On the evening of Sunday, 19 th July 2020, 26 organizations came together on the occasion of Hindu Sangathan Diwas. All these organizations are working towards practicing and preserving Hindu/Bharatiya heritage. They came together on a common platform to celebrate and display unity.
The event started at 4 PM with a warm welcome note and event introduction by Vibhag Kishor Pramukh, Dinesh Ji Shenoy. This was immediately followed by a beautifully sung Ganesh Vandana by our little Ananya Desai. As it always does, the prayer settled all zoom participants in a quieter mode, more open to listening. Dr. Janak Joshi Ji, former State Representative, Colorado Springs, addressed the event with the opening remarks. Everyone’s enthusiasm and anticipation of the event was heightened by his eloquent words.
The event had an alternate, kids’ track, and the kids’ team-leaders along with their assigned groups were moved to a separate breakout room. The kids’ session included fun games, intellectual discussions, and moral stories. The kids had a blast led by Ketaki Ji, Ratan Ji, Reva Ji, Nadarajan Ji. In the primary breakout room, each organization took turn introducing themselves and their work.
There were 27 organizations participated in the Utsav. The organizations that participated and presented were as follows:
1. Bhairavi School of Music
2. Art of Living
3. Marathi Mandal of Colorado
4. Kriya Yoga
5. Colorado Kannada Koota
6. Samskrita Bharati
7. Unite2Uplift
8. Balamukund
9. Colorado Springs Punjabi Association
10. Guru Ghar, Colorado Springs
11. Bala Vihar – Boulder
12. Gurudwara
13. CoHNA ( Collation of Hindus In North America)
14. Jain Samaj of Colorado
15. Center for all Logical Literate
16. Asia Eurasia Human Rights Forum
17. India-US Impact – Denver chapter
18. Satya Sai Group
19. Indian Association of the Rockies
20. Rocky Mountain Gujarati Samaj
21. Hindu Temple Of Colorado
22. Sri Venkateshwara Swamy Temple
23. Telugu Associations of Rockies Area
24. Sewa International – Denver Chapter
25. Friends of India in Colorado
26. Hindu Yuva
27. Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh
It was very heartening to hear about the various initiatives taken by Hindu and/or Bharatiya people in Colorado. The various fields covered were: Linguistics, Art, Socio-political, Religion, Culture, Yoga, Mindfulness, etc. The event made us feel united, proud, and hopeful all at once. After the wonderful session that displayed our diversity, we celebrated our unity. We started by merging the kids’ stream to the main session, so we could hear kids recite some Sanskrit verses. Kaushal read a Shloka from the Bhagwad Geeta and Neha Roy did the subhashitam.
The next session was very interesting. Four kids, whose families originated from four corners of Bharat made a presentation describing their native places and the specialties from there. Presentations included Reema from Assam, Deekshita from Visakhapatnam, Advaith from Jammu and Kashmir, and Lisa from Maharashtra, putting together amazing PowerPoint presentations and talked about the four corners of our beautiful Punyabhoomi, Bharath. Shardul Takalkar Ji, Colorado Vibhag Saha Karyavaha introduced the speakers of the day and we then were transported to a whole different world by Vishwashanti Shakha Karyavaha, Ankush Hans' melodious geet. The speakers of the day were Maananeeya Ved Nanda Ji, (North America Sanghchalak), and Arthi Thiagarajan Ji (Southwest Sambhag Sevika Pramukh). They discussed the importance of staying united and keeping the good work going. After their inspiring words, Ketaki Mujumdar Ji gave a heartfelt vote of thanks and that was followed up by paying tribute to the symbol of Hindu unity and strength, the Bhagwad Dhwaj, The HSS Prarthana was sung by Veena, Kishori from Vishwashanti Shakha. and we all filled with a renewed feeling of brotherhood and the strength of goodwill.
This was a well-planned, elegantly executed, and a successful event. The hard work and long hours put in by the volunteers was evident and paid off very well. The total number of devices joined were 112 and the estimated total number of participants was 160