Funds for a Deity, Braille Books and Art

April-May-June 2004 Newsletter

Taos Hanuman Fund

This endowment (#51) was created by Rev. Kathleen A. Knight to help care for and maintain the Taos Hanuman Temple Deity in Taos, New Mexico. The first priority of the fund is to see that the paint does not fade, for example, and to sponsor one traditional Hindu puja each day on a regular basis. If necessary, the grants can be used to bring an artisan in from India to do maintenance work on the Deity. As the fund grows, a second priority is to maintain a small shrine for Neem Karoli Baba and to see that a minimal, once daily Hindu puja is performed. Currently, the fund is at $5,573.49, and the yearly grants are compounding back into the principal until it reaches $12,500. At that time, the Taos Hanuman Temple would receive approximately $500 per year.

Saivite Hindu Scriptural Fund for the Visually Impaired

Damara Shanmugan first became interested in helping the blind in 1993-1994 while visiting Sri Sri Sri Balagangadharanatha Swamijiâs school for the blind in Karnataka, South India. After her second pilgrimage to India in 1995-1996, she worked as a volunteer in this school for two weeks. Now acutely aware of the needs of these dear children, she returned to the United States determined to learn braille and do whatever necessary to provide them with much-needed materials, texts and encouragement. Entirely self-taught, using the special braille program, EDIT-PC, her personal home computer, and a Romeo RB-25 portable embosser, she has, since 1996, created and operated The SHIVA Braille Foundation, the beneficiary of this endowment (#43). Damara is the only braille transcriber in the world who exclusively transcribes Saivite Hindu practices and philosophy into braille.

Using the award winning books and magazines of her late guru, Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, she carefully transcribes the essence of the mystical Saivite Hindu tradition and sends braille books free of charge around the globe. In June, 2000, the SHIVA Braille Foundation opened the Satguru Subramuniyaswami Braille Learning Center in Whitefield, Karnataka. As the second beneficiary of this fund, the center teaches braille in three languages to blind adults and has graduated 118 students.

Kauai Aadheenam Art and Artifacts Fund

In acknowledgement of the profound lifetime of love and commitment to art exhibited by William E. Daniels, a special Hindu Heritage Endowment multi-donor fund was established by his son, Rajadeva Alahan. Grants from this fund (#38) are to promote the spiritual arts of the Hindu tradition, especially the South Indian, Saivite traditions, and include rajput-style paintings, batiks, silk paintings, illustrations as well as sculptures and religious artifacts. This fund was initiated with a $5,000 contribution and, as is common with small endowments, has been accumulating its grants for several years. The annual grant now totals $786, and the fund's current project is to help fund the wrought iron portion of the 16-foot-tall white granite entrance gate for Kauai Aadheenam.

Endow a foreign charity with income tax savings

HHE may be the best way to send tax-deductible money from the USA to a foreign religious charity and at the same time create an endowment for that charity. For more information email  hhe@hindu.org.

October to December Endowment Contributions

MISSION STATEMENT

Hindu Heritage Endowment is a publicly supported, charitable organization recognized as tax exempt by the IRS on April 22, 1994. Employer ID 99-0308924. Founded by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami, its philanthropic mission is to provide secure, professionally managed financial support for institutions and religious leaders of all lineages of Sanatana Dharma.

PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS

Halbert/Hargrove, Investment Counsel; Sonoda & Isara, LLP, CPA. HHE is a member of the Council on Foundations, an association of more than 2,000 foundations which interprets relevant law and management and investment principles, and of the National Committee on Planned Giving, the voice and professional resource for the gift planning community.

I want to participate. Where should I Send My Donation?

You may send your gift to an existing fund, create a new Endowment or request information through the address below.

Donations may be made online at www.hheonline.org or use the HHE tear-out card in the HINDUISM TODAY magazine to join our family of benefactors who are Strengthening Hinduism Worldwide. Thank you.