In keeping with the Hindu values of unity and dharma, over fifty youth from across nine Midwestern states and representing fourteen different universities and three high schools came together at the Hindu Youth Retreat this past weekend (October 16-17, 2004).

A core team with representatives from both Hindu Students Council (HSC : www.hscnet.org) and Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS : www.hssworld.org) joined in spirit, strength, and resources to coordinate the two-day retreat at the Hoover Outdoor Education Center in Yorkville, Illinois.

By learning together, discussing various Hindu topics, competing in games, singing bhajans, practicing yoga, and sharing personal experiences, all the students and young professionals left with new friendships as well as an intense desire to bring about positive change in the world.

Hindu Students Council (HSC) is a well-established Hindu student organization with noble goals of knowledge, unity, progress, and dharma. HSC is an international forum that provides opportunities for college students and young professionals to learn about Hindu heritage through various activities, events and projects. HSC presents ample opportunities for self-development at the spiritual and professional level via campus study groups, seminars, lectures, workshops, conferences and camps.

Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) is a non-profit organization with the mission to unite Hindus and instill Hindu culture. The main HSS objective is to strengthen the Hindu community via building character in each of its individual members, eventually leading to the advancement of society as a whole.

Amongst the key guest speakers at the retreat was Professor Subhash Kak. Dr. Kak is an acclaimed poet, historian, and computer scientist who is currently on faculty at Louisiana State University. He offered a broad perspective by sharing Hinduism in modern perspective.

He emphasized the interrelation between religion and many of the scientific fields of study, as well as discussing the role of youth activity in society. He actively engaged in discussions with students at the retreat by answering their questions ranging from ancient Hindu history to the concept of dharma, and offering his knowledge and passion of Hinduism.

There were several other speakers that emphasized the preservation of Hindu culture and outlined the youth responsibility in the global Hindu renaissance. The participants had the full pleasure of Saumitra Gokhale for the weekend; he is a full time volunteer for HSS who travels on an international level. Originally from Trinidad, and now in Chicago, Gokhale gave an inspirational talk commending the participants of the retreat, and asking them to increase the awareness of Hinduism across the world.

Although Hindus constitute a large portion of the world population, there are but a handful of "towering personalities" in the community. It is the responsibility of interested and dedicated individuals to increase the strength of all the people as a whole. Dr. Bharat Barai, cancer specialist and Vice Chair of Medical Licensing Board of Indiana, joined the panel of speakers to share his thoughts on the current movement in Hinduism as well.

There was also the opportunity to learn about various Seva projects at the retreat. Ravi Raghavan, the Joint-Vice President of Chapter and Regional Activities of HSC from Houston, Texas, shared the great outreach work and fundraising that HSC has done through its Seva Initiative, NetSEVA.

The currently supported organizations include Ekal Vidyalaya, All-India Movement for Seva (AIM), Indicorps, the 5H Program of the International Association for Human Values, and Conservation International.

Shyamji Gupta, a founding member of Ekal Vidyalaya (www.ekalvidya.org), briefly joined the youth to share his vision of service. He encouraged all the youth to "be the Vivekananda of 2004" and remember that the importance of Seva is not service to others but rather towards purification of self.

In addition to the inspirational talks and intellectual discussions, there was time to underline spirituality, share bhajans, and enjoy the feeling of family around a campfire. The weekend could not have been so successful without the tireless months of planning amongst the core team.

The end of the retreat marked the creation of fifty new friendships and the emergence of many new leaders who carry with them the vision of Hindu dharma, and love and dedication for their Hindu family.

Sangh Shiksha Varg is an elite institution where transformation of ordinary SwayamSevaks into extraordinary torchbearers, of Sanatana Dharma, begins.

Great Lakes HSS division chose not only to plan and execute this Varg for their Swayamsevak(s) and sevika(s), but was entrusted with doing so for Bhuttanese youth. This was the first national Bhutanese Youth Camp. This is a matter of great pride and honor for our division.

Camp Details: 

Varg was officially inaugurated with the lighting of the lamp by Vibhag Sanghchalak Sri. Vimal Ji Patel, followed by Udghatan bauddhik by Sri. Darshan Ji Soni. Shiksharthi(s) were introduced to each other via ice breaker games as they will be bunk mates, camp mates for the next five days!.  The first evening at the camp then concluded with shiksharthi(s) breaking away into their gana(s).

It was this Varg’s great fortune to have such stalwarts of HSS as shikshak(s), as Ma. Saumitra ji Gokhale, Sri Siddhesh ji Shevade, Sri Yashwant ji Belsare, Sri Darshan ji Soni, Smt. Anjali ji Patel, Sri. Srikanth ji Basarkod and others . Under 3 their expert tutelage, Shiksharthi were cycled through various Vishay, Bauddhik, Khel, Yoga, Niyuddha, Dand, to name a few. Days began at the crack of dawn, at 6am and the camp immersed itself into an intense routine to cultivate characters with such tenacity to prevail over all physical and mental challenges that are strewn in the path of struggle for “Vishwa Dharma Prakashena Vishwa Shanti Pravartake”. For a fledgling Vibhag, this Varg was a giant leap in the noble and lofty goal of organizing and uniting Hindu(s), capable of going shoulder to shoulder in the fight to establish world peace by following the principles of timeless and universal Dharma.

Sharirik Activities: 

Baudhik: Intellectual Discussions 

The palpable energy Bhutanese Hindu Youth, brought to the saayam vandan was so contagious, that the whole camp was buzzing with positivity. Bhajan renditions by Bhutanese Hindu Youth were sheer magic. The BYC participants who do bhajans at home on a regular basis were fantastic in their tempo, rhythm and crowd involvement.

A week full of learning left every attendee with a better understanding of the great civilization we belong and have the responsibility to carry forward to the generations to come, and promote Dharma and achieve universal Peace.

The 4th Hindu Youth Conference was held on April 16, 2005, on the beautiful campus of the College of Staten Island. The day was filled with exciting activities organized by yuva, for yuva. The theme for the day was Modernized India, which portrayed India’s accomplishments in modern times in the eyes of the world. There were about 60 youths attending the conference.

The conference commenced sharply at 9:00AM with a nourishing breakfast. The 1st session commenced with a vigorous sharirik session. The games played used skills such as teamwork, coordination and just plain luck. The other sharirik session was a bit diverse from the norm, Niyudha 101. Niyudha is the term used for ancient Indian karate. Interestingly, along with learning niyudha and practicing with a partner, there was a blend of combining rhythm to the moves of niyudha during practice. Having niyudha as a sharirik session added a lemon twist to the classic Pepsi.

The conference was not all games, but there were also baudhik sessions. There was an excellent presentation done by Anusha and Shivani Shreedhar on the progress of India, which was a follow up to the last Youth Conference, which showed India’s advancements in ancient times. The presentation showed aspects such as fashion, Bollywood, literature and last but certainly not the least technology. Followed by this presentation, there was a presentation of the Sangha Shiksha Varg (SSV) held in summer of 2004.

Attendees of the SSV spoke of their experience at the Varg and encouraged all to attend the next SSV. There were also group discussions that reflected topics that Hindu youths face in the outside world. Something new was tried this conference, a new session: Act Like Parents. There would be situations set up where some youths acted like parents and some others like kids and each would try to work out the situation trying to understand each other’s points of views. The baudhik sessions gave out knowledge in different aspects, which made the attendees of the conference think.

At the end there was a special peak event, a jeopardy-type quiz. Teams competed each other in the knowledge of the scriptures, India, and pop culture. The closing session included a powerful inspiration mini-speech by Rudra Upadhyay. Youths made a lot of friends and gained knowledge that would be beneficial for future life. The purpose of the Yuva Sangam was a huge success.

The first HHYC of the season, in midwest, was held in Iowa City, IA on 15th May. The objectives of the camp were multifold. Primary being, to provide a platform for youths on campus where they can meet, share ideas and experience the energy of group efforts.

"I want students to know", said one volunteer, "that Hindus are not dormant group and they too have lot of activities going on at the campus.", when asked for the reason of his involvement. This certainly
describes second goal which was well achieved by the publicity of the camp. The team-building and raising confidence in volunteers to come up with ideas for more events were just the by-products of the HHYC.

The camp was vibrant with enthusiastic participation of 28 youths. It can be debated if more people would have created more noise while playing touch football or even Guesstures, a variation of dumb-charades introduced by Rushikesh ji Athalye. If games were marked by tremendous amount of energy then discussion session certainly gains point for being vibrant and thought provoking. Moderated by Aditya ji Ingalhalikar and Prem ji Ramakrishnan, the session covered aspects of being Hindu and the heritage we represent here in USA. It was a brainstorming phase where people unknowingly graduated from the definition of being Hindu to what can be done individually and in groups to retain our values and at the same time dispel the misconceptions in the mind of fellow americans & non-indians.

The camp started at 9:00am with some ice-breaker. Khel was the first and certainly the most liked session. Various mandal khel and team games were played, conducted by Rushikesh ji and Prem ji.  Although the weather was not cooperative but games, followed immediately by hot tea, kept the cold at bay. An hour of physical activity was coupled by intellectual excersize in the form of team discussion. Yet another round of games including touch football and judwa-bhai awakened some of not-so-much-in-bauddhik fellows :) Again post-games session was a bauddhik but much more interactive. Shri Milind ji Deshpande presented his thought on Hindu youth and pertaining issues. Time was allocated for people to quench their queries which were answered again by Sh Milind ji. After food-for-thought, real food was brought in which was prepared by the core team including Asmita ji Mhaskar, Sangeetha ji Madhavan, Kasturi ji Deshpande, Sridhar ji Dighe, Anita ji Gondi, and Soumik ji Ukil.

By the end of camp everyone boasted of having some addition to their experience and knowledge in some form or other. New people came in touch through the camp and showed their interest in being part of core
team in next event. In all a very good and learning experience. Hopefully we will have more camps organized by bigger core team and attended by even more people in coming days.

March 2011 saw the coming together of youth (high school seniors, college students and young professionals) from 15 different states for the sambhag yuva varg, organized at three locations across the United States.  A total of 103 youth from 27 different colleges and universities participated in these one and a half day long Hindu youth empowerment camps (yuva varg). The purpose of the varg was to develop a deeper and broader understanding of Hindu Dharma as well as Sangh work, give everyone an opportunity to connect with youth from other places, and inspire the participants to take up active leadership roles in the society.

The yuva varg were a good blend of physical, intellectual as well as spiritual activities. Physical activities included warm-ups, niyuddha, and samata among others.  Youth participated with tremendous intensity in Maha-Khel such as Kho-Kho and Capture the Flag. Intellectual activities comprised of various talks/presentations on role of Hindu Dharma in today’s society, Sangh work and social action, understanding Sangh work in US context, Yuva for Sewa (YFS), current state of affairs in North Eastern parts of Bharat and Jammu and Kashmir, inspiring stories from the life of Swami Vivekananda, etc. There were also a number of discussions on a variety of topics including: the significance of the ‘take back yoga campaign’, ‘being active as a Hindu on campus’ and ‘doing sampark on university campuses’. Spiritual activities included ish chintan (morning prayers), yoga, contemplating about Bharat Mata and lively bhajan sessions amongst others. There were also lighter fun-filled activities such as dumb-charades, camp fire and skits showcasing the creativity and talent of the participants.

A number of senior karyakartas were also able to visit the varg and provide able guidance for carrying Sangh work forward. Their simple presence during the varg and informal interaction with the participants had a huge positive impact. Food was either delivered from nearby homes or cooked on the campsite. In either case, it was very delicious.  Each varg ended with a samarop baudhik on why youth should be doing this work and how they can make a difference.

Participation in the yuva varg was an invigorating and inspiring experience for all. People from all backgrounds came together, learned from each other, and understood ideas from different perspectives. Participants left with a better sense of how they could involve themselves in the society and create a substantial positive impact on their community as youth.

TATTVA is an international online monthly magazine, published by Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh’s Hindu YUVA. Starting with the December 2007, Tattva will be released on a new website at www.hinduyuva.org/tattva-blog . Unlike its past issues which used to be in pdf, future issues will be published in an innnovative blog format. The new, more interactive format of Tattva will provide a forum for youth to share knowledge and ideas, voice opinions, discuss issues, and learn from one another.

Some of the latest features on the website allow readers to read articles directly on the website, quickly and easily access of previous issues of Tattva, access articles according to categories including Biographies of famous Indian leaders, the Bhagavad Gita, Hindu history, festivals, editorials, current events, shlokas, yoga, Sanskrit and many more. This website also allows potential discussion forums to emerge as well as sharing of thoughts and ideas through an online community. One can post comments and opinions about particular articles directly in the blog as well as email specific articles to friend and others interested. Raising TATTVA to a more interactive format will enable the creation of an environment for Hindu youth and others to engage in discussions and share the wealth of knowledge that the Hindu dharma and India has to offer.

The 1st anniversary edition of TATTVA,  was earlier released in September 2007. As part of this, the magazine, generally published online, was printed and distributed throughout the United States in several universities as well as well as schools and HSS Balagokulam.

The magazine adds a personal touch to the Hindu youth living in the United States by publishing articles written by students on their personal experiences. TATTVA is a unique blend of historical knowledge, spiritual inquiries, current events as well as personal experiences. TATTVA is an attempt to understand the depths of knowledge of the Hindu civilization, increase awareness among others about it, and take a stand on the current day issues. All articles may be accessed at www.hinduyuva.org/tattva-blog and for contributions and other feedback, the editor may be contacted at [email protected]