â€œà®¨à®Ÿà®®à®¾à®Ÿà®•à¯ கோயில் நம்பர்க் கொன்றீயின்

படமாடக் கோயில்பகவற்கீதாமே”

“Service done to fellow men is equivalent to worship of God”

(A verse from “Thirumanthiram” composed by the Tamil saint Thirumoolar)

In response to an appeal from several low-income families in a hard-hit area in flood-ravaged Chennai, the Hindu Temple of New Hampshire has initiated a focused and targeted effort to support basic rehabilitation of these families. The Temple seeks your kind support, and welcomes any amount you can contribute to this effort to bring some relief to the impacted families.

The Great Deluge of Chennai

As the year 2015 is drawing to a close, the city of Chennai is slowly recovering from the atypical torrential rains and the devastating deluge that has brought misery to large sections of its five million residents. The heavy rains have caused damages estimated in the billions of dollars in the states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Puducheri, and resulted in the loss of hundreds of lives. Among the survivors, a large number of people have lost their homes, livelihoods, and belongings. The city of Chennai, known in the past for its water scarcity and whose residents often long for rains, was particularly hard hit.

HTNH’s Targeted Relief Initiative

The rains in Chennai have been brutally fair in impacting the lives of its residents, with no regard for economic or social status. The government as well as numerous volunteer and service organizations are working tirelessly to rehabilitate the affected people and restore normalcy. Government rehabilitation efforts often tend to be focused on the poorest sections, while the wealthier sections have the ability to draw from personal resources for recovery. In response to an appeal for help from a group of lower-income middle class  residents (who fall into neither of the above categories) of a particular severely impacted area of Chennai, the Hindu Temple of New Hampshire, Nashua, NH has initiated a targeted relief project to support their rehabilitation.

The targeted community is located in K.K. Nagar-Bharathidasan Colony, Chennai. The Colony consists of over 640 lower-income group apartments. Over 200 of these flats located on the ground floor are fully submerged in water, and the occupants of these flats have lost all their belongings. Many of the residents are elderly retirees dependent on pensions and who still have a family to support. The estimate cost of basic rehabilitation of one family is about 900 dollars (60000 Indian Rupees). This cost covers about a month’s supply of groceries, bedding including a steel cot, blankets and pillows, basic kitchen equipment including a gas stove, grinder and refrigerator, and basic household appliances to restore a basic semblance of normalcy including a television and washing machine. The Temple also plans to provide for an electric sewing machine for a physically challenged woman, and a commercial wet grinder for a lady, whose livelihoods depend on these. Please note that some of these appliances which used to be considered luxuries a couple of decades ago have become an essential part of life today.  The Temple has already initiated steps to deliver a month’s supply of groceries, and pillows and blankets. The Temple plans to support about 25 families initially. The support will be extended to more families depending on the amount of funds the Temple is able to raise for this effort. The Temple welcomes any contribution you can make to this effort. Any amount however small contributed to this Paropakara Nidhi (funds to serve others) is welcome.

Paropakara Nidhi: Appeal for Support

We are taught that “Paropakara” or helping others in need, constitutes the essence of Dharma. Sri Kanchi Paramacharya points out, that the greatest good fortune that one possesses on account of being born as a human being is the opportunity to help and serve others, and such service will result in happiness and purification of the soul. The great sage Veda Vyasa, summarizes the essence of the wisdom distilled from the eighteen Puranas as “Merit is helping others and sin is hurting others”.

अष्टादश पुराणेषु व्यासस्य वचनद्द्वयम् |
परोपकार: पुण्याय पापाय परपीडनम् ||
ashtadasha puraaneshu vyaasasya vachanadwayam
paropakaarah punyaaya paapaaya parapeedanam 

Bhagavan Sri Satya Sai Baba’s slogan of “Love All Serve All. Love Ever Hurt Never” captures this nugget of wisdom even more concisely. The message of service and helping those in need is universal and is echoed in the teaching of every great Guru and in every religion.

In response to appeals from various organizations, many of you have already contributed generously to help the residents of Chennai, whose lives were severely impacted by this natural disaster. The Hindu Temple of New Hampshire’s “Paropakara Nidhi” provides one more channel and opportunity for you to help those in need in Chennai, and to have a direct and positive impact on several Chennai families in desperate need. You can contribute to this effort by mailing your check payable to “HTNH” (mark it as for “Paropakara Nidhi - Chennai flood relief”) and mailing it to PO Box 7041, Nashua, NH 03060. The Hindu Temple of New Hampshire is 501c(3) certified (Tax id: 30-0467085), and donations to the Temple are tax-deductible. Your contributions will be gratefully received and used to help rehabilitate the suffering families.

Please contact Sri Veeramani (rveermani@gmail.com) to find out how you can help with this effort.

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