The World Vedic Conference 2013 In South Africa Was Enlightening

Cultural Society of B.C.

My husband, Hari, and I attended the‘World Vedic Conference’ that was held inDurban, South Africa, from November28 to December 3, 2013. It was a verysuccessful and well attended conferenceunder the direction of Dr. Rambilass andProf. Usha Desai, President of Arya Samaj.Mayor James Nxumalo of Durban,High Commissioner of India in SouthAfrica Shri Virendra Gupta and ConsulGeneral of India, V.K. Sharma werethere. Acharya Baldev of Delhi PratinidhiSabha, Swami Agnivesh of President ofSarvadeshik Arya Sabha, Swami Aryavesh,Swami Dharam Dev, Acharya Raj SinghArya, Acharya Jayant Vishwapal, AcharyaRavindra, Swami Dev Vrat, Vinay Arya,Swami Vrittanand, Swami Somya Nand,Swami Brahma Nand, Swami RajendraYogi, Vanaras Brahmachari Komal Dev,and Dr. Vidyadhar presented their ideasand knowledge on many social & spiritualissues. There was a two hour talk aboutHindu Unity in all the groups on the basisof Vedas. Sessions were on the subjectof Impact of Arya Samaj, Vedic universalphilosophy for all human beings to becomea noble person, Vedic Lifestyle, VedicMantras with proper pronunciationsand meanings to understand properly. Dr.Shobhana Panday spoke about 16 Sanskarsand their importance in life.Other sessions were on Science inthe Vedas, Astronomy & Astrology, Pie(Mathematic) God’s Particle, Sexual Orientation,Alcohol & Drug Abuse, Gamblingand Social Impact.Dr. Satish Prakash came from NewYork. He is a very forceful speaker founderof and a Vedic Gurukul in New York.He chaired two sessions.From Canada, I presented ‘History ofArya Samaj in British Columbia and Ontario.My 2nd presentation was on VedicLifestyle, First Duty of an Arya – BecomeArya Himself. Both of my presentationswere well liked by conference attendees.Mostly all speakers were quite learnedand knowledgeable.The Conference had also organizeda Walk in which more than 1,000 peopleprotested against abuse of women andchildren and against domestic violence.One day we performed “Bahu Kund Yagna”,communal havan for peace and wellbeingwith proper explanations of mantras.The organizers had arranged a verynice entertainment program every eveningby professional dancers and singers.We also went to visit “Pietermaritzburg’station where Mahatma Gandhistarted Satyagraha movement for racialdiscrimination after he was evicted fromthe First Class compartment which inthose days were reserved for “Whites”only. We also visited the old prison whereGandhiji and his wife Kasturba Gandhiwere imprisoned. We had a tour of theNelson Mandela Museum and the walk tothe Freedom Route.It was a very timely visit by us to theMuseum as the next day on December5th, 2013, Mr. Mandele passed away. Wepay our homage to the great departed soulwho gave his life in the fight against racism.He was a great supporter of peaceand brotherhood and equal rights for allraces.Before Durban, we were in Namibiafor ten days. We stayed in Windhoek,the capital of Namibia first, then flew toSossusvlei National Park to see the sanddunes. They were very beautiful yellowsand mountains, being the oldest desertin the World. We flew to Swakopmundwhere sand dunes meet Atlantic ocean.We took a Dolphin cruise to see seal colony,oysters farming, magnificent sceneryof the dunes and natural lagoon meetingthe sea.Then we went to see Etosha NationalPark, the best possible nature experienceat one of Africa’s great wildlife destinations.