– Prakash Waghmare
The Global Dharma Conference held in Edison, New Jersey, from July 25-27, 2003 was a unique religious conference. In fact, it was not a religious convention… it was all about our duties and values towards humanity.
A Rare Congregation
This momentous event – conceived, organized and conducted by second generation Indian youths, born and brought up in USA (university students and budding professionals, mostly in the 18-30 age group) 3/4 was unique, not only because of the kind of dignitaries and illustrious guest speakers it attracted, but also because of multi-faceted aspects of ‘dharma’ it unfolded. The conference featured workshops, discussions, presentations, exhibitions, cultural and spiritual activities, including an international concert. Besides North American countries, there were youths from at least a dozen other countries including Africa and Australia. It was one of those, ‘wish-everybody-I-know-was-there’ kind of event. Almost all the (few thousand) delegates who attended the conference were simply overwhelmed by the sheer youthful energy and vibrancy that engulfed Raritan Expo Center and nearby Sheraton Hotel, the venue of the parallel sessions.
A Galaxy of Speakers
The array of speakers was spectacular: H. H. Swami Dayananda Sarswati, Shri David Frawley, the American Vedantic scholar; Dr. Deepak Chopra; Dr. Mahesh Mehta; New Jersey governor James Mc Greevey; Indian statesman Dr. Murali Manohar Joshi; Dr. Koenraad Elst, the Belgian historian; Dr. Subhash Kak; Dr. Kiran Bedi, the celebrated prison reformer; Andy Fraenkel of the multi-cultural stories network; Reuben Thuku, the East African Philosopher; Mr. Bawa Jain, U.N. Secretary General of the World Peace Summit; Dr. George Sudarshan, Nobel Prize nominee; Rabbi Joseph Novick; Jonas Trinkunas, et al. In short, all non-proselytising faiths actively participated, including ‘Native American’ (Cherokee) and a European body representing 20 ancient religions. The Dalai Lama conveyed his blessings and Indian Prime Minister sent his best wishes for this grand get-together.
Day 1
The opening day gave an overview of what was to follow. Governor Mc Greevey acted as the ‘host’, and delivered not the usual ‘one-size-fits-all’ kind of political spiel, but a thought-provoking, eloquent speech on ‘Dharma’ and humanistic values. Dr. Deepak Chopra once again proved to be the marketing genius with his concoction of eastern philosophy and modern science. He ended his speech with one of Tagore’s poems tuned to pop-music, and the youths loved it! The inaugural day was followed by a night concert of Garba, Bhangra and a performance by rap star ‘Apache Indian’.
Day 2
The second day was divided into four segments of multiple workshops emphasizing Dharma’s relevance to an individual, to the family, to the society and to the world. At any given time-block, the delegates had the choice of five concurrently running sessions. The topics were so varied, interesting and informative that it was frustrating to lose on, one was not attending. The topics ranged from consciousness and quantum theory to rights vs. responsibility; worldwide commonality of ancient faiths, stress and conflict management to Vedic sciences, genetics, crime & punishment, Dharma & modern management, etc. Every session was overbooked!
Harmony Through Music
The international music concert on Day 2 was simply memorable. Titled “Harmony Through Music”, it had four distinct subtexts – “Dharma” presented by a troupe from India and the famous ‘Shanti-Shanti’ American sisters, “Karma” by Houston based theatre group, “Artha” by Joseph Firecrow and “Moksha” by Dr. Shanker and Gingger, double violinists with Ustaad Zakir Hussain and a local drummer, who brought the house down with their ecstatic rhythmic percussion. Hollywood actress Goldie Hawn briefly popped-up ‘live’ on the two giant screens to say ‘Hi’ via video conferencing.
Day 3
On the concluding day, the biggest surprise was the live address by the President of India, Dr. Abdul Kalaam, again, through video conferencing. This interactive session was a high point of the event, and lasted 40 minutes.
Quotable Quotes
The essence of this conference was beautifully summed up by Dr. David Frawley and Swami Dayananda Saraswati. Dr. Frawley emphasized, “You don’t belong to any religion, but rather all religions belong to you.” Swami Dayananda said, “Dharma is nothing but common-sense value structure for harmonious co-existence. We don’t need preachers (for that), we need teachers… there won’t be any need for ‘salvation’, ‘reconciliation’ or ‘peace’ if you don’t disturb people.” At the end, he asked people to repeat after him: “A ‘value’ is a ‘value’ when the value of ‘value’ is valuable to me.”
Youth Did It
The Dharma Conference was put together by many student and youth organizations, prominent among them being the Hindu Students’ Council. To me, what was most remarkable was the way these youths, coming from different corners and avenues, worked together as one solid team. Nowhere was there any chaos, glitches or emotional outbursts. This glorious conference was a tribute to their hard work and tenacity. The delegates are already asking: “When will we have it again?” This is enough complement for Kanchan Banerjee, who was a prime force behind the whole show.
A Step Towards Vivekananda’s Noble Vision
Three years ago, when the U.N. convened a ‘World Peace Summit’ to resolve world conflicts through religious and spiritual guidance, it was, in a way, a manifestation of Swami Vivekananda’s vision of the world coming together in the spirit of ‘Universal Brotherhood’. Global Dharma Conference is undoubtedly a step in that direction. One strong Hin du can change the thought-current of the whole world… Hindus should possess fearlessness, the first prerequisite of a spiritual life.
(Report: Prakash Waghmare
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