand our base and hire one Pracharak, it would cost approximately $3000 - $3500 per year. We have five anonymous donors who sponsored Assistants.

DONATIONS

PayPal Method: To donate visit our website: savetemples.org. Click on the Donate button, then press the Purpose category, and select the General Donation category.

By Check: Or you can send a check payable to: GHHF, . It is tax-deductible.

By Rupees, please contact us by either phone or email.

For more information, call Prakasarao V Velagapudi 601-918-711; 1Email: ghhfusaorg@gmail.com