Guest guest Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Dear List Let us share our thoughts on the activities of the Vivekananda Centre London over the past month. It has been a very interesting period. Catholic College One of the top ten Catholic colleges in the UK situated in St Albans invited us to do two sessions of one hour each on Hinduism for their 17 to 18 year old boys. These 150 or so youngsters come from a very conservative Catholic background and one can say safely that they have never been exposed to proper Hinduism. So they got a blast of Vivekananda. After the sessions the deputy head wrote to us: "The boys continued discussing the talks long time after you had left and this has never happened in this school." Miracle! May be, after this experience the Vatican will confer Sainthood on our Vivekananda. - But then that would be miracle of miracles : ) New Classes on Hinduism at Willesden Green Swaminarayan Temple We have started classes on Hinduism. What a wonderful surprise to see the venue immediately filled to capacity - with a large number of 14 and 15 year olds (majority girls). With great enthusiasm they absorb this structured understanding of their religion. So many cobwebs wiped away - such relief on the faces! We take great care when making presentations to such sectarian groups that they feel comfortable about their own sectarian movement. At the end of these sessions they must feel greater love for their chosen pathway, else we consider our work a failure. They must become even more staunch Swaminarayan than before! North Thames Ministerial College We were asked to do a couple of sessions for about 30 Anglican and Methodist ministers on what Hinduism says about 'man' and his role in the 'cosmos'. We could not have asked for a better topic. One contentious issue came up when a minister with a strong 'evangelising fever' said: "Despite your love of Christ; he was really not such a nice chap; you see he tells you guys that either you accept Him or you are lost". Our response was, if you think you have a God given right to convert others then soon you will have someone snapping at your heels trying to convert you. Don't you remember the famous adage: "If you live by the sword, you perish by the sword" --- after that comment that minister was all smiles, and kept nodding agreement on the Hindu ideas of Pluralism as the probable resolution to how many religions can co-exist without thumping each other. VHP Celebrating Vivekananda Jayanti in Leicester We were asked to provide the key note speech. The chief guest at the Vivekananda Jayanti was the head of the Iskcon movement in Leicester. The Hindus have a habit of springing surprises on us in this unusual manner!! We said in our speech that Vivekananda or the Sri Ramakrishna movement has gone to great lengths never to utter a single demeaning comment about any of the Hindu sectarian movements, though sometimes the converse has not happened! I think only one or two people at the meeting caught the drift. Sometimes we can be a bit naughty : ) The meeting in Wembley, London We had agreed to give a talk on the life and teachings of Vivekananda. The venue was overflowing -- many youngsters eager to learn of this Modern Grand Master of Hinduism crowed into the Brent Hindu Council venue. The talk went on for nearly one and a half hours. At the end, the questions came; overflowing with love for our mentor. We tried our best but we are sure that we always fall well short of doing real justice to what Vivekananda is all about. Series of Talks at King's college These series of three talks are still in progress. The last talk brought in over 200 youngsters. To get this many students in for a talk on Religion is very difficult (to put it mildly). These series of talks are generating a great deal of interest and many other student bodies in other UK colleges are trying to set up similar talks. Imperial College has fixed a talk on 19th February and Brunel on 24th February. Most of these youngsters, in their schools; in colleges or in their workplaces have been exposed to the 'Best of other faiths compared to the worst of their own faith'. At some stage it becomes necessary to redress the balance in order to lift a load off their shoulders. Not that we would not pass very cutting comments about some serious shortcomings we observe in the way Hinduism is practised against what is preached. These talks are generating a lot of interest in the teachings of Swami Vivekananda. We tell these youngsters, if you like what you hear, then know for sure that it has been taken from the teachings of Vivekananda. All the waffle you heard was the personal contribution of the undersigned : ) jay Vivekananda Centre London Details of our activities http://www.vivekananda.co.uk/news.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 11, 2004 Report Share Posted February 11, 2004 Namaste Jay, How about posting some of the contents/Q & As on this forum? Or even better, edited video-clips that can encircle the globe in seconds? Thanks. Regards, Sunder Ramakrishna , " Vivekananda Centre " <vivekananda@b...> wrote: > Dear List > > Let us share our thoughts on the activities of the Vivekananda Centre London over the > past month. It has been a very interesting period. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 12, 2004 Report Share Posted February 12, 2004 - " Sunder Hattangadi " <sunderh <Ramakrishna > Wednesday, February 11, 2004 06:15 [sri Ramakrishna] Re: Hinduism in London > Namaste Jay, > > How about posting some of the contents/Q & As on this forum? > Or even better, edited video-clips that can encircle the globe in > seconds? Thanks. > > Regards, > > Sunder ================response================ This time round we have had a professional team of video recorders using digital cameras. I have not seen the work but will see what we comes out of it. They have promised DVD. If we can edit it and then send it out to other colleges etc, we will try and do it. There are many issues that needed to be addressed: These youngsters really feel very distressed as the portrayal of Hinduism in schools, colleges and the media in the West has been extremely poor. Hence these series of talks are generating a lot of interest. If only we can gain a foothold in the mainstream media! regards jay Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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