It was the first day of August 2013. The Vedic Cultural Centre was ready to host 23^rd Arya Maha Sammelan. The Managing Committee under the able leadership of Bhai Anand Rupnarine was finishing the last minute preparations.

           

People started reaching VCC before noon; even delegates from Vancouver arrived two nights before the Sammelan. The lunch started at noon and was continuous till evening. All the Arya Bandhus were greeting and hugging each other, as they were meeting after the Detroit Sammelan.

           

Local volunteers managing the kitchen were busy with snacks, tea, coffee and juices. The delicious dinner was served at 7pm. After the dinner, Mr. Mulraj Sethi officially welcomed all the delegates and Arya Pathik Girish Khosla introduced all the delegates from Canada, United States and India.

 

Melodious Bhajans were sung by Mr. Narendra Vashishta from India and Mr. Vishrut Arya Gen. Secretary Arya Pratinidhi Sabha explained the guide lines of Sammelan.

           

On Friday morning Yoga/Meditation was lead by Mr. Surendra Mehta from California and a Yajna was performed.

 

The Sammelan opened with flag hoisting ceremony at the front entrance of the Vedic Cultural Centre. Aum Dhwaj and the Canadian Flag were hoisted by the chief guest, Ontario Senator Reza Moridi. Prayers along with Bhajan, “Yeh Om Ka Jhanda..” commemorated the opening ceremony.

           

The theme for this year’s Sammelan was “The Role of Arya Samaj in the modern world”. In the opening Session President of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha America, Dr. Ramesh Gupta welcomed all delegates and guests. The prominent Keynote speech was delivered by well known Vedic scholar Acharya Gyaneshwar ji of Vanprasth Sadhak Ashram Rojad Gujarat.   It was well received by the audience.

            In the Youth Session, Mr. Abhay Chandora, Ms Kavya Gupta and Puneet Gupta spoke on “Who is a Hindu”.

           

Mr. Havishkrit Arya (10) year old spoke very well on First Duty of Arya-Become Arya Himself. He spoke in fluent Hindi and got of loud applause and standing ovation.

           

In Next Session a prominent Scholar from India Dr. Virendra Alankar (Dayanand Chair for Vedic Studies - Punjab University) presented his paper on Vedic Solution to Social Evils. Dr. Sudhir Anand (California) spoke on “What is Yajna and why we should Yajnapaveet”.

           

Afternoon Session started with the melodious Bhajans by Ms. Meenu Purshottam.

           

Mr. Amar Erry delivered his lecture on “Simplifying the message of our scriptures for our Youth” and Acharya Chandrashekhar Shastri from India spoke on “Importance of Studying Swami Dayanand’s Vedic Books”.

           

The late Afternoon Session very important. It was debate session on 3 topics. 1-Role of Sabha in providing Vedic Resources, Including Social Media. 2- Feasibibility of Swami Dayanand suggested study curriculum in Western Hemisphere. 3- How to make Arya Samaj more acceptable to masses.

 

This was led by Mr. Vishrut Arya, Mr. Bhuvnesh Khosla, Mr. Vimal Velani, Ms. Davi Lakhnath and Ms. Sati Gurdial and Mr. Veer Mukhi. Many questions were asked and answered by the audiences.

           

In midafternoon, a Health Camp was held for Ayurvedic Consultation and Modern Yoga by Yogiraj Vishawpal Jayant (Kotdwar) and Mr. Prem Sharma.

           

In the evening Mr. Vishrut Arya Gen. Secretary Presented Annual Report & Mr. Vimal Velani Treasurer presented annual accounts. It was adopted unanimously. 

           

After dinner, g a colorful cultural variety show was presented by the youngster delegates under the guidance of Mrs. Amita Gupta. It was enjoyed by all present there.

           

Saturday morning Sandhya, Yajna and Yoga Meditation were performed by Acharya Gyaneshwar ji.

           

The next session were chaired by Patron of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha Pandit Ram Lall ji and Dr. Jyoti Gandhi. Rishi & Rohan Bagga from Atlanta gave speeches on expanding outreach of Arya Samaj.

           

The Keynote speech was delivered by Dr. Devbala Ramanathan. It was a powerful lecture on Women Education and Empowerment, well received with tears and applauses. She encouraged that Arya Samaj should celebrate the International Women’s Day on March 8^th every year.

           

Dr. Balvir Acharya (Former Head of Department Sanskrit Maha Rishi Dayanand University Rohtak) spoke on Upanished Teachings in Modern Times.

 

Dr. Ramesh Gupta spoke on healthy living and linked modern medical science to empirical Vedic references.

           

Mr. Vishrut Arya proposed to organized speech competition through out North America (It was an Adult/youth joint session) Mr. Peeyush Sharma (Calgary) spoke on How to Increase Outreach of Arya Samaj. Mrs. Saroj Mukhi (NY) spoke on Steps needed to involve Young Parents in Arya Samaj in Western Culture.

           

In a special session Dr. Deen Bandhu Chandora (Atlanta) delivered his speech on Dynamics of Cosmic Yoga and Mr. Ashwini Rajpal (London) spoke on Indian Time Rocking System & Vedic Calendar.

           

In next session Dr. Suryanarayan Nanda (Houston) emphases on Eradication of superstitions and Vidyarthi Sriram spoke on simplifying the message of our scriptures for our Youth.

           

Swami Sampoornanand ji from Karnal India gave a powerful speech on Importance of following Yam-Niyam in Thoughts, Speech and Action-True Arya.

           

In the afternoon session the APSA working committees held round table discussions on Sabha’s goals and activities.

           

In the Gala dinner, Dr. Asha Seth Senator and John McCullough Member of Parliament welcomed American delegates and congratulated Mr. Anand Rupnarine Chairman VCC and Mr. Sudershan Berry President Arya Samaj Markham.

           

Ontario Government also presented proclamation to Dr. Ramesh Gupta President, Arya Pratinidhi Sabha America. Mr. Mul Raj Sethi welcomed and thanked for helping out arrangements.

           

Mr. Bhuvnesh Khosla gave a presentation on a mobile application that would be released soon. The mobile application will offer access to daily Vedic prayers to youth on smartphones and tablets anytime anywhere. 

 

After the dinner a beautiful cultural program was presented by the famous group, Chitralekha.

 

Sunday morning session included pravachan by Achrya Gyaneshwar ji, and an open forum where all delegates had the opportunity to voice their opinions about the Sammelan. Mr. Vishrut Arya and Bhuvnesh Khosla presented the Sammelan survey results.

 

The youth program ran in parallel to the main Sammelan sessions for three days. Youth also enjoyed a field trip to Niagara Falls. 

 

It was a great Sammelan. Every one worked hard for transportation, food, Lodging and other arrangements. Indian guests, American delegated and Arya Bandhus from Windsor, Ottawa, London, Vancouver and other parts of the Canada enjoyed the hospitality of the members of Arya Samaj Markham and Toronto Arya Samaj.

           

Arya Pratinidhi Sabha America wants to thank Coordinator Mr. Mul Raj Sethi and his entire team for their dedication and help extended to make this Sam

melan great.

           

Ms. Sharda Bhajan, Mr. Anand Rupnarine,  Mr. Sudershan Berry, Mr. Surendra Shahi, Mr. Shashi Sankwala, Mr. Kumar Sareen, Mr. Prem Sharma, Mr. Om Sharma, Mr. Ravi Laul, Mr. Amar Erry, Mr. Kewal Ahluwalia, Sh. Sanjeev, among many more who worked day and night to make the Sammelan a great success.

 

The 24^th Arya Maha Sammelan will be held in New Jersey from July 31 to August 3, 2014.