A Unique Collection of Lifetime Memories a Message from Sanskriti Mahashibir Karyawaha Dhiraj M Shah
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A unique collection of lifetime memories A Message from Sanskriti Mahashibir Karyawaha Dhiraj M Shah When Lord Krishna revealed his universal Europe. From catering to cleaning, site nutritious and purely vegetarian meals and gigantic form to Arjuna, mankind construction to registration, security to were served during the course of the was blessed with a scene that emanated all myriad of activities, the spectacle was event. enormity and magnificence. undoubtedly unique and incomparable to anything we have experienced before. Shri Dhiraj D Shah, President of HSS (UK) Hindu Swaymasevak Sangh celebrates 50 Innumerable meetings and thousands remarked:- “When people see the village, years of contribution and achievements of human-hours were dedicated to the their first reaction is WOW! The sheer in the UK, and it all culminated in a realisation of this dream. scale of it is incredible and the fact that so mammoth gathering of around 2000 many people are living in harmony whilst Swayemsevaks and Sevikas, all living in The event attracted men and women of learning about our Dharma is something tents for 3 days of yoga, music, physical all ages - the youngest being 6 months to to be proud of”. activities and spirituality. the oldest at 90 years, covering 70 towns and cities across UK, 10 EU countries and This milestone has truly reflected Hindu The entire experience was held on the 5 non-EU countries. Swayemsevak Sangh and Hindu Sevika land of Hertfordshire County Show Samiti’s contribution to UK. Grounds, with an emphasis on being Our pledge was to manifest an environmentally friendly. environment in keeping with the core We hope you, the reader, can re-live this values of Sanskār (positive values), astonishing journey, this Viraat Swarup, The idea of holding a Mahashibir at this Sewa (selfless service) and Sangathan and join us in creating a world full of scale was coined over a year ago, and (Community Spirit). Every component peace and harmony. required months of preparation from of Mahashibir ringed with a feeling over 400 volunteers across UK and of Dharmic awareness. Over 20,000 2 Genesis of a Vision How it came about Wow! What an amazing journey we have The vision was to create an experience plan all the content for the Mahashibir, been through over the past 50 years. whereby participants lived the core exploring new and innovative ideas over values of Sanskaar, Sewa and Sangathan, numerous conference calls and face to During this time, the immense dedication throughout the Shibir. Hundreds of hours face meetings. and commitment shown by Swayamsevaks were spent on preparing the timetable, and Sevikas has resulted in Sangh growing finalising the content and working out the In addition to the Karyakram, a lot of time from 1 Shakha to over 120 Shakhas, logistics required for the Shibir. and effort was dedicated to the Vyavastha Balagokulams, Sampark Kendras and for the Shibir. The core Vyavastha team of Mashik Milan across the UK. The core Karyakram team included the 5 and 15 sub-teams, covering everything Mukhya Shikshak [Chief Instructor] with from the Food, Cleaning, Security and This journey has also been marked by a three Saha-Mukhya Shikshaks [Assistant Transport to A/V and Campus Experience. number of wonderful events including the Chief Instructor], the Bauddhik Pramukh Additional teams supported the Nidhi, Virat Hindu Sammelan, Hindu Sangam, with three Saha-Bauddhik Pramukhs. They Sampark and Prachaar efforts. Hindu Marathon and the British PMs visits were ably supported with a wider team to a shakha. of 26 Vahini Pramukhs and 150 Shikshaks/ In total, there were over 150 Shikshaks Shikshikas working in smaller teams and 250 prabandhaks looking after the For the last 3 years, karyakartas had spanning across both the Bauddhik and Karaykram and Vyavastha for a sankhya of been thinking about how to mark the Shareerik vishays. around 2000 participants. 50th year of Sangh in the UK. In the 2014 Pratinidhi Sabha (AGM) the decision was The 13 Vahini teams were tasked to design made to hold the Sanskriti Mahashibir. a program specific for a diverse age group Over the next 18 months, a team of over - ranging from the eldest participants in 450 karyakartas set themselves the task to the Proudh Gana to the youngest in the prepare this event. Shishu Gana. They worked diligently to 3 January National Karyakarta Varg January NKV The National Karyakarta Varg, held at karyakartas whom have been involved karyakarta has been brought up on. It Lutterworth ollege on the weekend with Sangh work since childhood. opens a new possibility for working with of 23rd-24th January, gathered 175 Their candid and authentic words were different people. It celebrates authentic swayemsevaks and sevikas from across relatable and inspiring. listening, and allows people to be open. It the UK. Activities were centered around is only when people are open, that new the planning of Sanskriti Mahashibir, Sangh ethos reverberates with things can be achieved. where teams had time and space to embracing diversity at every step. To ideate, iterate and create innovative ways some, this may sound like a difficult NKV was a prime example of how diverse of making it a memorable experience. situation – “how do we handle all the perspectives from individual backgrounds diversity of opinions and still work can be collectively combined to co- The theme of “Sanskaar, Sewa and together?” The answer lies in the fact create a multi-dimensional canvas – that Sangathan” became the mantra of that that Sangh is based on foundational canvas being Sanskriti Mahashibir. This weekend, and the enthusiastic nature of principles that allow and encourage a feature of co-creation and whole-system all karyakartas was drawn to these values. plethora of perspectives. thinking set the mark for the next few intense months of preparation. The weekend included insightful “Aneketa mein ekata” – Unity in Diversity and entertaining experiences from is a core foundational principle that every 4 5 Shareerik planning 6 Abhyas Vargs around the country 7 Shareerik planning 8 4 types of Abayas Vargs took place across the UK, namely Dand, Niyudh, Yogasana and Ghosh. Maha Shibir was a great opportunity for the progression of Ghosh in the UK. A total of 52 participated in the Samarop. 3 national Ghosh Vargs took place and various local vargs in the midlands and south. Traditional Indian instruments and the violin were also included in the Ghosh as an experiment, which definitely worked well. After Mahasbhir, the aim for the future is to hold abhyas vargs (training sessions) and setup centres to maintain and develop Ghosh in UK. 9 Bauddhik planning All Shakhas and Balagokulams were Bheema & Hanuman given the task of producing an A2 A Hindu legend poster, which illustrated the idea of Sanskaar, Sewa, Sangathan and A moral story by Swindon Balagokulam. what this meant to them, as well as re-writing a moral story. Many centuries ago, lived five brothers (who were known as the Pandavas) and a hundred brothers (known as Kauravas). A fierce rivalry existed between these two groups. One day, the Kauravas hatched a plot and challenged the Pandavas to a game of dice. The Kauravas marked the dice and cheated. Unfortunately, the Pandavas lost. Delighted, the Kauravas banished the five brothers into the jungle for 12 long years. This story is of one of them in the jungle- Bheema. Bheema and Draupadi were ambly strolling in the jungle. As they were walking, a beautiful flower fell before Draupadi’s elegant feet. Its fragrance lured her towards it. “Oh Bheem, this is the most beautiful flower I have ever seen! I want to give it to Yudishtra, but how I wish I had one for my own.” sighed Draupadi. “Don’t worry my Draupadi, I will find another flower for you,” replied Bheem, “I’ll go to the end of the world if I have to.” After saying this, he guided Draupadi home and set out for searching the celestial flower. Bheem strolled and strolled, but couldn’t find the celestial flower Draupadi wished for. He felt tired and decided to sit in the shade away from the scorching sun. Several minutes later, Bheem fell asleep. A noise as loud as a trumpet woke Bheem up. A raging elephant with red eyes stood before him. The elephant attacked him and Bheem fell on the 10 FLOWER FOR MY WIFE, DRAUPADI!” slowly, the monkey opened his weary little eyes. “Who are you and what do you want from me?” he asked in an old and frail voice. “I’m Vayu-putra (Vayu’s son) Bheem, the strongest man on Earth and I want you to move from my path.” Bheem boasted. “I was sleeping and you woke me up. That is not good!” the monkey explained. “I DO NOT care! Move your tail out of my way.” “I feel old and tired, can you move my tail?” the poor monkey said. For all the noise you make, you can’t even move your tail??? HAHAHAHAHA!!!” Bheem crouched and tried to put the tail aside but he couldn’t, let alone budging it and inch. He used both of his hands this time, but still couldn’t! ‘What is happening to my strength?’ he thought, ‘I defeated an elephant with my bare hands and now I can’t even move the tail of the monkey!’ He said ground with a thump. This made Bheem very a little prayer, folded his hands together and tried angry. He grabbed the elephant by its trunk again, but the tail wouldn’t budge! He realised that never be egoistic and always be humble, polite and tightly and threw him on the ground; he then the monkey is no ordinary being.