HSS US National Yuva Varg 2010

Makar Sankranti (Jan 14), the apparent movement of the Sun northwards, the time of the year signifying movement towards light, positivity and energy in the life of an individual as well as the society. The whole country is engulfed in the wave of the Suryanamaskar Yajna. What better time could have been chosen to hold the 3rd national Yuva Varg?

The third National Yuva Varg was held from Saturday Jan 16th morning to Monday Jan 18th noon at the Bill Frederick Park, in the beautiful city of Orlando, FL. The varg started on Saturday morning with brief ice-breakers followed by context setting. The tone was set for the varg by mentioning the 4 C’s that yuvas need to develop - Clarity, Camaraderie, Conviction and Commitment. This was followed by an excellent presentation on “Integral Hindu World View” by Saumitra ji Gokhale. The presentation very nicely described the holistic Hindu world view and how it can provide solace to the mankind engulfed number of problems – individual, social and environmental. Everyone was then divided into 4 ganas for the next Churcha session on the recent Newsweek article titled “We are all Hindus now” by Lisa Miler. The churcha covered many points on the validity as well as implications of the article’s claim about the gradual movement of mainstream Americans towards a more pluralistic view of social as well religious life (as advocated by the Hindu thought). Lunch followed. First session in the afternoon was pre-varg reading review and discussion on the sampark activity that everyone had to do before the varg.

Latter part of the afternoon saw 6 different shakhas running in parallel depicting various campus shakha scenarios in US e.g. swayamsevak graduate students only, mixed undergraduates, graduates and young professionals and so on. Shakha sankhya varied from 7 to almost 20. The goal of this session was to give everyone an experience of different scenarios on University campuses in which our yuva shakhas operate. This was followed by a lively churcha on model shakha experience, feedback, standardization of certain protocols, activities in shakhas, metric for a good yuva shakha etc. A lively bhajan session followed where everyone lit a diya to make a big OM in front of the God’s deity. Dinner followed.

First session after dinner was titled “Invading the Sacred”. First part of this session covered the sorry state of affairs and the inherent negative bias present in the Hinduism studies in academia in US. Balu ji put forth a very nice presentation on the topic corroborating his points by citing various passages from the book. The next part of the session was a presentation on misrepresentation of Hinduism in Political Science studies (and in general in the social arena) by Sidharth Dave ji. Yashwant ji Pathak very nicely summarized the whole session by stressing the need to come together strategically to counter the biases. The last session wascreative skits based on shlokas from various scriptures by yuvas divided into different groups. The condition that they are not allowed to talk during the skits made it even more interesting and enjoyable.

While most yuvas retired to sleep after the long day of activities, a baithak of the yuva pramukhs followed where different items relating to the yuva vibhag were discussed (e.g. integrating yuva work with rest of the Sangh work, making a yearly calendar of events, pravas planning, contact lists, role of yuva pramukhs etc.). Follow-up baithaks were done next day morning during breakfast, where all the yuva karyakartas from each sambhag sat in respective groups and discussed the points covered in the yuva pramukhs baithak (customized to each sambhag).

Sunday morning started with Ish Chintan, yogasanas and pranayam. The first session after breakfast was a series of presentations on various yuva vibhag projects i.e. Tattva, Yuva for Sewa, Speaker on Campus and Bhutanese Refugee Empowerment (especially addressing how youth can contribute). This was followed by a churcha on “How to increase our reach on university campuses” conducted in 3 different ganas. Many useful ideas were discussed on how to bring more people to our activities, interacting with other students groups on campus, utilizing various resources on campus, and creating an overall meaningful impact on campus. A separate session was conducted for all the high school seniors on “What to expect on college campuses as a Hindu and as a Sangh karyakarta”. This session gave many good pointers to all the high school goers on what to expect as they move on to college life in another less than a year. Lunch followed.

First session in the afternoon was by Dr. Srikumar Rao, who is one of the leading experts on the topic of “self management based on the principles in Bhagwad Geeta”. Dr. Rao very eloquently conveyed the idea that source of happiness lies within rather than in the outside world. And it is not the kind of work or the environment that brings contentment to oneself, but rather it is the attitude with which one handles the external impulses. This was followed by a flag finding mission demonstrating the need to work in teams rather than competing with each other.

Shakha followed in the evening. The atmosphere was startling with everyone wearing Hindu YUVA t-shirts right before the shakha and shouting the naras at the top of their voices. Samata, Dand and Niyudh were conducted in 3 different ganas. Everyone then participated in a Kho-Kho session which was thoroughly enjoyed by one and all. Shakha was followed by the formal inauguration of the 3rd anniversary edition of the Youth Magazine Tattva, by Dr. Anoop Reddy, a prominent physician from Tampa. Hindu YUVA brochure was also released during this session by Florida vibhag sanghachalak Ma. Brahmaratan ji Agarwal. Bhajan session followed.

The session after dinner was on various challenging situations faced by Sangh karyakartas (primarily focusing on pracharak life) and how they successfully overcame them. Vijay Simha ji, Yashwant Pathak ji and Yashwant Belsare ji shared the experiences from their personal lives while working full time for Sangh. These narrations threw a completely new dimension of the Sangh work in front of the yuvas, especially since many of these challenges may not be present in the US scenario. The last session for the day was the campfire where everyone sang and danced to the tune of the upbeat Sangh songs. Before retiring to bed, ice cream was served which resulted in informal chit chat session among the yuvas, despite the fact that it was past mid night already.

Monday morning, first session was the suryanamaskar competition since the varg fell right on the first weekend of the starting of the nationwide Suryanasmkar Yagna followed by breakfast. In the last formal session of the varg, Yashwant ji Pathak summarized. This was followed by a boudhik on need to give lifelong commitment to the Sangh work by Ma. Ved Prakash ji Nanda, sanghchalak of USA. Nanda ji illustrated his point nicely by citing many examples from the lives of pracharaks who dedicated their whole life for the cause of the society.

At this juncture, it was time to leave for many of the yuvas (especially for those who drove from as far as New York, Boston and Cincinnati). For those whose flights were later in the day, a creative session was conducted on designing a monopoly board based on the four pillars of the Sangh work – shakha, baithak, abhyas varg and sampark. It was suggested later that the currency for this board game could be Suryanamaskar counts! This was followed by lunch and wrap up.

Vyavastha was handled well with all the arrangements of rides, food and logistics taken care of in a timely fashion. Overall, the varg was a rejuvenating experience for all the yuvas. The sessions addressed a variety of aspects including challenges as well opportunities present in front of the yuva work, increasing the clarity, and having a deeper conviction. Informal activities and breaks provided a good source of bonding between all the yuvas. Everyone left motivated to increase their commitment to Sangh work and carry forward the vision that Doctor ji had put more than 85 years ago.

The pictures from the yuva varg can be found at http://www.hssus.org/gallery/v/SEAST/yuvavarg2010/

Here are some of the highlights from the varg:

1. Total sankhya of 62 including Adhikaris and special guest.
2. Attended by 54 yuvas from 22 different campuses across the country.
3. 15 vibhags were represented.
4. About 66% were second generation swayamsevaks and sevikas.
5. About 35% were sevikas (all second generation).
6. Enthusiastic participation by the yuvas in the Surya Namaskar Lehar on Saturday Jan 16 morning (exact counts still need to be compiled).
7. Third anniversary edition of Youth Magazine Tattva was inaugurated by Dr. Anoop Reddy during the varg.
8. Dr Srikumar Rao, who has been a faculty at Columbia Business School, Hass School of Business (Berkeley) and London Business School, was present for the latter half of the varg

Thanks to Madhumita Jee to provide me this writeup to publish on my blog.