The Austin Hindu community celebrated their biggest cultural event of the year, Diwali - "festival of lights" by having a pleasant surprise. Multiple city councils around the Austin Metro area proclaimed Hindu Heritage Month to coincide with the months of October and November. Please read more about this activity here.
Aligned with the Hindu philosophy of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” which translates to the whole world is one society, the shakhas of the Great Lakes Vibhag engaged with the larger community and presented Surya Namaskar workshops throughout the region during the month of January 2020. Sun Salutation workshops have become an annual feature throughout the USA for the past 10+ years with growing acceptance at public schools, community organizations and public offices .
HSS shakhas in Houston area celebrated Guru Vandana either online or greeted teachers from outside their home. Shakha volunteers developed a website platform, kids posted video/audio/text greetings to the teaches on the site. The web site sent emails to teachers and they responded with their blessing and also posted on the site. Around 8 volunteers worked to make it a grand success.
SNY 2020 (Surya Namaskar Yagna) turned out to be a huge success in southern LA Metro area (Dakshin LA Vibhag). The grand samarop (finale) had total upasthiti sankhya by all four shakhas and guests was 102. We started the event with light yoga led by Shri Mansukh ji Kannaria of LA VYASA. After training our body and mind, we completed total 1,911 Surya Namaskars combined by all participants. After Surya Namaskar, Shri Prabhat ji of Art of Living led us through guided meditation.
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.
HSS has been actively working with the civil society, its leaders and officials for all the years it has been incorporated in the US. The Pandemic times of this year (2020) made it challenging, but our Karyakartas found innovative ways to do it.
Dharma Bee is a nation wide quiz contest for kids with the theme ‘Discover your Hindu Heritage". Dharma Bee’s goals are to improve swadhyaya (learning) about Hindu dharma, increase bala/kishore participation in shakha and to improve quality of shikshaks. As part of HSS’s nationwide initiative, HSS Durga Shakha in Temple City, CA organized “Dharma Bee - 2020” program that began on February 9th, 2020. National team provided basic guidelines and resources such as syllabus, campaign materials, teaching strategies etc.
