Work of Vivekananda Centre London

[Guest guest]

The work we do:

 

Hinduism for the Hindus and the Hindu educators

The work we do with Hindu youngsters to promote Hindu education is well known. Recently a string of our youngsters obtained perfect 100 percent marks in Hinduism modules at Advanced level in examinations set by Edexcel (London Examining Board). These students have exhibited academic excellence. They had to write long essays on themes like Brahman, Yoga Sutras, Bhagavad Gita etc. One of the key education specialist commented, such marks are unheard of ~ getting 100 percent marks in writing long essays on such subtle topics! We have also started the process of launching our resources in Hinduism. The series of four textbooks we are launching will change the way Hinduism is viewed and taught in the United Kingdom. Though we may give an impression that our activities are directed towards educating the Hindu youth, our main thrust is to: 'Educate the educators of Hinduism.' Vast majority of them (Hindus as well as non-Hindus) have very little or very poor knowledge of Hinduism and unknowingly (in most cases) do a lot of harm to the portrayal of Hinduism in the West. Our textbooks will enter into the mainstream education system in the UK and within a few years will change dramatically the way Hinduism is viewed.

 

Hinduism for the Western youth

We have always put a great deal of emphasis in taking Hinduism to the Western youth. In the next couple of weeks we will be conducting eight sessions in three major mainstream schools in London like the Watford Grammar School, where we will be talking to over 1,500 youth (mostly English) on themes ranging from Religious Pluralism, to Hindu response to challenges from Rationality and Science. Our experience of conducting such seminars and debates with Western youth is very revealing. Our presentations on esoteric Hinduism seem to generate far greater appreciation from Western youth than from the Hindu youth. This singals to us very clearly that the material we possess has greater relevance for the people in this nation than we could ever imagine. We are very encouraged by this experience.

 

Media

We require media support if we are to succeed in taking some of these powerful spiritual ideas into the mainstream society. From time to time we get an opportunity to make some presentations on Radio 2 while continue to meet severe resistance from Radio 4. In the BBC there is a strong Judeo-Christian lobby that is still dictating what form of Hinduism is granted exposure. (Forms of Hinduism that are reflection of Christianity are given exposure ~ while Comprehensive Hinduism that is dramatically different from Abrahamic faiths is kept out). The commercial media has either no interest in spiritual topics while the so called religious documentaries they produce are normally skewed versions of religions the financiers wish to portray. (All such financiers come from Abrahamic traditions). Hinduism stands no chance of gaining entry in this arena unless a Hindu financier steps in and gets involved and produces Hindu documentaries for the commercial channels. We wait to see if this ever happens.

 

jay (dilip) lakhani

Vivekananda Centre London