APSA President’s Closing Remarks

by

Dev Mahajan

 

Dear Arya Brothers, Sisters & Youth:

 

I am sure you are thoroughly enjoying our 17th Maha Sammelan hosted by Greater Dallas Arya Samaj. Surely it has been a great treat. Let me at the very outset; convey my sincere thanks to all the members of Maha Sammelan Committees co-chaired by Vijay Bhalla ji & Dr. Bhushan Verma ji. They have put innumerable hours to work out the nitty gritty details to make this such an enjoyable & successful Sammelan. Let us give a big round of applause for such a wonderful team.

 

Last year, for the first time in the history of APSA we put in to effect the new bye laws of APSA. These bye laws were prepared very diligently by a committee of Dr. Sudhir Annad, Dr. Ramesh Gupta under the leadership of Dr. Rajinder Gandhi our recent past President of APSA. Under these new bye laws, the leadership consisted of the following Executive Committee members.

 

We all know that survival of our values, culture & heritage is not possible unless we impart those values to our next generation especially in a country where the value system is very different. It is for this very reason we chose this year & last year Sammelan themes which are totally focused on our next generation. The Sammelan Committee did a wonderful job of inviting great experts & learned people to get their input & wisdom.  The programs were designed with continuous interaction with the youth for a bilateral feedback to get maximum traction and benefit from these sessions.

 

These Sammelans will be totally nonproductive, if the subject discussed in these Sammelan are not put into practical use. At the end of the last year Sammelan, the following deliverables were agreed upon.

 

  1. Adopt Naitik Shikha & Hindi Curricula for all different grades developed by DAV Sanskriti School, Arya Samaj Greater Houston for all Arya Samaj locations of APSA. Responsibility of updating and improving these curricula will lie with DAV Sanskriti School, Houston with continuous feedback from all users.

 

  1. To improve communication between all Arya Samajs & their members start a monthly newsletter.

 

  1. APSA to publish a common pamphlet about Arya Samaj for general public use.

 

 

  1. APSA to adopt a Common Agnihotra book that could be used by all Arya Samajs.      

 

The Executive Committee immediately went to work & formed the following Working Committees.  We then requested them to develop their charter, objective & goals.  I am very proud to report to you that most of the committees are already working full speed.

 

Let us evaluate how we made progress one year later:

 

  1. Updating of DAV Sanskriti School curricula books was a major task.  It was Acharya Sonerao ji’s job with a team of volunteers to finish this task after the completion of the school year. Not only these books were updated, but also a lot of new material was added along with digitization of these books so that any Arya Samaj could print them according to their need. The purpose of the workshop arranged on this subject was to educate interested people about the contents & work out the process for future updates & its maintenance.

 

  1. Since last 6 months most of you have been receiving electronic monthly newsletter. Thanks to the hard work put in by our Communication Committee led by Kewal Ahluwalia ji. This committee has jelled together like one solid team.

 

  1. You have already received copies of the pamphlet in your bags. Thanks to Dr. Sudhir Anand ji for his efforts to put together this pamphlet. In addition, a number of books have been published by Dr. Shridhar, our chief religious guide in Houston.

 

  1. The Priest Committee proved to be very smart & adopted unanimously ASGH Agnihotra book which is also available in electronic form for future updates.

 

This year again, with the three very focused workshops, we are striving to move further ahead in achieving the theme of Communicating the Vedic Values to our Next Generation.   Our biggest assets are our children and if we can nurture these values in them, rest assured our heritage and culture will survive with distinction.

 

This year we are celebrating the 17th Maha Sammelan of APSA. Like any great organization, it has stood to the test of time. Lots of people have contributed to the growth & strength of this organization but one person who has dedicated his whole life to this organization in good times & bad time is Shri Girish Khosla ji. Let us give him a big round of applause.

 

With the new bye laws adopted last year we have expanded the Executive Committee to 12 members, formed new Working Committees & immediately went to work & have shown some concrete results. Like last year we are going to set goals for the next year & with the Working Committees in place we are sure we are going to achieve those goals.

 

We have laid out the foundation for the unity & team work in APSA & let us resolve to further strengthen it. Last year, we had 6 periodical conference calls among the Executive Committee & Working Committee coordinators. All the decisions were made unanimously among our members. I firmly believe in organization, unity & team work and we do have a strong team in place to make things happen.

 

 Many local Arya Samajs in this country ceased to exist where ego ruled rather than the mission & objectives. Many people ask me how is it that ASGH can afford two priests, runs two very successful schools, is constantly growing & is well recognized by the whole Indian Community.  My answer is very simple: Unity, Unity, Unity &Team work, Team Work, Team Work. We at Arya Samaj Greater Houston not only work together as one solid team but have lots of fun working together. Let us, all APSA members, resolve to work together with the same spirit & enthusiasm to fulfill the dreams & ideals of Swami Dayanand Saraswati, and leave behind a legacy that our future generations will be very proud of.

 

Let me close by thanking you all for attending the Maha Sammelan and helping us address the critical issue of how to effectively communicate our values to our future generations.  I call upon you to leave here with a pledge that each of us will not forget to pursue this goal in any way possible so that our next generations may look back and be proud of our culture and heritage.

 

Thank you!

Dev Mahajan.