Hindu Chaplain Programs In US Department of Defense

By PHP Staff
Saturday, April 16, 2011

(Photo : State Sen. Satveer Chaudhary left, Steven Spielberg, and Col. Ravi Chaudhary at last week's state dinner in 2009, USA)

UNITED STATES, April 2011, (by Lt. Col. Ravi Chaudhary): The tremendous growth of South Asians in the Department of Defense has brought about the need build the first Dharmic/Hindu Military Chaplain Programs in DoD. I have been working with a team of action officers here in the Pentagon to make this diversity program a reality. The Office of the Secretary of Defense has officially approved the first Hindu Chaplain endorsing agency, and we are now looking for recruits, as well as follow-on programs for more Indic faith participation. See this testimonial for some background here.

The goal of our team is simple: to meet the spiritual needs of military members and families who are sacrificing so much for our nation. We have received several notes and testimonials from military members, and I'm told the President was recently briefed on this endeavor by White House staff; so momentum is building! As we continue to move forward, I would like to reach out to you for your support, awareness, and involvement. We need to recruit candidates to serve as the first Dharmic military chaplains!

Contact:

Army
http://www.chaplain.goarmy.com
POC is Chaplain Manning (502) 626-4014
Sgt Cantu (502)-626-1082

Navy
http://www.chaplain.navy.mil
CAPT Henry Nixon

Air Force
http://www.usafhc.af.mil
POC is Chaplain Giannone
1-800-803-2452.

American whites will be minority during this decade in USA

By PHP Staff
Monday, April 11, 2011

WASHINGTON, DC  (The New York Times): America's population of white children, a majority now, will be in the minority during this decade, sooner than previously expected, according to a new report. As a result, America's future will include a far more diverse young population, and a largely white older generation.

The Census Bureau had originally forecast that 2023 would be the tipping point for the minority population under the age of 18. But rapid growth among Latinos, Asians and people of more than one race has pushed it earlier, to 2019, according to William Frey, the senior demographer at the Brookings Institution.

The single largest increase was among Hispanics, whose birthrates are far above those of non-Hispanic whites, largely because the white population is aging and proportionally has fewer women in their child-bearing years. The median age of whites is 41, compared with 27 for Hispanics, the report said.

The population of white children fell by 4.3 million, or about 10 percent, in the last decade, while the population of Hispanic and Asian children grew by 5.5 million, or about 38 percent, according to the report, which was based on 2010 Census numbers.

Though whites are still 63 percent of the population as a whole, that is down from 75.6 percent in 1990. Mr. Frey estimates that whites will slip into the minority by about 2041. The number of whites grew by just 1.2 percent in the population as a whole in the last decade, a fraction of the 43 percent growth among Latinos.

The number of African-American children also fell, down by 2 percent. Over all, minorities now make up 46.5 percent of the under-18 population. Whites are now the minority of child populations in 10 states, double the number from the previous decade, according to the report, and in 35 cities, including Atlanta, Phoenix and Orlando, Fla. Vermont had the largest drop in its child population of any state.

Las Vegas City Council in USA opened with Hindu mantras

By Gopinath Kumar (Executive Editor)
Friday, January 21, 2011

(Photo : Just before the reportedly historic first Hindu invocation at June 22 Boulder City Council meeting, from left to right, are: Travis Chandler, Duncan McCoy, Rajan Zed, Linda Strickland, Cam Walker. Except Zed, others are Councilmembers)

USA :  City Council of Las Vegas, world's entertainment capital, reverberated with Sanskrit mantras from ancient Hindu scriptures on January 19.

Distinguished Hindu statesman Rajan Zed delivered invocation from Sanskrit scriptures before Las Vegas City Council on January 19. After Sanskrit delivery, he then read the English translation of the prayer.
Sanskrit is considered a sacred language in Hinduism and root language of Indo-European languages.

Zed, who is the president of Universal Society of Hinduism, recited from Rig-Veda, the oldest scripture of the world still in common use, besides lines from Upanishads and Bhagavad-Gita (Song of the Lord), both ancient Hindu scriptures. He started and ended the prayer with "Om", the mystical syllable containing the universe, which in Hinduism is used to introduce and conclude religious work.

City Council members, City employees and public stood quietly in prayer mode with heads bowed down during the prayer. Wearing saffron colored attire, a ruddraksh mala (rosary), and traditional sandalpaste tilak (religious mark) on the forehead, Rajan Zed sprinkled few drops of sacred water from river Ganga in India around the podium before the prayer. He presented a copy of Bhagavad-Gita to Las Vegas Mayor Oscar B. Goodman and Las Vegas Fire Chief Mike Myers.

Reciting from Brahadaranyakopanishad, Zed said "Asato ma sad gamaya, Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya, Mrtyor mamrtam gamaya", which he then translated as "Lead me from the unreal to the Real, Lead me from darkness to Light, and Lead me from death to Immortality." Reciting from Bhagavad-Gita, he urged Councilmembers and others to keep the welfare of others always in mind.

Zed is one of the panelists for "On Faith", a prestigious interactive conversation on religion produced by The Washington Post. He has been awarded "World Interfaith Leader Award" and is Senior Fellow and Religious Advisor to New York headquartered Foundation for Interreligious Diplomacy, Director of Interfaith Relations of Nevada Clergy Association, Spiritual Advisor to National Association of Interchurch and Interfaith Families, etc.

Zed will read the opening invocation at Sparks City Council in northern Nevada (USA) on January 24.
Hinduism, oldest and third largest religion of the world, has about one billion adherents and moksh (liberation) is its ultimate goal.

Home of 17 of the 20 biggest hotels in USA, Las Vegas reportedly hosts about 38 million visitors and over 19,000 conventions annually and its Strip is designated as a "National Scenic Byway". Also known as "ultimate escape", its tagline is "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" and its temperature sometimes can go as high as 117 degrees Fahrenheit. Famous Las Vegans include tennis player Andre Agassi, wrestler Rico Constatino, adult-entertainer Jenna Jameson, singer Toni Braxton, etc. Oscar Goodman, self-proclaimed "happiest mayor in the universe," is in his third term, while Elizabeth N. Fretwell is the City Manager of City of Las Vegas.

Sri Daya Mata, Guiding Light for U.S. Hindus, Dies at 96 in USA

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

(Photo : Sri Daya Mata, right, in 1939 with Paramahansa Yogananda, the founder of the Self-Realization Fellowship in Los Angeles, USA)

Los Angeles : Sri Daya Mata, who for more than five decades was the leader of one of the most influential Hindu groups in the United States and an ardent advocate of the healing power of meditation, died on Tuesday at the group’s retreat for nuns in Los Angeles. She was 96.

Her death was confirmed by Lauren Landress, a spokeswoman for the group, the Self-Realization Fellowship/Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, which is based in what once was an elegant hotel on Mount Washington in Los Angeles.

From 1955 until her death, Sri Daya Mata — her name means “true mother of compassion” in Sanskrit — was the society’s president and spiritual leader. In her flowing ocher sari, she presided over an organization that now has more than 600 temples, centers and retreats in 60 countries, about half of them in the United States. Ms. Landress estimated that the society had “hundreds of thousands” of followers, but said she could not be more specific.

The society, whose monks and nuns adopt Indian names, teaches that there is a unifying truth behind all religious experience, and the group encourages its members to honor their roots in other faiths. Most members follow a vegetarian diet, practice yoga, chant and meditate.

Meditation, Sri Daya Mata said, is a universal balm: “If we turn our consciousness within, in deep meditation, communing with God even a little bit every day, we begin gradually to experience that love which is our real nature.

“Feeling love within ourselves, it is very easy to give it to others.”

The Self-Realization Fellowship was founded in 1920 by the Indian yoga master Paramahansa Yogananda soon after he arrived in the United States as a delegate to the International Congress of Religious Liberals in Boston. He became well known as the author of “Autobiography of a Yogi,” which was first published in 1946.

Catherine Wessinger, a professor of the history of religions at Loyola University New Orleans, said on Thursday that Sri Yogananda was “the most significant teacher to popularize Hindu ideas and practices in the United States after the initial one, Swami Vivekananda,” who came to the United States in 1893.

“Of course, in the 1960s, numerous gurus immigrated to the United States,” Dr. Wessinger said, “but the S.R.F. remains influential.”

Sri Daya Mata, who was born Faye Wright in Salt Lake City on Jan. 31, 1914, was a daughter of Clarence and Rachel Wright, who were Mormons. Her grandfather Abraham Reister Wright was an architect of the Mormon Tabernacle.

Faye was 15 when she picked up a copy of the Bhagavad-Gita, a sacred Hindu scripture. Two years later, in 1931, she attended a lecture by Sri Yogananda in Salt Lake City.

Soon after, with her mother’s blessing, she moved to Los Angeles and joined the society. She took her vows in 1932, becoming one of the first nuns of the Self-Realization Fellowship order. Her mother, sister and two brothers later became members of the society as well.

For more than 20 years, Sri Daya Mata was one of Sri Yogananda’s closest disciples, serving as his secretary and helping compile the detailed instructions on yoga meditation that the society distributed by mail order.

In 1955, three years after Sri Yogananda died, she succeeded the Rajarsi Janakananda as president of the society. As a spiritual successor to Sri Yogananda, she supervised the training of disciples who resided in ashrams around the world and the administration of the society’s humanitarian services.

Besides its headquarters, the society owns a 10-acre sanctuary in the Pacific Palisades, near Malibu, Calif., where a temple crowned by a golden lotus was built in 1966 under Sri Daya Mata’s guidance. Followers come from around the country to meditate.

J. Gordon Melton, director of the Institute for the Study of American Religion in Santa Barbara, Calif., who has compiled a census of Hindu groups in the United States, said that while the Self-Realization Fellowship’s “strength still is in Southern California, Daya Mata built a following that it is now a much more substantial national movement.”

Hinduism Summit in California - August 28, 2010

Source: www.prurgent.com
Saturday, July 24, 2010

(Photo : Hinduism Summit in California)

UNITED STATES : Based on the positive results of six Hinduism Summits held by the Forum Hindu Awakening (FHA) over the past year, FHA along with the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple is sponsoring a Hinduism Summit.

The Hindu Dharma Sabha welcomes anyone interested in understanding and living Hinduism. The Hindu Dharma Sabha will include presentations by Hindu and spiritual leaders, demonstrative videos and a posters’ display to create awareness about the spiritual reasoning underlying Hinduism practices. Please contact the Sunnyvale Hindu Temple for details here.

Encouraging Bhutanese Hindus Living Abroad To Be Proud of Their Heritage

Source: www.organiser.org
Sunday, June 27, 2010

DENVER, COLORADO : “Hindus settling in the western countries can lead their lives as proud Hindus and preserve their religion, heritage and culture” Dr. Ved Nanda, the president of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh USA declared here recently. Addressing a large gathering of Bhutanese Hindu Community of Colorado at the Nepali New Year celebration in Denver, he urged the community to continue their Hindu way of life in America and assured them they have the freedom and cultural environment to do so.

Dr. Nanda asked the Bhutanese community to be vigilant and not fall prey to the proselytization efforts by the Christian missionaries. It is essential and possible to continue many Hindu practices such as daily puja, bhajan, keertan and temple worship in the U.S., he observed. He praised the Hindu communities in Suriname, Guyana and the Caribbean countries as a model for Hindus worldwide for preserving and promoting the Hindu religion and culture for generations. He also stressed that many Hindus in the western countries have successfully maintained their Hindu identity.

Neelam Shreshta, president of the Rocky Mountain Friends of Nepal (RMFN) chaired the event and offered support to the Bhutanese families. Colorado Bhutanese Community, Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) USA and Sewa International organised the event. More than 400 Bhutanese participated in the celebrations. For details on the struggle of these families read Hinduism Today article:
http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=5054