On Sunday, 27 March, children and teens of the Hindu Youth of Australia (HYA) gathered to attend the Leadership Workshop held at Novotel, Parramatta.
The workshop, themed on “Building Better Me”, was inaugurated by Kerrie Kenton, with the traditional lighting of the lamp and Vedic chanting.
Ms Kenton spoke about the importance of keeping our traditions alive and how Australian Aboriginal culture embrace other cultures with open hands.
After a small speech by VHP President Mr Subramanian Ramamoorthi, the key role players of HYA were introduced highlighting their achievements. Youth Coordinator, Sushyanth Subramanian spoke to the group about the essence of HYA’s “Unite, Lead and Discover” focus, especially in terms of culture.
Holroyd Councillor Lisa Lake, the guest speaker of the workshop spoke how the youth are positive role models who connect heritage and tradition of Indian culture with Australia. She praised how Hindu youth play a significant role in uniting everyone with the values and goals of our ancient Hindu wisdom and spiritual healing applicable to the contemporary life style to have a harmonious multicultural Australia.
The Youth team then worked in groups on the trivia questions and answers, which helped them understand the true facts on different topics of Indian culture.
The participants explained the Hindu significance of worshiping murthis and some animal forms as being sacred and also how respect for guru or teacher was important in order to gain knowledge.
The social misinterpretation of the Hindu caste system was comprehensively discussed along with customs like wearing Bindi, praying before eating and reasons behind seeking blessings from the elders were explained.
The ancient practice of yoga mentioned in Rig Veda was beautifully explained by teacher and practitioner Supriya Rajesh, followed by learning few asanas involving everyone.
The debate on whether Hinduism is a religion or civilization got the children present to see the issue from various perspectives.
The serious sessions were sprinkled with entertainment programs too – such as the karaoke performance of the song “Kikku erudhe” from the Tamil movie Padayappa.
For more information, visit www.vhp.org.au
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