Presidential Message – V. Balaraman This month, we have Maiju Kutty, the Secretary of LOTUS writing the leadership message. For the youth corner, Sachi Kumar, the co-emcee of the LOTUS virtual Diwali program shares her thoughts and experience about Diwali. It is so timely as the Indian festival of lights is transitioning to the Christmas celebrations all around us with people decorating their homes with festive lights.
LOTUS LEADERSHIP – Maiju Kutty, Secretary Aloha, Namaste and Greetings of the Season. For all of us, this has been a very challenging and interesting year that questioned a lot of our beliefs in our ability to manage a crisis like the pandemic coupled with a chaotic election. The positive side of this is that we were forced to slow down and reflect on our life’s priorities. In a few months life will get back to normal, and we will be able to see things in a new light. All are aware that we are facing huge challenges with environmental issues that are often ignored due to various reasons whether in Hawaii or around the World. There is a lot of power in a community to make changes at a micro level. Many of you’ll have great ideas on how we can do a better job at managing waste, recycling, reducing pollution etc. If you have ideas then please submit them to the Lotus website or via email. We can compile all of them and pick practical ones. These can also end up becoming school science projects for Students in our community. Dr Bhawuk and Babu have been leading the Pooja at Wahiawa temple every third Sunday and we are very appreciative of their time and service. May we all be the beneficiary of Lord Shiva’s blessing. Covid restrictions on assembly are still in effect at the temple so please avoid congregating between 12-3 pm on third Sundays. Stay safe and Healthy and comply with the State and City guidelines on Covid restrictions. It’s for the benefit of all. The month of December is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and it’s nice to see the decorations, Christmas music being played all over and the aroma of sweet treats and hot chocolate. Christ’s teachings are as relevant today as it has been for 2000 years that promote love and generosity and is very much the need of the hour. Let’s ring in the New Year with new ideas, new dreams and a hope that it only gets better from here. Youth Corner – Sachi Kumar shares her thoughts about Diwali and her experiences as an Emcee during the LOTUS virtual Diwali event on November 14, 2020 Diwali, deriving from the sanskrit term deepavali, means “rows of lights”. It is a five day festival that begins with Dhanteras, followed by Naraka Chaturdashi, Lakshmi puja, Govardhan puja and Bhai Dooj. This celebration is not only a time to celebrate the victory of light over darkness, but it is also a time for all of us to come together and share our culture with each other. As someone who has been involved in Diwali for most of my life, it was truly an honor to be chosen as an emcee. When celebrating this event with friends, we usually notice it’s beauty and joy, but often forget about the hard work that is put into making Diwali possible. During these difficult times, it was nice to see that so many people went out of their way to make Diwali into an equally enjoyable experience this year. It truly portrayed the meaning of Diwali, making sure we still have good moments even in the darkest of times.Temple Activities – December 20th, 2020 Dr. Bhawuk continues with performing the monthly pooja on the 3rd Sunday of the month. He is always happy to perform special pooja for anyone that is interested. Please reach out to him or LOTUS leadership. There is also a separate email going out to everyone but is targeted at the devotees who regularly visit the temple with a request to try and keep the premises clean after performance of pooja. We would appreciate a call if the temple needs to be cleaned.
December Calendar December20 – Wahiawa Temple Pooja Day December 21 – Shortest Day of the year and Celestial Event – Close proximity of Jupiter and Saturn December 25 – Christmas
