HOUSTON: Sixty six different organizations with 150 volunteers from 20 organizations pooled their time and energy to successfully host the Dharma and Yoga Fest on Saturday, September 7 at George Brown Convention Center in Houston. It was attended over 1000 participants.
It was a unique “once in a life time” event spreading the message of “Universal Peace Through Dharma and Yoga”. Spearheaded by Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS), Dharma and Yoga fest was held as the culmination of the yearlong festivities called Swami Vivekananda 150 (SV150), in commemoration of Swamiji’s 150th birth anniversary and 120 years of the monumental speech he delivered in Chicago on September 11, 1893.
Similar events are happening in 30 different cities across USA, spreading the awareness about Swamiji’s teachings and path of religious tolerance and brotherhood.
The event started at 1 pm with guest registration and ended at 6 pm with the recital of Shanti Mantra (Prayer for Peace) by over 1000 people in the main hall of the Convention Center.
The guests were treated to a soul stirring, awe inspiring exhibition on Swamiji’s life and teachings before being directed to their respective tracks. Taking inspiration from Swami Vivekananda’s teachings, the entire event was set up in four parallel tracks, namely, Jnana Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Karma Yoga and Raja Yoga.
Jnana Yoga:
The Jnana Yoga track had two parallel sessions: a Panel Discussion Session and Speech Contest for middle school and high school kids and saw participation from close to 150 attendees belonging to 14 different organizations. Chaya Timmaraju of Vedanta Society of Greater Houston and Khyati Vaidya of HSS moderated the panel discussion session which had six distinguished panelists from different walks of life. Rao Garuda of Sri Meenakshi Temple Society and Niyati Vaidya of HSS coordinated the Speech contest for over 30 participants, in which three winners were chosen in each category after two rounds of speeches.
Bhakti Yoga:
Four parallel sessions were planned for this track: Bhajan & Kirtan recitals by groups from various organizations; Panel discussion on Nava Vidha Bhakti; Recital of the entire Srimad Bhagvad Gita and an exhibition on Bhakti Yoga. 23 different organizations were represented by close to 400 attendees in this track. Bhajan and Kirtan session, coordinated by Vishnu Ramanarine of Lakshmi Narayan Temple and Rajesh Jaiswal of HSS, was the first to start off and saw participation of over 200 people at its peak.
The Panel discussion moderated by Padmakanth Khambati of Sanatan Hindu Center and coordinated by Diwakar Ramamurthy and Madhukar Adi of HSS had an attendance of about 150.
The Bhagvad Gita recital, which was inaugurated by Pandit Abhedanandji of Lakshmi Narayana Temple, was coordinated by Viswasankaran Kartick of Sringeri Vidya Bharati Foundation. It attracted over 100 devotees who took turns to recite various chapters in a uniform meter in their melodious voices. The exhibition on Bhakti Yoga drew another 60 people.
Karma Yoga:
Karma yoga track had participation from over a 150 people representing 26 organizations, active in Greater Houston Area, on the field serving humanity with charity, social service, disaster response and rehabilitation. The session started with a presentation by a grant writer and was followed by a panel discussion by nine eminent panelists of the city on various aspects of service (Sewa).
The track concluded with the organizations coming to a common desire to hold such gatherings on a regular basis. This track was coordinated by Kavita Tewary of Sewa International and Samba Sannabadthi of HSS.
Raja Yoga:
This track started with the attendees performing Pranayama (breathing exercises) and then heading into the lecture series. Attended by close to 100 representatives, seven types of unique techniques were presented and demonstrated by seven organizations. The session concluded with a short lecture on Ayurveda and holistic healing. The session was a coordinated effort of Vishwaroop from SVYASA and Manoj Rathi, Bhagwan Bhutada from HSS.
Over 40 kids from all over Greater Houston put together a play showcasing the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda. The kids beautifully enacted different phases of Swamiji’s life: the early childhood, life as a disciple of Sri Ramakrishna and his representation of Hindu Dharma at the Parliament of World’s Religions in America.
The grand finale of the ceremony glowed with the presence of esteemed luminaries including: Harish Parvathaneni – CGI, Houston, Saumitra Gokhle – Global coordinator, HSS; Ramesh Bhutada – Vice President, HSS USA, Amit Misra – National PR Incharge, HSS USA; Sharad Amin – President, Hindus of Greater Houston and Subhash Gupta – President, HSS Houston.
Amit Misra briefed those present about year-long activities. Nikita Gamini who won the national Dharma Bee contest for her age group shared her experiences as a participant of the coveted contest. CG Harish in his keynote address talked about the greatness and relevance of Swami Vivekananda’s teachings in the modern world and observed that Swamiji was not just a spiritual thinker but was also a great contributor to the freedom struggle movement of India. After giving a vivid description of how the Vedanta Society emblem came about, he explained what Swamiji in his own words had said about the emblem “The idea of the picture is that by union of Karma, Gyana, Bhakti and Yoga, the vision of Paramatman is obtained”.
Saumitra Gokhle, Global coordinator, touched upon the various activities that are happening all over the world and mentioned that it is the need of the hour for unified action to uphold Dharma for peace. Subhash Gupta, President of Houston HSS thanked all those present and those who had contributed relentlessly for the past few months for making the occasion happen.
The event concluded with recital of Shanti Mantra (Prayer for Peace) by all those present and the entire auditorium echoed with Om Shanti Shanti Shanti (Peace Peace Peace).
Vasant Pandav
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