Atharva Veda
"O mother, with your oceans, rivers and other bodies of water, you give us land to grow grains, on which our survival depends. Please give us as much milk, fruits, water and cereals as we need to eat and drink.'" 
Global Hindu Heritage Foundation is extremely happy to recognize the need to preserve and protect the traditions and customs  in the villages. We feel that many villagers identify themselves their Gram devatas and pray for their blessings to protect them from possible impeding dangers. This is our effort to revive the sentiments and faith in Gram devatas who once played a significant role in unifying the entire community.
Grama Devatas means village Goddesses/Deities who were installed in the villages to protect the village, to protect the crops, to prevent calamities, to prevent various kinds of ailments and to bless the villagers with health and wealth. As we know that many Grama Devatas are located in a small place in the community or village. Overwhelming majority of Grama Devatas are Goddesses with very few notable experiences.
Importance of Karthika Depam
Throughout Karthik month lamps are lit in the Temples and also in front of the house in the evening . On the Karthik Deepam day the whole Temple is decorated and also Rangoli images of Lord Shivs, Goddess Parvati and others are drawn and the lamps are positioned around the images and deepams are lit. Similarly many houses are decorated with the oil lamps. 
Karthik Deepam signifies the end of rainy season and the start of Winter and at the start and end of all seasons, Indians celebrate one or other festival.
One of the earliest references to the festival is found in the Aganaanooru which clearly states that Karthigai is celebrated on the full moon day (Purnami) of the month of Karthigai, as per calendar.
It was one of the most important festivals  of the ancient Tamils, including for the people modern Kerala too. Avaiyyar, the renowned poet of those times, refers to the festival in her songs. She calls this festival as Peruvizha or big festival.
By 6 o clock, people start to do pooja to Gods and light the lamps all around the Temples and houses-outside, inside, in pooja room, in all corners of the house and everywhere-farms, wells, ponds, rivers, etc., and it’s said that on Karthigai Deepam day, we should light lamps in all the lamps of the house mainly the Gajalakshmi Deepam/Kuthu Vilakku/Amman Vilakku where Goddess Lakshmi is present.
Tamil Nadu celebrates Karthigai Deepam as the traditional festival. It is a very old festival and is also celebrated in the neighboring states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. This festival is very important among the Tamils and every Tamil want to celebrate it wherever they are in this huge world.
History of Karthik Deepam
Karthik Deepam is very old and people from long back have been associated to this auspicious occasion. The actual history may not be clearly stated in the scriptures but some citations have been found in the ancient writings. One can find a reference to this festival of lights in the the age old literature of Tamils known as Ahananuru, a collection of poems. It is one of the great books of Sangam literature that talks about the happenings between 200 BC and 300 AD. Avaiyyar, renowned woman of Sangam age also mentions about karthigai Deepam in her poems.
Hindu people respect and have complete faith on Lord Shiva. They consider him as the protector of the world and pray to him at all times. They have a strong faith that HE will see to all their sorrows and will take great care of them. He will try to fulfill all the desires of the humans coming to him with prayers.
Sri Annamalaiar Hill is considered as Lord Shiva’s great presence in Thiruvannamalai. People believe that the huge light lit during 5 pm will make people close with Lord Shiva on Kathigai Deepam. Lord Shiva will shed all his blessings during this special time of the year. He is rigidly worshipped during this time. Great care is taken to light the huge fire in this place. People gather around the place and call in the name of Shiva to put an end to all the troubles and bring in peace in every life.
This festival of lights involves lighting lights almost anywhere to put an end to darkness. They want to show lights to the Gods who will be impressed with their worship and continue to look after the followers for ages to come.
One must not miss out the grand occasion occurring on the hills. They will feel very close to Lord Shiva and his power if they see the worship and the lit fire.
Greatness of Karthigai Deepam
Scriptures glorify the greatness of the hill through poems and verses. Sage Sankara in his literary works refers to this hill as Mount Meru. Some regard it as Sri Chakra and saints Like Sambandar have told in their poems that the light seen on top of the mountain on this day is Arunachala himself.
It is on this sacred hill that the Mahadeepam is lit on the day of Karthigai deepam festival. The divine energies of Shiva emitted in the form of light are radiated all over the cosmos. It is said that a mere sight of this holy light is enough to burn away the heaps of bad karma accumulated over several births. Worshipping this light on this day will usher in prosperity, resolution of long-standing quarrels, peace and moksha.
WE NEED YOUR HELP
Ghar Waapasi is going on unimpeded. We appreciate it if you can help in hiring more people who can go to these villages to do Ghar Waapasi. We have employed 20 Pracharaks working at the ground level. More people we hire, more villages can cover to welcome them back and also create Chaitanya (Awareness) among the students and villagers.
1) Sponsor one Bala Samskar Kendra for $1000.00
2) Sponsor one Pracharak: In order to expand our base and hire one Pracharak, it would cost approximately $3000.00 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 Ghar Wapasi Donation category.
By Zelle: ghhfusaorg@gmail.com
By Check: Or you can send a check payable to GHHF, . It is tax-deductible.
RUPEES, if you would like to contribute to rupees, please either call or send an email. We will call you back to give you the required information
For more information, call Prakasarao Velagapudi at ; Email: ghhfusaorg@gmail.com