An Epic Weekend: Have We Found Tomorrow’s Heroes?
National Hindu Students Forum (United Kingdom) host their anniversary event, ‘Dynamic Spirit 2007: A Meeting With Yourself’ to inspire a new generation of the Hindu community.
By, Shivani Pala and Vibhuti Patel
In modern society we are so used to hearing about the disillusionment of youth, the struggles of living between two cultures, and young people’s separation from the community at large.
From Friday 2nd to Sunday 4th November, National Hindu Students Forum (NHSF) went some way towards proving all of this wrong. NHSF celebrated their 15th anniversary by hosting an innovative conference: “Dynamic Spirit 2007: A Meeting With Yourself,” held at Imperial College in their prestigious centenary venue.
The event was officially launched on the Friday with an evening reception which brought together community members and NHSF alumni. The latter group included those involved in organising the first Dynamic Spirit, which was held to celebrate NHSF’s tenth anniversary in 2002. There was a small theatrical presentation on the aims and functioning of NHSF, followed by some short addresses by Hasmukh Shah, advisor to the NHSF National Committee, Nilesh Solanki, NHSF alumni, Vibhuti Patel, current President of NHSF (UK) and Jeffrey Armstrong, keynote speaker and chief guest at Dynamic Spirit 2007. This reception was not just about congratulating ourselves on what the organisation has achieved in its lifetime, it was about showing gratitude to all those people who have contributed to the journey that NHSF has made over the last 15 years and continues to make today.
Saturday saw a day focussed on interactive activities for our current student members, homing in on the theme of ‘unleashing your inner superhero’ - finding your strengths and talents and using them to their full potential. We opened with an activity programme called ‘Happy Hour - Free Spirits’. A perplexing and controversial title perhaps, but this was a concept based on sewa (selfless service). It gave the delegates the chance to participate in activities which portrayed sewa in a unique light: whether making sandwiches for a homeless shelter or serving coffee to strangers on the streets of London. This session was about giving a taster of how easily we can give back to society, and get real personal fulfilment too. Kajal Valani, General Secretary of NHSF (UK), said “…the aim was to create ‘free spirits’, and certainly, happy hour helped - but not the kind of happy hour most university students recognise!”
The variety of workshops which made up the rest of the day were broken down into the sessions ‘Dynamic Personal Spirit’, ‘Dynamic Community Spirit’ and ‘Dynamic Future Spirit’. These spheres gave space for the delegates to assess aspects of their personal lives, discuss how we use our skills and abilities to contribute to the communities around us, and look to what sort of future we are building for ourselves. The workshops were more than just a series of lectures: they were about interaction, debate and discussion. Each topic - such as family relationships, globalisation and interfaith relations - was first introduced in the context of Hindu Dharma, then expanded upon in a creative yet relevant manner by experts in the field. Workshop leaders included prominent figures such as Dr Atul Shah from Diverse ethics, Harriet Crabtree from the Inter faith network, Rishi Saha from the Conservatives and many more. Rima Patel of Birmingham University said that the workshops “…provided endless inspiration that cannot be taught or experienced in higher education or at the workplace.”
Saturday evening was host to an awe-inspiring performance by rapidly rising composer, producer and musician Niraj Chag. With an impressive portfolio of work, including television, radio and theatre scores, as well as critically acclaimed and award-winning album, Along The Dusty Road, released in 2006, he now enjoys a fan base extending beyond ‘cult’ status. Niraj and his band gave a rousing and impressive performance, with a combination of sounds from vocal to guitar, violin to tabla. Delegate Rakshita Roplekar from Brighton and Sussex Medical School said, “What a gig! If nothing else, it was a real example of how success has been achieved when you recognise your strengths and make the most of them - truly inspiring!” Niraj was clearly pleased with his reception, saying after the show, “I really enjoyed being a part of DS. All the people there were brilliant … it was wonderful.” Niraj and his band were supported on the night by a beautiful performance of bharatnatyam dancing, and Vedic poetry and street rap from Dynamic Spirit guest, Jeffrey Armstrong.
Jeffreyji, as he was affectionately known over the course of the weekend, provided the motivation needed to kick-start the final day of the conference. Also known as Kavindra Rishi, Jeffrey is a celebrated Vedic scholar and astrologer, author of many books on Dharmic topics, and a much sought-after speaker. A native of the USA and now resident in Canada, he flew over to the UK especially for Dynamic Spirit, and we at NHSF were honoured to have his presence at the event.
Kavindraji delivered his keynote address to a room packed with an enraptured audience, under the title ‘The Hindu Epic Continues: You Are The New Heroes’. With his theme of equipping oneself to be a dynamic Hindu, he was honest but not brutal, controversial but not sensationalist, and the talk was appreciated by students and guests alike. As well as being pure inspiration, he clearly provided much food for thought for those who heard him. He was not adverse to the challenging questions that came at him during the Q&A session that followed and took with good grace the one-to-one discussions and questions that stemmed from his statements when he mingled with the audience, even if they challenged his statements. Dipvandana Shah, General Secretary of NHSF (UK) said, “There’s no doubt about his presence and power as a speaker, or even his hunger for Sanatan Dharma and its depth of knowledge. I thought some of what he said was surprising - but he was open to this, and instead of shooting us down, was all the more encouraging … that we should think for ourselves, find out who ‘we’ are but not accept just being told something one way or another … hearing him made me feel like I was hearing real dynamism.”
The official activities of the weekend were rounded off with a Ganesh puja, conducted by London GP, Dr. Milen Shah. Milenji has been furthering his spiritual development from his days at school, through his time as President of UCL Hindu Society and now with his involvement with the Chinmaya Mission. He holds a long-standing relationship with NHSF, and is often invited to local chapters to conduct puja ceremonies. So, on Sunday lunchtime, when students are traditionally thought to be barely out of bed, Milenji led 200 NHSF members in a traditional Ganesh puja with full explanations and even a slide show with mantra translations. The puja was followed by bhajans, led by NHSF Campus Secretary Shefali Mattani with fellow students providing excellent musical accompaniment. President of NHSF Imperial, the host chapter for Dynamic Spirit 2007, Ajay Gandhi said, “I’m always moved by pujas and bhajans, and feel ’spiritual’ because of them…but today’s puja was more than that, I felt like I really got it. That’s quite awesome really!” It may seem odd to have performed a Ganesh puja towards the end of the conference, but as Milenji pointed out at the time, this was about more than the end of a weekend. It was about marking beginnings: the beginning of the next 15 years of NHSF, the beginning for the delegates to use their new-found inspiration, and the beginning of a new era for the Hindu samaj as a new generation of dynamic individuals come to the fore.
The weekend ended with a stalls exhibition; ‘Dharmic Tools for Dynamic Spirits’. The delegates were able to look at a huge variety of organisations including the National Blood Service, Pandava Sena, Chinmaya Mission, and The Anthony Nolan Trust as well as volunteering and charity projects. It gave them the chance to see if there was somewhere they could put their re-asserted dynamic spirit to use in a truly practical way.
As the delegates mingled for the last time before going their separate ways, former NHSF President, Dharmesh Mistry, stated, “DS 2007 was a wonderful event. As proud as I was for Dynamic Spirit 2002, an event which was somewhat groundbreaking at the time, I’m so pleased to see where the current students of NHSF have taken the event. DS 2007 has strengthened the vision of NHSF that has evolved over the last 15 years. The energy, creativity and teamwork have set in motion the potential for a dynamic new future.”
And it is this dynamic new future we look forward to now. Dynamic Spirit 2007 was more than just a three-day conference, more than just a series of events. It was an opportunity to inspire a new generation of Hindu students, a new generation of the Hindu samaj. We wanted to provide ideas, creativity and motivation, so that those attending could find out what really makes them tick, draw on their passions in life and put them to the best possible use using all the untapped potential they contain. We all have inner superheroes, and DS07 may just have awoken a new batch of people who will continue our epic as we build a bright future for our community. The challenge now is to keep the inspiration alive!
The authors, Vibhuti Patel and Shivani Pala are current members of NHSF (UK)’s National Committee; both were intrinsically involved in the organisation of Dynamic Spirit 2007.
To find out more about how we will be building on the achievements of Dynamic Spirit, and about all the other work of NHSF (UK), please visit www.nhsf.org.uk
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