20^th Arya Maha Sammelan Presentation Summary

By. Vimal Velani

Om saha naavavatu saha nau bhunaktu saha viryam karvaavahai |

tejasvi naavadhitamastu maa vidvishaavahai ||

om shaantih shaantih sjaantih ||

The theme of 20^th Arya Samaj was ‘The Vedas for Peace & Prosperity’. To me the above mantra makes it very obvious, I’m at peace when I’m not in dispute with anyone else or with myself (thoughts). When this state of peace is continued, I realize I’m prosperous. The challenge for the speakers was to show us how Vedas can lead us to achieve this state of mind. Towards end of all the adult and youth sessions, we presented the following summary for benefits of the youths who were not able to attend the main session, since they had their own scheduled program with series of sessions and activities. Before I begin, I would like to mention that, best effort has been made to summarize the speaker’s thoughts without altering them, however I seek their apologies if they have not been captured as they were meant to be due to my limited understanding. Each of these speakers is well read and has very good command on the topic they presented.

Shri Dev Mahajan opened the main event of the sammelan with three key objectives, which he has been persistently promoting during his presidency.

· Leverage modern tools to succeed.

· Focus our energy and resources on second generation (the youths).

· Promote our objectives and message via monthly e-newsletter.

He shared the success story of DAV Montessori School and DAV Sanskriti School. Over ten years DAV Montessori School has proven to be the building blocks for career and character development, while DAV Sanskriti School has provided a platform to continue teaching Hindi and Naitik Shiksha to the youths beyond the teen years, a challenge that most of us resonate. In the later session he also shared details of these achievements and reiterated, key to success is to start early. Lastly, he also gave a glimpse into Jeevan Prabhat at Pondicherry, an undertaking of Arya Pratinidhi Sabha America to provide care for the orphaned with emphasis on education and moral character building.

He concluded his brief speech by thanking all the delegates, guests, supporters and sponsors.

Respected keynote speaker Shri Tulsiramji Sharma set the tone for rest of the sammelan when he said, “Vedas for peace and prosperity is a comprehensive theme for a world struggling for global peace and prosperity and yet resisting that very struggle with insistence on the peace and prosperity of particular parts, little realizing that the whole is greater than the aggregate of the parts.”. In his view definition of ‘Arya Samaj’ is the Vedas and the best answer to this topic can be found in the Vedas, provided we draw more emphasis on thought & reasons and live less with our emotion. Peace is not a static (dead) state but rather a dynamic state when our actions are at optimum, i.e. when we manage to create maximum benefits with minimum investment. Without this creativity there can be no prosperity and without prosperity there can be no peace. He further emphasized conflict arises from our failure to interpret and execute the divine message. He writes, “Unless we, together in familiar spirit, resolve these differences and agree on common, non-conflictive and progressive values of life and conduct, there is no possibility of universal peace and progress.”

Main message of his talk was peace and prosperity are two sides of the same coin, when we ignore that fact and treat them as two different entities it results in pain, suffering and misery (dukha). As per the Vedas peace, prosperity and progress, has to be achieved at all levels: individual, social, national and international, it cannot be a goal for ones own self.

Right after Dr. Tulsiramji awakened the audience by reminding us of our universal obligation to promote peace and prosperity, the dynamic voice of Havishkrit Arya rocked the walls of the auditorium to remind us of the ‘Relevance of Swami Dayanand Saraswati in modern times'. In his words he praised our Swamji as fearless propagator of 'Self Governance' when British were in power and most brilliant scholar, who was successful in achieving those goals of self realization and God realization. Though he spoke about works of Swamiji, his main focus was to highlight problems in today’s society and how everywhere there are terrorists that violate every human-right. Further said to keep these destructive forces in check we need purity of thoughts and mind, cosmic family hood and care of our elders and reading of pure Vedic Scriptures. In his conclusion he said, “For that purpose, we need just not one Swami Dayanand Saraswati but many in each and every century to show us the path of purity, prosperity and peace.”

Youth leader Arnav Gupta in his brief speech mentioned, presence and strength of youths is growing and they are eager to learn and support the activities of Arya Pratinidhi Shabha America.

Respected Swami Sampooranandaji also spoke on Shanti and Samriddhi. He too said true definition for these mutually and relative terms can be found in the Vedas. One leads to the other and they both are boundary less concepts. He gave us the formula to become prosperous.

Prosperity = Bhoga ko kama karo

For example whenever there is more than we need (consume) we feel prosperous, but the prosperity is superficial unless we develop an attitude to distribute (charity) the left over. Simply earning more than you spend does not make you prosperous. In the Vedas it is proclaimed, earn with one hand but use both to donate. Likewise earn with hundred hands, eat with one and use the rest to donate. There are two underlining things to keep in mind when you want to be prosperous, first reduce your consumption and second learn to give. According to Swamiji sukha, suvidha or sammaan should not be urged, instead they should be given. When one enjoys giving nobody can upset him. In today’s credit based society it is very important to understand that indebtedness does not lead to prosperity – that again is fake and superficial prosperity, which is not bound to last and will lead to misery. This means always understand your limitation and keep your desires in check. Once you have understood the formula to become prosperous, peace will follow, since peace is bi-product of balanced actions (prosperity).

Acharya Premchand Shridharji’s shared his thoughts on ‘Vedic Way of Achieving Everlasting Peace’. He opened his speech by proclaiming divine knowledge depicted in Vedic texts and scriptures belong to the whole humanity without any distinction of caste, creed, color and country. Today’s economic disparity is the root cause of the world being in awful state of conflicts and tension. Despite of plenty of wealth our minds and hearts feel the emptiness. The two main problems we need to tackle to achieve everlasting peace are, hunger and anger. The solution to handle both these is clearly outlined in our Vedas, which cautions us to follow principles of Aparigrah and Ahinsa. In his words, view everyone with a friendly eye (without being judgmental) and stop running after possession, position and power. Vedas teaches us how to control our desires and hatred. Economic, religious and political supremacy bisects the society. We need to clearly stay away from these and stand united. Following the ten principles of Arya Samaj one can follow Dharma and true Dharma is humanity. He closed by saying, “veda sharanam gachhami”. Learn how to live by the Vedas and move together – this is the only way to sustain global peace.

In the afternoon, the session started with Dr. Tulsiramji explaining the difference between the Shruti and Smriti granths. The topic was ‘Satyarth Prakash’, a topic no one else could have done a better job than Dr. Tulsiram. He said Vedas are the Shruti Granth, which is the fundamental knowledge of existence and would never change over the period of time. On the other hand Satyarth Prakash is exceptional smriti granth, because it is open minded, conscientiously and fundamentally based on the Vedas. However Swamiji accepts its limitation, since it is human creation, and no human creation can be absolute, human mind is subjected to limitations. Hence one should read Satyarth Prakash without being objective (pakshpat) but rational about it. If your view differ from views of Swamiji feel free to discuss openly, and if different views are convincing they should be accepted. Due to time limitation without going into the details of what is in the Satyarth Prakash, he spoke about the conditions (of the society) under which Swamiji had written this great book. He writes, “With his vision of life, wondrous great, beautiful yet finite, but heading towards Parmananda, through Dharma, Artha, Kama to Moksha, Swamiji wrote this great Smrti Granth, Sayarth Prakash, to call us back from where we had gone astray. It is the quintessence of the Rishi’s view of the Brahma to Jaiminni, their view of life, God, man and Veda and the Smritis, an indispensable reading for any seeker of truth”. Hence rightfully called the ‘Light of Truth’.

Dr. Devbalaji spoke on ‘Peace in Vedas through Spirituality’. Being a gifted musician, writer and poet, she sang several verses from our scriptures and recited the poetry to deliver the message. She started by saying Veda was Swamiji’s atma. Quoting the 3^rd principle of Arya Samaj this universal knowledge is for all. Enlightening ourselves with Vedic (spiritual) knowledge is the only way to achieve peace, there is no other way a lost soul going to find peace. As our life unwinds with every tick, we need to keep our desires and expectations in check, which are the root cause of ashanti. Secondly our thoughts (vichaar) and action (aacharan) must be aligned. Science & politics cannot make you human, only following Rishi teachings can enlighten a human being. Global peace will be achieved when there are more and more enlightened humans. In the closing statement she said, “shaaririk aatmik aur saamaajik unnati karo tab shaanti milegi”. Her presentation style was so vibrant and appealing to our ears and hearts that we brought her back on stage during the cultural program to recite more poems from her gem list.

Speaking as chief guest speaker, Shri Bhrama Agarwalji recognized we all are divine and urged us to learn to control our minds and develop the will power to go beyond the mind to achieve peace. In his view peace follows prosperity. He also reminded us, don’t just practice the rituals instead practice to follow the foot steps of Great Swami Dayananda Saraswati. Be his messenger to spread his message and challenge the wrong actions and unjust. In his words, “Become a Arya, not Arya Samaji”.

On Saturday Dr. Rajinder Gandhi opened the session with talk on “Mindfulness and Meditation in daily living”. The concept of mindfulness is based on Hinduism and Buddhism. Bhagavad Gita and Katha Upanishad mentions about practicing mindfulness. Mindfulness is the practice of becoming more fully aware of the present moment – non-judgementally and completely – rather than dwelling in the past or projecting into the future. Mindfulness can be achieved through meditation, and hence practicing yoga is mindfulness. The art of dissolving enmity and hatred and cultivating an attitude of sympathy, friendliness, kindness, compassion, appreciativeness, equanimity and joy is mindfulness. Relating the topic to today stressful life he mentioned multitasking reduces our focus and you cannot achieve the best results. Practice of mindfulness is to watch where you are going 24x7, align your mind, body and actions. Jon Kobat Zinn teaches mindfulness based on stress reduction. Dr. Gandhi highlighted how mindfulness is being used in medical industry (hospitals) to help patients cope with stress, pain and illness. He also presented certain facts and statistics to support effectiveness of this therapy. Research on meditation has shown significant improvements in mental health, memory, concentration and productivity of patients.

Dr. Abhinav Dwivedi, the Vice President of Hindu University of America spoke on how the school is serving Vedic Dharma. After brief history of Hindu University of America and its founder Swami Tilak, he said the goal and vision of this institution is to provide:

· Platform to share our heritage – the spiritual dimension.

· Opportunity for systematic education of unfolding spirituality.

· Room for debate and challenge without any emotional attachment.

This University is a messenger to show case our highly successful and positive image and aids us to bring these to the masses. Normally college education does not deal with purpose of life and hence we rely on conventional methods for shiksha, which is given at home, temples, ashrams or weekend schools. Hindu University gives an alternative to a student, to unfold a full range of courses to acquire this knowledge.

With his unique approach, Dr. Sudhir Anand showed us how one can achieve prosperity through Vedic way of life. He started by pointing out the four goals of human life – dharm, arth, kaam and moksh. The aim of worshipping God is to obtain his blessings to succeed in attaining these goals – of all this Moksha is the ultimate goal. He then defined, “Fulfillment of Arth and Kaam together is considered prosperity.” Quoting several mantras and breaking down their meanings – provided the basis that we should earn as much material wealth (prosperity) as possible but always by honest and fair means. We should become master of wealth but not slaves. Moreover prosperity must be shared with others who are less fortunate than us. But the silver lining is the fulfillment of Arth and Kaam should never supersede the final goal of attaining Moksha. He closed the session by saying, “Thus material wealth is to be used to advance spiritual progress in life and find peace and harmony in life.”

Professor Ved Shravah opened his session quoting the 3^rd principle of Arya Samaj “Vedas are the scripture of all true knowledge” and reminded us of our obligation to spread this Vedic knowledge in the whole world. However his main focus of the topic was to take us through the journey of how things have gone wrong, grave errors have been made and message of the Vedas is being misunderstood. He also quoted several scholars who have not done justice translating the Vedas due to lack of knowledge and proper background. In his view Arya Samaj has a responsibility and has to take on the initiative to properly translate and promote the Vedas to remove all the doubts and falsehoods. He made closing remarks, “It is time that Arya Samaj takes this historic responsibility. I think we owe it to our children, that we leave a heritage that they can be proud of.”

Shri Abhayji Asthana started by saying the VHP of America has its own vision and goals. It is a separate entity from VHP of Bharat and it is a non-political organization striving to translate Swami Vivekananda vision’s into reality. He said ‘Hindu Mandir Executive Committee’ was formed to bring all of us together and use mandirs as a medium to create a network to focus on and guide our children to promote and sustain eternal values and lead the Hindu-American community. This program looks upon executives of the mandirs as leaders, since they are the one who are motivated and experienced. Despite of abundance intellectual capital we are lacking social capital and hence the non-Hindus are catching up while we are losing our second generation to ethnic cleansing. It is about time we go beyond the 500 mandirs (structures) of North America to channel its power to network, share best practices and build long lasting relationships to preserve our value system and spirituality. He quietly left the audience gazing at a picture of a sweet young Hindu-American child, who is seeking answer to his question, “Will I remain a Hindu?”

Thereafter Dr. Ramesh Gupta and Arya Pathik Girish Khosla gave a memorizing presentation full of wonderful pictures demonstrating the lessons from the lives of Arya Samaj personalities. These pictures were very unique and many of them where personally taken by Dr Gupta during his visit to many of these historic places. They made the session very light yet informative.

Acharya Vedshramiji is a well versed scholar in Sanskrit grammar and an orator of Vedic scriptures. He stood up to our expectations to deliver an exceptional discourse on sixteen Vedic Sanskaars (sacraments). He pointed out the significance of these Sanskaars and its relevance in today’s time. Just like one dress well and puts on ornaments to beautify his or her physical body, similarly the Sanskaars are essential to shake off all the vices and acquire the virtues to beautify ones soul. Every Hindu has four aspirations – Dharm, Arth, Kaam and Moksh. To achieve these goals the Rishis have prescribed sixteen Sanskaars. The main motive behind performance of sacraments is to eliminate or at least modify and improve pre-existing vices, along with induction of virtues in life and develops ones personality to its fullest extent. While talking about personality development he mentioned today’s education system only provides ‘knowledge’ unlike the Gurukula system of the ancient times that catered to both – knowledge and shiksha (Moral & Spiritual). To sustain our value system it is essential to provide both to our children and youths (the second generation).

Lastly Dr. Deenbandhu Chandora presented a concrete business plan to publish Swami Dayanand’s work on DVD and over internet. He proclaimed, “Knowledge should flow across boundaries and oceans, wisdom should not die in Library.” He said time has come to change with the changing time to spread the true knowledge in all corners of the world. He not only laid down the plan but also added dollars and cents to show how it is a win-win situation for all the Arya Samajs. The proceeds from the sales of this software can be used for social activities involving benefit of nature and human race. He urged Arya Pratinidhi Sabha America to take lead on this and invited all the delegates to contribute towards this noble deed. It is about time we get out of this closed walls and start putting our thoughts into action. In his proposal he writes, “Let us commit ourselves to make Swami Dayanand Saraswati alive by making his work alive which is the only solution to humanity and peace on earth, may GOD give all of us wisdom like Swamiji.”

To conclude we had great opportunity to learn how Vedic knowledge can lead us to live a peaceful and prosperous life. There were plenty of take away for all delegates as well as Arya Pratinidhi Sabha. The concept of peace and prosperity is global and can be achieved by living a Vedic life style. More importantly we cannot just talk about it, it is time we act and act now collectively.