Newsletter – August 2024
| Presidential Message – V. Balaraman Aloha. After the summer hiatus as Schools ramp up to get started for the new academic year, I am also invigorated to get our monthly communication going again after a four month gap. Life happened with a lot of travels and other commitments. Not apologizing. Just trying to set a course forward. I had the pleasure of being invited to the inaugural Buddha Peace Festival sponsored by Chinatown Business and Community Association on August 3rd. I had an opportunity to share some thoughts on “Inner Peace” and how it informs to the larger goal of community and global peace. I believe such cultural exchanges are at the heart of one of the tenets in practice of inner peace. I would encourage all of us to participate in such events and actively invite family and friends to also be a part of such events. We hope to get input from all of you with regards to planning some Lotus events which will be of value both to the community and our membership. The Lotus leadership is making commitment to get involved in such events and provide meaningful support. The annual slew of vaccinations will be available later this month and I urge everyone, you and old alike to be proactive in your quest of prevention of at least some of these respiratory infections. Hope to see some of you at the Temple on August 18th. Warm aloha, V. Balaraman President |
| LOTUS UPCOMING EVENTS Diwali Celebrations. Please save the date for this event which we are targeting to have on November 3rd. I am also attaching a link for people interested in participating. We would like to finalize a line up and get people ready for one more stellar event. To accomplish this without much stress, we would like interested people to respond to this call for participation by August 18th 2024 |
| Temple Activities – August 18th, 2024 Our monthly pooja will start promptly at noon on the 18th. Professor Bhawuk is back from his Summer away and will be officiating the pooja assisted by Arup Halder. We have been blessed with nice weather and good attendance at this event throughout the summer.  |
| Friends Departed In May 2024, Mrs. Tara Patel passed away after a brief illness. Her celebration of life event exemplified the amazing way she lived her life. For our Lotus community she will be most remembered by the food preparations that she shared with us on many of our gatherings. Her recipes for many of her special dishes are available and have been shared with all by Mr. Arvind Patel. Please keep her and the Patel family in your prayers as they journey this loss. I share with you one of the photographs that highlights their ever smiling faces. .  |
| August and September 2024: August 9 – Nag Panchami August 15 – Indian Independence Day August 16 – Varalakshmi Vrat August 18 – Wahiawa Temple Pooja Day and Raksha Bandhan August 18 – Avani Avittam, Rig and,Yajur Veda Upakarma August 25 – Janmashtami September 6 – Ganesh Chaturti September 14 – Onam September 15 – Wahiawa Temple Pooja Day September 16 – Ganesh Visarjan |
