\ SAMVAD संवाद
Ashadha Krishna 2, Vik. Samvat 2079, Yugabda 5124:16 June, 2022: SM 4006 (For Private Circulation Only)
1. FESTIVALS: GURU PURNIMA:
Full moon day of Ashadha month (July 13 this year) is celebrated as Guru
Purnima. On this day disciples offer Puja and pay respect to their Gurus. Guru
Purnima is also known as Vyasa Purnima and this day is commemorated as birth
anniversary of Veda Vyasa.
Guru Purnima represents the day on which Bhagwan Shiva as the Adi Guru or
original guru taught the Saptrishis who were the seers of the Vedas. It is also
the day on which Bhagwan Buddha delivered his first sermon (Dharmachakrapravartana
Sutta) at Sarnath to five of his disciples, collectively known as Panchavargika.
The 24th Jain Tirthankara Mahavir Swami made Indrabhuti Gautam of Gandhara his
first disciple on the day of Guru Purnima.
RSS considers Bhaghwa Dhwaj as its guru and performs gurupuja utsav in every
shakha all over Bharat by organsing Bhagwa Dhwaj puja and bouddhik sessions. -GoTop
2. THIRD YEAR SANGH SHIKSHA VARG CONCLUDED: The Sangh
Shiksha Varg-Tritiya Varsh of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) concluded on
June 3, at Reshimbagh, Nagpur. More than 735 swayamsevaks, including farmers,
teachers, engineers, doctors drawn from various parts of the country
participated in the varg.
After watching the film Dr. Bhagwat said that the film looks at history from the
Bharatiya point of view. He said that the film is based on facts and the message
that the film gives is needed by the country at the moment. He added that to
protect the honour of Bharat, Bharatiyas will have to fight together in the same
way as the mighty heroes shown in this film. Several states, including Uttar
Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh, have made the movie tax free in the
state. -GoTop
4. VISHWA HINDU PARISHAD – SANNYASI CONFERENCE : VHP
Margadarshak Mandal, that is Aravazhi Kattum Aandror Peravai in Tamil, organised
a Sannyasi’s conference in the city of Madurai on June 4-5, 2022. More than 200
Aadheenams, Saints, spiritual leaders of all traditions took part in this
conference.
5. NO TRUE AND FALSE HINDUS : DR RAM MADHAV: “Hindutva
is mainstream in Bharat and it is a way of life in which there is no room for
hatred,” said author and thinker Dr Ram Madhav. 
Madhav’s book expands on the notions of Hindutva, the Hinduness, and expands on
Deen Dayal Upadhyay's idea of 'Integral Humanism.'
“There are no true and false Hindus, except when one can use these distinctions
as part of a political narrative,” Dr Madhav said in his address to the 600
attendees at the event. “Hindutva and Hinduism are not two separate things.
Hindutva is the Indianised name of Hinduism. It is Hinduism in practice.” He
ended on a philosophical note, stating his book explored whether the Hindutva
worldview could be adapted to the contemporary world of the 21st Century. -GoTop
6. FIGHT FOR POOR COUNTRIES IN THE WTO MINISTERIAL
CONFERENCE, SWADESHI JAGRAN MANCH APPEALS UNION GOVT : The Swadeshi Jagran
Manch (SJM) appealed to the Union government to fight for the interests of poor
countries at the WTO Ministerial Conference scheduled from June 12-15 in Geneva,
Switzerland.
7. HINDU SWAYAMSEVAK SANGH, SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA USA: On
June 5, more than 600 people gathered at “Darshana: A Glimpse into the Hindu
Civilization”, a nationwide travelling exhibition organized by HSS at AOL center
in Los Angeles, California.
8. SURREY GURUVANDA UTSAV: On June 12, Guru Vandana
celebration was organized at Lakshmi Narayan Mandir, Surrey British Colombia
where around 36 teachers were honoured. This was a special celebration where
students honour their Gurus (teachers) and it was remarkable to see and be a
part of it, said one of the participants of the event. The students explained
aspects of Hinduism, shared songs, dances, and explained in quick summary the 18
chapters of The Bhagavad Gita.
9. NEW JERSEY’S SECOND HINDU CLUB IN SCHOOL: In the last
year, first Hindu Club was started in J P Stevens High School Edison, NJ with a
group of 8 shakha kishors and kishoris. This year the second one was stated by
Arnavji Ganesh and his friends, a Hindu- Sikh Club in Woodbridge High School,
Woodbridge, NJ. The club is named as Saffron Alliance. On June 2, Woodbridge
Township had hosted a Diversity, Inclusion and Equity showcase led by students
and schools. The Saffron Alliance launch flier was showcased at the Woodbridge
High School booth. -GoTop
10. HINDU YUVA HOSTED THE MOVIE ROCKETRY MAKERS: On 6th
June Hindu YUVA at University of Houston hosted Dr. Nambi Narayan and R.
Madhavan for a ‘speaker on campus’ program about the movie ‘Rocketry: The Nambi
Effect’. It is an upcoming Bharatiya biographical drama film based on the life
of Nambi Narayanan, a former scientist and aerospace engineer of the Indian
Space Research Organization who was falsely accused of espionage. 
11. FISI UK SESSION ON NARRATIVE OF HINDUS IN THE WESTERN
WORLD: On June 11, Friends of India Society International , UK organised an
engaging session on the "Narrative of Hindus in the Western World" in which
Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri, Pallavi Joshi, Chris Blackburn (a political analyst in
the UK) and Satish Sharmaji were guest speakers. 
12. UNGA ADOPTS RESOLUTION ON MULTILINGUALISM, MENTIONS THE
HINDI LANGUAGE FOR THE FIRST TIME: In a significant initiative on June 10,
the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has adopted a Bharat-sponsored
resolution on multilingualism that mentions the Hindi language for the first
time.
“This year, for the first time, the resolution has a mention of Hindi language.
…The resolution also mentions Bangla and Urdu for the first time. We welcome
these additions,” said Bharat’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations,
Ambassador TS Tirumurti.
Tirumurti said multilingualism is recognized as a core value of the UN and
expressed gratitude to the Secretary-General for prioritizing multilingualism.
“Bharat has been partnering with the UN Department of Global Communications (DGC)
since 2018 by providing an extra-budgetary contribution to mainstream and
consolidate news and multimedia content in the Hindi language,” he said.
As part of these efforts, the ‘Hindi @ UN’ project was launched in 2018 with an
objective to enhance the public outreach of the United Nations in the Hindi
language and to spread greater awareness about global issues among millions of
Hindi-speaking populations around the world.
Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish are the six official
languages of the United Nations; English and French are the working languages of
the United Nations Secretariat. -GoTop
13. DR S JAISHANKAR INTERACTS WITH BHARATVANSHIS IN PRAGUE:
External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar interacted with the Bharatiya
community in Prague on June 6. Dr Jaishankar was on the last leg of his
two-nation tour to Slovakia and the Czech Republic to impart further momentum in
ties with the two central European countries. "Delighted to meet the Bharatiya
community in Prague. Good to see many of them doing so well. The expansion of
the community has also been encouraging. Shared with them developments at home
and the state of our bilateral relationship. Count on their continuing support,"
Mr. Jaishankar said. The External Affairs Minister arrived in Prague on June 4
from the Slovakian capital Bratislava. On June 5, Jaishanakar met Czech Finance
Minister. The Czech Republic will take over EU Presidency from July 1.
14. HOLY RELICS OF BHAGWAN BUDDHA DISPLAYED AT MONGOLIA’S
BUDDHA PURNIMA: The four Holy Kapilavastu Relics of Bhagwan Buddha brought
from Bharat by a delegation led by Union Law and Justice Minister, Kiren Rijiju,
were displayed with reverence and ceremonial fanfare at Ganden Tegchenling
Monastery in the capital Ulaanbaatar on June 14. A holy procession was also
carried out from Sukhbaatar Square near Parliament to Ganden Monastery. These
Kapilavastu relics which reached Mongolia after 29 years, along with the relic
of the Buddha’s tooth, a blessed idol of Mongolians, have been put on display
for 11-days until June 24. Union Minister, Mongolian Parliament Speaker Gombojav
Zandanshatar, Khamba Nomun Khan of the Gandan Monastery and a large number of
monks, among other foreign dignitaries, were present on occasion.
15. BUDDHIST MONKS THANK BHARAT FOR ASSISTANCE TO SRILANKA
AND BUDDHA PURNIMA CELEBRATIONS: A group of high-ranking Buddhist monks, the
Chief Prelates expressed gratitude to the Bharatiya Government for providing
humanitarian assistance to Sri Lanka amidst the country’s ongoing economic and
political crisis. They also thanked Bharat for organising the celebration of
Buddha Poornima.
“Sri Lankans inherited their religion, culture, traditions and civilisation from
Bharat and this relationship and brotherhood should grow from strength to
strength. Buddhist philosophical concepts are right and most suitable to the
entire world at all times and the Maha Sangha was touched immensely over Pradhan
Mantri Narendra Modi’s commitment and passion towards promoting Buddhism,”
stated a Sri Lankan magazine, Satipatthana, in a press release citing a message
of the Chief Prelates. On behalf of Maha Sangha, the prelates also expressed
gratitude to Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi and the International Buddhist
Confederation (IBC) for organising the grand International Vaishakha Buddha
Purnima. -GoTop
16. RAJNATH SINGH HANDS OVER 12 HIGH-SPEED GUARD BOATS TO
VIETNAM: Bharat formally handed over the 12 high-speed guard boats
constructed under the government of Bharat’s $100 million defense Line of Credit
(LoC) to Vietnam at a ceremony at Hong Ha Shipyard during the visit of Defense
Minister Rajnath Singh to the South East Asian nation on June 9.
The speed boats will be operated by the Vietnamese Border Guard Force. The deal
was executed by Larsen & Tourbo and of the 12 boats, five were built in Bharat
while the remaining were built in Vietnam with assistance from L&T. -GoTop
17. GALWAN MARTYR’S WIFE REKHA SINGH FULFILLED HER
HUSBAND’S DREAM TO BECOME A LIEUTENANT: Rekha Singh, the wife of Lance Naik
and Vir Chakra awardee Shahid Deepak Singh, has fulfilled her husband’s dream to
become a lieutenant. In June 2020, Lance Naik Shahid Deepak Singh was killed in
a skirmish with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and was awarded Vir
Chakra by President Ram Nath Kovind for his bravery. Rekha lost her husband just
after 15 months into their marriage and decided to become a lieutenant to
fulfill her husband’s dream.
Rekha Singh is one of the army wives who decided to continue their husband’s
legacy. Nikita Kaul, the wife of Major Vibhuti Shankar Dhoundiyal who was
martyred in the Pulwama attack, joined the Army in 2021. Jyoti Nainwal, wife of
martyred soldier Deepak Nainwal, joined the Bharatiya Army as a Lieutenant after
three years of her husband’s death in November 2021. -GoTop
18. BHARATIYA-AMERICAN EIGHTH-GRADER CROWNED 2022 SCRIPPS
NATIONAL SPELLING BEE CHAMPION: Harini Logan, a 14-year-old Bharatiya-American
eighth-grader from Texas won the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee, beating
Vikram Raju in the prestigious contest where children of Bharatiya origin have
ruled the roost. Logan, who took home the USD 50,000 cash prize and Scripps Cup
trophy on top of awards from Merriam-Webster and Encyclopedia Britannica, was
declared champion on June 2 night after she was reinstated by the judges in the
final round.
Vihaan Sibal, a 13-year-old from Texas, finished third while Saharsh Vuppala, a
13-year-old eighth-grader from Washington, was fourth.
Over the past 20 years, Bharatiya-Americans have been dominating the Spelling
Bee contest even though they comprise only about 1 per cent of the US
population. Since Balu Natarajan won it in 1985, 20 Bharatiya-origin children
have been crowned champions at the competition. -GoTop
19. FREEDOM FIGHTER ANJALAI PONNUSAMY DIES AGED 102:
Freedom fighter Anjalai Ponnusamy, who fought for Bharat’s independence from
colonial Britain, died on June 1, aged 102.
Anjalai was once a soldier who served under the command of Netaji Subhash
Chandra Bose. At the age of 21, Anjalai joined the Rani of Jhansi Regiment – the
women’s regiment of the Indian National Army – in the hope of discarding the
yoke of British colonialism. After the war ended with the Japanese defeat, the
Indian National Army was disbanded, and Anjalai returned home to continue her
life in Malaysia. -GoTop
20. SANSKAR BHARTI PATRON BABA YOGENDRA PASSED AWAY:
Senior pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and patron of Sanskar
Bharati, Baba Yogendra, passed away following prolonged illness, on June 10. He
was 98.
He received a number of awards, including the prestigious Padma Shri in 2018.
Pradhan Mantri Narendra Modi termed Baba Yogendra’s demise as an irreparable
loss to the world of art and culture.
RSS Sarkaryavah Shri Dattatreya Hosabale and other senior RSS functionaries paid
tributes to founder of Sanskar Bharati. -GoTop
21. SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN: Pravas: Saumitra
Gokhale, samyojak Vishwa Vibhag will travel to South Africa and Kenya.
Visitors: -GoTop
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: "Bharat is the meeting place of the religions and among
these Hinduism alone is by itself a vast and complex thing, not so much a
religion as a great diversified and yet subtly unified mass of spiritual
thought, realization and aspiration.” – Sri Aurobindo -GoTop
JAI SHRI RAM
----
TWISTING AN OTHERWISE COLORFUL AND DIVERSE HINDU CULTURE INTO SOMETHING MUCH
MORE MALEVOLENT WAS FAIRLY EASY
AARAV PATIL
A project has emerged in defiance of years of discrimination in academia, led by second-generation Hindus who were fed the same gross misconceptions that worked to demonize their religion and culture.
When I walked into class just a few weeks ago, I
was taught that my religion was one of social hierarchy and classism. That
Hinduism is “a religion that preserves social inequality” at its core. Now, I
know that high school history textbooks across America have been propagating
religious bigotry for years, taking snippets of culture and presenting it as the
absolute whole, pinning the responsibility for crimes colonizers had committed
onto the very people they wrought those crimes upon.
But sitting there in that classroom, my ears filled with the wisdom of secular
America, writing notes on a religion I practice, taking tests on a culture I
belong to, hearing my own history taught back to me, not as a Hindu, but as an
American citizen, I almost believed it all.
However, I couldn’t, as my understanding of my religion, culture, and values was
crystal clear from the very beginning. I was raised in an environment where
assimilation was synonymous with cultural suicide, and so I was never allowed to
forget my roots. Other Hindu Americans, unfortunately, do not have such luxury.
With a religion so easily misunderstood as Hinduism, and practitioners so easily
manipulated as Hindus, twisting an otherwise colorful and diverse culture into
something much more malevolent was fairly easy. So easy that Hindus themselves
were found nodding their heads in agreement as the White man enlightened them on
the “true horrors of Hinduism.”
I would have nodded along with them, if not for my upbringing, buried deep in
Hindu soil and taking root in my brain.
It was then that I realized that there was nothing anyone else could do to fix
such an ostensibly irreparable situation; I mean, it was hardly as if those
pretentious British scholars that supposedly knew India like the back of their
hands’ could reverse all the academic trauma they had deliberately caused. It’s
not the White man that could solve such an issue; it’s the Hindu people.
So a project emerged in defiance of years of discrimination in academia, led by
second-generation Hindus who were fed the same gross misconceptions that worked
to demonize their religion and culture.
While Hinduphobes push against the education of the Western world about
Hinduism, we, as Hindus, must hold our ground and cement our place in diverse,
inclusive America as one of her many religious communities.
The Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) is a non-profit organization, one among many
of the Indic faith-based groups that worked tirelessly to produce a set of
informative posters that, while elementary in style, provided as much
information as it possibly could, leaving its viewers — if not enlightened — at
the very least, informed. Then as April showers blessed American soil, so too
did Darshana – A Glimpse into the Hindu Civilization, a traveling exhibition.
I stood at my set of posters, heart pounding, as I watch the first batch of
officials file through the door of the middle school gymnasium. When was the
last time people were so eager to learn about a culture so foreign to theirs,
especially a religion portrayed as controversial as ours? Would they listen, or
would they just hear us, picking up segments of our explanations and twisting
our language to fit their hateful narrative?
I locked eyes with a reserved young lady, an English teacher, perhaps. She asked
my opinion on how the Hindu symbolism of the conch shell differs from that
present in Lord William Golding’s “Lord of the Flies,” a book that I was glad to
have read at that moment. We engaged in a healthy discussion of how literature
and religion often intersect, and I told her all about divinity in Hinduism. She
was surprised to see that Hinduism involved women and nature, things; something
she told me she had not often seen in her own religion.
After an hour or so, she came back and informed me that she had learned more
about Hinduism in a single hour than in all her years in high school, college,
and beyond. She told me she would ask her school if the exhibition could be
presented there as well. I expressed my gratitude to her, her and her
willingness to learn, practically shaking because, just days ago, I was in
school, reading about how unremarkable and unjust my own religion was. And now,
I was being told that my religion, my people, were worth listening to.
The exhibition is still going strong, with local, state, and even federal
officials attending it across the nation, expressing their gratitude for such an
exhibition that allows them to broaden their own worldview. Even the King of
Jordan, the 41st direct descendent of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), though he
only happened upon the exhibition, quite enjoyed the experience.
While Hinduphobes push against the education of the Western world about
Hinduism, we, as Hindus, must hold our ground and cement our place in diverse,
inclusive America as one of her many religious communities: to work side by side
with everyone of every religion and belief to ensure the life, liberty and
pursuit of happiness of every American citizen, in alienable rights that were
promised to us all so many years ago.
Aarav Patil is a sophomore at Upper Saint Clair High School in Pennsylvania. He
enjoys writing opinion articles as well as reading them. (JUNE 1, 2022 :
https://americankahani.com/generationz/hindu-swayamsevak-sangh/ ) -GoTop
SHRI VISHWA NIKETAN shrivishwaniketan@gmail.com http://svn.epapers.in
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