Articles About Hindu Jaagranam Program

By Churaumanie Bissundyal

I arrived late at the Satsang, almost at the very end when the guest speaker, Param Pujneeya Shri Sudarshanji, was winding up his address. His conclusive points on Hindu unity and empowerment impinged upon me, and I regretted that I couldn't make it earlier to get the entirety of his speech. But, then, Shri Somdat Mahabir announced that Sudarshanji would be speaking at another Satsang on the following day at Divya Dhaam, Woodside, which was two blocks away from where I live. I deliberated that I must attend this one, and that I should be there early. So, from work, tired and sleepy, I hastened to the Satsang amidst throngs of devotees, numbers, I guess, would be in the four figures, friendly and courteous individuals helping arrivants to seats etc.

Shri Sudarshanji began speaking, in polished, elegant English, beautiful British English, rich in metaphor and imageries. Then someone requested that he should switch his discourse from English to Hindi, which he did, obligingly. I thought, at first, that I would be at a disadvantage, since I had not been brushing up my Hindi over the past two decades. But I was struck, excited, elated, stupefied. When Sudarshanji started speaking, he swept me like an avalanching wave towards a sweet destination of the past: his words rang melodiously, with a pure symphony of my boyhood days, days when I used to read under the flare of a kerosene lamp such Hindi classics as the Premsagar, Sukhsagar, Aalaa Udal, Tulsidaas Raamayan, Sarwan Kumar, and Raja Harischandra. He brought back palpable memories to me when my father used to shepherd me to Bhagvat Yajnas, then put me to sit near the elderly men to listen to the Vyasji, ensconced in his singhaasan, reading, singing and discoursing in Hindi. Indeed, Sudarshanji had brought back to me a nostalgic resplendence by the power and beauty of his Hindi, a Hindi that is familiar and dear to me, a Hindi (with traits of Bhojpuri, Avadhi, and Brajbhasha), which was brought by my indentured forebears from India to Guyana, a Hindi which kept them as a powerful Hindu unit during the bad times of colonial cultural contempt and aggression.

The fear I had that I would have been at a disadvantage had now dissipated, and I was following Sudarshanji's discourse, as if someone were speaking to me in my own Creolese vernacular. Truly, and this is no concoction, Sudarshanji spoke like the elderly men of my little village when I was a boy, with the same sweetness, the same tolerance, the same passion, the same good-natured admonishment. For Hindus to survive, he said, they have to maintain their identity, environment and innate pride. The home must be embellished with Hindu paintings, portraits, pictures, and moortis, must be suffused with Hindu music, must be structured with Hindu habits, must be reinforced with Hindu mores and values.

I remember growing up in my village; there were many poor families, each family of more than ten living in mud huts of troolie-thatched roofs, both parents toiling in the rice-fields, the boys planting kitchen gardens and tending cows, the girls assisting their mothers with the cooking and cleaning. These little mud huts, I remember, were filled with pictures of Hindu deities; the parents in the evenings sang bhajans, keertans and dhoonds to their children or sent them to evening Hindi schools to learn Hindi, prayers and Hindi religious songs. On Sundays all of us children went to the mathiyas. Both boys and girls learned to sing chowtaals and Raamayan baanees. Stories from the Ramaayan and Mahabhaarat were read to us, reminding us of obedience towards our parents and elders, teaching us to live as a family unit: parents' regard towards their children, and children's towards their parents. And, with this family cohesiveness, despite the villagers were poor, many of their sons and daughters became successful lawyers, doctors, engineers, politicians, professors, economists etc.

But, today in America, despite many parents are wealthy and lavished with opportunities, their children are made recalcitrant, impudent and vocationally misdirected, children who have broken away from a moral course and have fallen prey to drugs, violence and sometimes prostitution.

This is not true. Long ago, when the Vyasjis used to read without music and noise, thousands used to attend, both young and old. I can remember Swami Purnanandji. His Bhagavat yajnas attracted thousands. And, at these yajnas, geet and sangeet were given their dignified places: there were talented taan singers singing their taans appropriate to every adhyaay the Vyassji read.

The Vyasjis concentrated on their work, which is to expound our Scriptures, the songsters on theirs. Today, many our yajnas look like Bollywood pop films, the Vyasjis reminding me of those wonderful days of Rafi, Mukesh, Kishore Kumar, Dharmendra, Jeetendra, Rajesh Khanna, and even Salaman Khan and Sharukh.

This was the message I drew from Sudarshanji's discourse and the setting of the Jaagaranam Satsangh: to preserve our values, to save our children through the instrument of family cohesiveness. And Sudarshanji's discourse could not have been better put over. It was like an oasis in a desert. And we do need it today, desperately, if we are to survive as a healthy Hindu community, to nourish our faith and fortitude. In decades I haven't heard such a wonderful lecture. Therefore, I advise my brothers, Shri Somdat and Upadhyaya, to have this lecture printed out in a booklet form and have it distributed among our Hindu population.

In conclusion, I have no regrets losing my sleep; this lecture was not only a lush orchard of memory, but also an aesthetic and blissful awakening for me.

July 28, 2001. It was a historic occasion and another first for the Caribbean Hindu community here in New York. About 200 Hindus were in attendance to listen to the distinguished guest of honor at Hindu Jaagaranam, Param Poojneeya Sudarshan Ji, the Sar Sangchalak (Chief), of the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) – the world’s largest Hindu voluntary organization.  The program took place in the auditorium of the American Sevashram under the banner of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS).

The Hindu Jaagaranam (Hindu Awakening) program was organized by the local chapter of the HSS (Durga Shakha) in association with other Hindu organizations in the New York Caribbean community. In addition to the RSS Chief, a number of other very distinguished Hindus were present at the function, including Pujya Swami Aksharananda (who was flown in from Guyana), Dr. Shankar Tatwawadi (retired professor from Banaras Hindu University), Prof. Radesham Dwivedi, a number of local intellectuals and businessmen.

Elucidating Sangh’s philosophy and mission, Sudarshanji said that the RSS is endeavoring to invoke and nurture the noblest ethos of Sanathana Dharma. RSS is a force for national integration in Bharat and for the unification of Hindus worldwide. “All our Shakhas activities are designed to instill discipline and pride in swayamsevaks. We try to create an indomitable spirit and an unshakable faith in our swayamsevaks,” said P.P. Sudarshanji. He recalled his recent visit to Guyana and Trinidad and was happy with the Sangh work that has been going on those countries. “It is absolutely necessary and essential to preserve your Hindu identity,” exhorted Sudarshanji. Amidst vociferous applause the RSS Chief thundered, “rest assured that in the future, Hindus would not get beating lying down.” He assured the Caribbean Hindus, “the whole of Bharat is behind you and will not let you down in consolidating the Hindu society.”  Sudarshanji advised the gathering to inculcate strong Hindu samskars in their children by praying together in their homes each day; to decorate their homes with Hindu paintings or pictures of Gods, Goddesses, Hindus Saints, Hindu heroes and heroines so that their children become familiar with their culture.

Sudarshanji also told the gathering, “One out of every six person walking on the face of the earth is a Hindu…RSS has taken on itself the responsibility to unite, rejuvenate and consolidate the entire global Hindu society.”  He said that generally Hindus have good cultural and family values and reminded the audience of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s visit to an HSS (UK) function where she praised the Hindus of the UK for this.  

In his lecture, Sudarshanji traced the medieval period of Indian history and said that disunity had been the hallmark of the Hindu society. Lack of discipline, self-confidence, absence of nationalism, and ignorance of the glorious period of Hindu history also contributed to the subjugation and domination of the Hindu society, first by Muslims and then by Christians.  The RSS is working to make sure this does not happen ever again!

He expressed awareness of the Christian conversion menace facing Caribbean Hindus and said that Hindus must stop this. “We Hindus are a very tolerant people, but must never allow anyone to insult us.” “We prepare swayamsevaks to take our Puniyabhoomi Bharat to the pinnacle of glory and see Her once again adorned as the mother of all nations. We must unite Hindus all over the world to be strong to make our Dharma flourish all around the globe.”