This is a report on the lecture delievered by Vijay Swamee ji on the Sewa activities in Arunachal Pradesh, Bharat.
The morning of Dec 4th, 2005 was chilly in Erie, PA and it was snowing. Despite that, about 30 people were present to enjoy the wonderful presentation by Vijay Swamee ji. The lecture was conducted at the Montessori Children’s house of Erie.
We were also honored by Dr. Radheshyam Dwivedi ji’s presence. He was a HSS karyawaha and later the Saha Sanghachalak for whole of USA. Presently he is a member of the Advisory council of HSS, USA. He is an expert in vedantic philosophy and currently the President of The International Center for Cultural Studies, USA Inc, an organization dedicated for the academic research in ancient traditions and cultures.
After the welcome and geet, Yashwantji Pathak introduced the two guests.
Vijay swamee ji began his talk by introducing the Sewa activities in Arunachal Pradesh in Bharat where he has spent many years as a full time worker. The audience was thrilled to see the beautiful land of Arunachal captured by wonderful photographs. We learnt about the numerous languages spoken, the colourful costumes of the tribal people and the young children attending the schools started by the Kendra. We also learnt about various projects whereby schools from the rest of Bharat send there students to visit and work in Arunachal during their vacation. After that we were taken through a brief history of the region and came to understand why the Northeast is such an important part for Bharat. Because of the Sewa activities of organizations like the Vivekananda Kendra and RSS amongst others, we were glad to hear that Arunachal was so far protected from anti-national terrorist activities and violence that has gained roots in the rest of Northeast Bharat.
After about a 45 minute talk, an interesting question-answer session was held. To one of the questions inquiring the religious link between the Northeast and the rest of Bharat, Vijay Swamee ji replied that even though the tribal people there do not have temples like the rest of Bharat, their link to the Hindu culture at large is because of their nature worship. They also perform dances depicting the Ramayan. To this, the author would like to add that temples and idols are only one of many ways of following the Sanatan Dharma.
Thanks to Vijay Swami ji, this session has sparked an interest among the Erie community present in the Sewa activities in Arunachal Pradesh leading to a few pledges of support. We thank him for giving us valuable information regarding a little understood part of Bharat.