Tattva

The University of Washington chapter of Hindu YUVA organized their annual Speaker on Campus program on May 2, 2010. Hindu YUVA (Hindu Youth for Unity, Virtues and Action) is a registered student organization at the University of Washington which organizes a range of weekly and annual activities to increase awareness about Hindu culture in the community. There were two very informative talks by invited speakers –“Indian Culture and Traditions” by Dr. Yashwant Pathak and, “Introduction to Ayurveda” by Shri Harvilas Das. The event saw an attendance of around 60 people which included people from different cultures. The general response was good and everybody learnt a lot of new things from the two talks.

The first talk by Dr. Yashwant Pathak focused on the beliefs of Hindus, emphasizing on the existence of multiple forms of God and introduced the concept of “Karma.” It compared the Hindu culture with different cultures and traditions and it was pleasantly surprising with similarities with the African tradition and other traditions. The Hindu philosophy is applicable to all of humanity. A good example was “karmaneye vadhikare maphaleshu kadachana” meaning to work to the best of your ability without being attached to results. This holds steady in all walks of life irrespective of any belief.

His lecture also focused on the concept of “Dharma,” which keeps the society together and is one of the main contributions of Hindu culture. “Dharma” guides everyone in his or her passage through life and thereafter. The freedom of thought in Hindu culture gives rise to many forms of God. The manifestation of God is unparalleled as far as Indian philosophy is concerned. The concept of family and extended families was also introduced by the Hindu culture. The acknowledgement of famous personalities about the contributions of Hindu culture ranging in diverse fields from science and technology to arts and society was cited by Dr. Pathak.

The second talk about Ayurveda, one of the major contributions of Hindu culture, is an excellent example of treating any system in its entirety by the Hindu culture. Dr. Harivilas Das explained, Ayurveda is an ancient form of medicine practiced and popularized by Hindus and it believes in prevention more than curing a disease, which is in contrast to other systems where more emphasis is placed on curing than prevention. Ayurveda places an emphasis on moderation in food intake, sleep, sexual intercourse, and the intake of medicine. Ayurveda incorporates an entire system of dietary recommendations. The main principles summarized by the speaker include usage of natural products compared to packaged or processed foods. Milk and raw milk in particular should be the most important component in any person’s diet. The audience showed great interest in understanding the principles behind Ayurvedic medicine. Since the majority of the audience was students and people from non-Hindu cultures, the talk on Ayurveda was an eye opener for them. Some of the most basic assumed practices in our life were deemed detrimental according to Ayurveda.

The talk was followed by a panel discussion with the speakers. In general, the audience showed great interest and enthusiasm in learning the Indian culture, traditions, their contribution to mankind and Ayurveda. The audience included students from the culture center at the University of Washington, families of both Indian and Western origin and Indian students.

The talks have been uploaded on YouTube and can be accessed here – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KjLwAp11g0

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This entry was posted on Saturday, May 15th, 2010 at 12:01 am and is filed under Hindu YUVA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.