Yuva Sanghik in Southern California
Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, Southern California Vibhag had organized University/Yuva Sanghik on Saturday, Feb 26 2011 at the lush green campus of University of California, Irvine. 42 young men and women from 8 University Campuses of Southern California namely USC, UCLA, UC Riverside, UC San Diego, SDSU, Cal State Fullerton, Cal State Northridge and Cal State Long Beach had assembled on this unusually cool afternoon. The sanghik started at 3.30 pm with ‘Parichay’ (introductions), which was followed by three novel games on the lawns by the library. The stimulating and energetic games built a sense of camaraderie amongst the swayamsevaks which was conducted by Sreevidya and Mandy. The ‘shareerik’ continued further with 13 ‘Surya Namaskar’, ‘Ardhakatichakrasan’ and ‘Veerbhadrasan under the lead of Vaibhav Ji and Hardik ji
Mitrata Sangam in DC
DC Vibhaag has a huge potential for Yuva activities and involving students is the larger goal of HSS. There are four major Universities with a substantial number of Hindu students in this Vibhaag: i) George Washington U (DC), ii) George Mason U (Virginia), iii) U of Maryland, and iv) Johns Hopkins U (Maryland). To initiate and improve interaction amongst the existing and potential student Swayamsevaks and Sevikas, DC Vibhaag Yuvas organized a "Mitrata Sangam" amongst themselves on February 26, 2011. This Sangam involved a tour of four temples and Ramkrishna Mission's Vedanta Center in Maryland. There were 12 "Mitra" who participated in this Sangam: 6 from GMU, 3 from GWU, 1 each from U of Maryland and Johns Hopkins, and 1 IT professional (recent graduate from U of Maryland). Of the 12, 10 were Swayamsevaks and 2 Sevikas. The Sangam was guided by Shri Darshan Soni, HSS Pracharak currently based in DC.
Baudhik Evenings at University of Washington
Abstract for this Saturday’s talk: “Many of us study Indian history in school and it usually ends at 1947 with India gaining independence. But we do not come to know details about what led to the partition and how we faced it, how the country that was divided into about 500 states came together to form India, and how the constitution was written.Studying this period interests me a lot because hidden here is the identity of India, what our great leaders thought the nation and its citizens should be like. Hence I decided to read about all this from a bunch of sources and will present the journey of India from 1947, when India became independent, to 1950, when India became a republic.” – Ankit
Surya Namaskar Marathon at University of Washington
The Surya Namaskar Marathon was organized on January 29, 2011 in the South Campus Center, UW. It saw participation by 22 enthusiasts who did a total of 1800 Surya Namakars in a period of 1.5 hours. It was great time doing yoga together and continually motivating each other to do more and more. We hope that all of us will continue doing this wonder yoga asana weekly if not daily :)
The photographs from the event are here - http://students.washington.edu/hyuva/category/media/
Surya Namaskar Lehar in South East Janunary, 2011
During the Surya Namaskar yagna the SE sambhag did SNY lehar connecting 5 campuses including UNC Chapel Hill, UNC Charlotte, Goergia Tech, Florida International University and Nova University on the concluding day of the yagna. Total participants were 20 and total number of surya namaskars performed was 1117. The lehar was 4.5 hrs long. This lehar was done for the 3rd time in a row and has been successful in connecting all the campuses in the sambhag in one thread.
Trip to Vedanta Society in Bay Area
Last weekend, a group of 20 yuvas and yuvatis (13 from SJSU Yuva shakha and 7 from Sunnyvale Yuva) went on a trip to downtown San Francisco on the occasion of Swami Vivekananda's janma divas. San Francisco was one of the cities visited by Swami Vivekananda during his pravas to US. Soon afterwards,a local chapter came up as the Vedanta Society of Northern California.
Diwali Prabhat at Michigan Tech
On November 7, 2010, Houghton Shakha celebrated “Diwali Prabhat”. This was the first HSS event in Michigan Tech, Houghton and it was a grand success.Almost 70 students and few faculty members came to attend this program. We were expecting somewhere 40-45 number of people, However almost double that number showed up during the actual event.
Hindu Youth Retreat in Florida
On the weekend of October 9th - 10th the Hindu Yuva, Florida held their 1st Vibhag YuvaSangam. The camp was held in Camp Owaissa Bauer, FL from Saturday 12 pm – Sunday 12 pm. Total 17 participants from 4 universities (Nova University, Florida International University, Florida Atlantic University and University of Miami) including first and second generation students and young working professionals. One student each from the Florida International University, University of Florida, Florida Atlantic University and Nova University along with the local HSS Pracharak Ramprasad Kraleti started the planning 1.5 months before and there were weekly conference phone calls for regular updates regarding sampark and session planning.
Hindu YUVA at GWU celebrates Ganesh Utsav
Sixty students from George Washington University and George Mason University attended Hindu YUVA’s Ganesh Pooja at GWU on September 11th. The Ganesh murthy-sthapana was performed in the on-campus apartment of one of the Hindu YUVA members. Subsequently, the students performed aarti. The fragrance of dhoop sticks and karpur created a perfect atmosphere for celebration. Afterwards, everyone enjoyed delicious prasadam. Similar celebrations were also being performed at few more apartments on-campus.
Ganesh Puja at Illinois State University
Hindu YUVA at Illinois State University organized a Ganesh Utsav celebration on September 11, 2010. This was the first time that Ganesh Puja was conducted on the campus. The puja started at noon on Saturday with the Aarti. After the Aarti, Shri Murali Reddy, general secretary of the midwest region of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh, spoke to the students about Ganesh Utsav and the importance of being socially active in the community. Shri Srinarayan Chandak, vice-president of the midwest region of HSS, explained aspects of social service and how it can benefit the students personally and as well as build a strong community. The students enjoyed the discussion and were amazed with the work of HSS in the US.
