Events past and present

[Guest guest]

Please bear with this long email. We feel that we should share with you our experiences in

promoting Hindu teachings in the UK.

 

22nd February Talk at Bristol Temple

This is the only temple we know of in the UK that has huge oil paintings of Sri Ramakrishna and Swami Vivekananda adorning its main wall. About 200 people attended the talk. The question and answer session was particularly lively. One adult asked, "How does Bollywood become an obstacle in your work?." We replied, "The modern Hindu youth cannot be blamed for mistaking Bollywood for Hinduism as that is the only aspect of his 'culture' he has been exposed to. You fritter away the life force of your youth if you continue to expose them to such trivia."

 

25th February Talk at St Helen's Girls School in Northwood

This is one of the top Girls schools in the country. One of the Hindu girls in the school had asked the school to invite an outside speaker on Hinduism (we suspect) in order to tidy up the image of Hinduism in the school. The material we were asked to cover was 'Hereditary Caste system.' Most of the schools with a strong Christian tradition use this topic as a stick to beat Hinduism with. We said that the fact that 'people are different and face differing circumstances' means that the way they put religion into practice has necessarily got to reflect this and be contextual -- this is the basis of the term 'Varnasharm dharma.(not Hereditary Caste system).' This is not a sign of weakness of Hinduism but the sign of great maturity of this religion.

 

6th March Sai group in East London celebrates Sri Ramakrishna's birthday

We were invited to give a talk on the life and teachings of Sri Ramakrishna. The key aspects we

emphasised were the special injunctions from this contemporary spiritual master (a) Celibacy in married life (b) Giving up this inbuilt urge of chasing after 'even more' wealth. When we collect more than we need.....we are literally stealing the bread from the mouths of the less well off ....then we make a pretence of charity by throwing some crumbs back at them!

 

8th March Hanwell Methodist Church

This is the fifth talk we have given in a mainstream church in recent times. We told the congregation, "If a Hindu was to offer such a talk from the pulpit of a church 200 years back he would have been lynched!" But things are changing. The message of Pluralism that the Hindus hold is very valuable one and has to be integrated into other mainstream religions very quickly. We told the audience: Do so, we will not ask for copyrights : ) The reaction such talks produce with Western audience is quite dramatic.

 

10th March Westminster University London

In the audience we discovered two Chinese diplomats who wanted to learn about Hinduism. The question and answer session was very lively. They asked, "Why bother to pray?? We said, "It is not because you want to invoke some supernatural being sitting behind the clouds. It is because the process allows you to access the latent strength that you already possess to come to the fore." They asked, "How do you become spiritual?" We offered the advise given by Sri Ramakrishna, "The greatest austerity of this age is: 'Adherence to truth' - impose this discipline on yourself. "What you think you say and what you say you must do" .....The diplomats laughed and said, "Impossible to achieve in their present roles....as diplomats they are trained in how not to tell the truth" : )

At the end of the session a very impressive diplomat said, "The talk was enlightening and he will arrange to give us a red-carpet treatment if we ever decide to visit China."

 

11th March Chatham Grammar School for Girls in Kent. A day seminar:

About 100 girls aged 17 to 18 attended this seminar. The topic: Why suffering?

The speakers:

Representing Christian tradition Prof. Ralph Norman of Christ Church College Canterbury

Representing Humanist tradition Prof. Richard Norman of University of Kent

Representing Hindu tradition: Vivekananda Centre London

This was a very exciting encounter. A very prying theme asking for an explanation from two major world religions and of course the secular lobby. The level of pointed questioning took our breath away. These youngsters knew their subject. It was interesting to see how the speakers reacted.

Needless to say that the material coming from Vivekananda's teachings steals the hearts of all such audiences. We said, "Suffering is the tax paid by spirituality in wanting to manifest itself

as a living entity." Such encounters and interactions with mainstream Christian lobby or the Secular lobby makes us very certain about the key role of Swami Vivekananda's teaching in the modern world. We were perhaps very severe on the Humanist. We said, "Since the advent of quantum mechanics the matter of the materialist has disappeared, but unfortunately the materialists have yet to disappear!

 

Future talks...

 

18th March

Imperial College South Kensington

Chemical Engineering Dept Lecture room 2 Time 6pm onwards.

Topic: The Face of modern Hinduism -- Swami Vivekananda

 

23rd March

Brunel University Lecture Centre Time 6pm onwards.

Topic: Science and Religion

 

29th March

Greenwich College

King William Building Rm 016 Maritime Greenwich Campus

Topic: Modern Hinduism

Time 6pm onwards

3rd April Brighton: Day seminar on Hinduism for

2nd and 3rd year degree students of Catholic college training for

Religious Education

 

jay (dilip)

Vivekananda Centre London