Abhimanyu Shakha - Schaumburg

Chicago Chapter of Hindu Education Foundation (HEF) organized Guru Vandana program on May 15, 2010 to honor school teachers in Schaumburg area. Children from Abhimanyu Shakha of Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS) conducted this program at Palatine Library.

On behalf of HEF, Mr. Mohan Sundr started off the program by explaining the importance of Guru Vandana. Chief guest Mr. Ed Rafferty, Superintendent of Schaumburg School District 54, inaugurated the program by lighting a lamp in front of Saraswati the Goddess of education. Later in the program he spoke about the need for families and teaching faculty to work together to improve the success of our schools. He appreciated the message of tolerance and pluralism that Hindu Education Foundation was championing.

 Group of Kids from Abhimanyu Shakha recited Shlokas (Verses in Sanskrit) followed by a beautiful devotional song to praise Gurus by Mansi & Shreya Kathuria on Harmonium and Flute. And then kids felicitated their respective teachers by presenting a personalized Memento to them. Around 22 teachers from Schaumburg and surrounding area schools were present at this program. Afterwards, kids presented an informative slideshow of Posters on various aspects of Hinduism and Indian culture.

Students from Gauri Jog Indian School of Dance presented a beautifully choreographed fusion of Indian Classical Dance Kathak and Western Dancing. To add some bollywood touch to the event, Priyanka Bhargava, Jhanvi Shah, Ravi Patel & Prem Shah performed a dance to latest tunes. It was followed by a devotional song and dance on Lord Krishna by Abby Mohan, Neeti Joshi, Meera Patel & Venya Joshi. Everyone was thrilled by all of these dances.

Guest of honor Mrs. Karen Strykowski, School District 54 board president, addressed the audience, She appreciated Hindu Education Foundation for organizing the event honoring teachers and making them aware of Hinduism and Indian culture. On behalf of HEF, Rao Addepalli gave vote of thanks to all who participated in this program. After the program, teachers and attendees gave a great feedback about the program.

Pictures:
http://www.hssus.org/gallery/v/MWEST/Guruvandana/

Video:
http://www.megavideo.com/?v=PCYIUY3C

This year Abhimanyu shakha had tremendous participation in annual Surya Namaskar Yagna. Shakha team in association with Chicago Vibhag team launched this Yagna by organizing a Yoga Event at Hoffman Estate Village Hall right after Makar Sankranti on Jan 16th. Honorable Mayor of Hoffman Estate Mr. McLeod and others from the city and our Shakha participated in this event with great enthusiasm. Click here for the pictures from this event.

Hoffman Estates Yoga Event

Not only Abhimanyu Shakha members but Yoga classes from many local Temples also participated in this 2 weeks long Yagna. Conclusion of this Yagna took place with a 2 hour long Yogathon at Abhimanyu Shakha on this Sunday Jan 31st. A total of 3280 Surya Namaskars were performed by 51 participants in this event. Surprisingly many kids performed all 11 sets of Surya namaskars without missing any. For others, a parallel track for yogasana, pranayam and meditation was conducted.  Delicious Samosas and Sweet Barfi was served after the session. Click here for the pictures from this event.

SNY Conclusion

We are proud to share that City of Hoffman Estates proclaimed Jan 31st as Surya Namaskar Yoga Day. Initial counts of total Surya Namaskars for Abhimanyu Shakha is coming to 13000 or so ! Thanks to all Karyakartas and members in making this year’s Surya Namaskar Yagna a great success.

Hoffman Estates Proclaimation

Some of the sanskar we get in shakha are sense of connecting, sharing and giving. Throughout the year, we offer our time and effort (tan and man) towards shakha. Once a year, we have this special occasion of Guru Pooja Utsav to offer monetary contribution in addition to our involvement in shakha work.

Guru Pooja Utsav was held at Abhimanyu Shakha on Dec 6th. Around 45 Swayamsevak and katyakartas attended this Utsav and offered their samarpan (offerings) to our Guru which is Dhwaja.

 Distinguish guest (Mukhya Vakta) for this event, Dr. Prabhakar ji Joshi and Savita ji Joshi, delivered a great lecture on the importance of Dhwaja in Indian culture and HSS. Kids sang several Sangha geet while everyone offered their samarpan one by one. A very good amount of money was collected as a result of this event. Thanks and congratulations to all parents and kids who contributed in small or big way for this event.

Click here for pictures from this Guru Pooja event

Just like last year, Abhimanyu Shakha conducted Diwali Food Drive with a renewed interest. Not only Food items but we collected cash donations from our Shakha members. Which helped us buy exactly those Food items which Food Pantry was running short on.

Elk Grove Food Pantry

We visited Elk Grove Food Pantry right after Diwali on Oct 18th and donated all the collected and purchased food items. We were fortunate to have our National Pracharak Saumitra Ji Gokhale accompany us for this visit. Nancy Clarbour from this Food Pantry was elated to see us again this year. She thanked a lot for remembering the Food Pantry and bringing essential food items on the occassion of Diwali. She was particulalrly excited to see our Shakha kids involved in this volunteer work.

HSS Abhimanyu Shakha in Schaumburg is conducting Food Drive on the occasion of Diwali festival for Schaumburg Food Pantry.

Schaumburg Food Pantry Letter

Please Bring Following Items to Shakha on Sundays in October:

Cereals, Peanut Butter, Jelly, Spaghetti Sauce, Fruit Juices

Canned Fruit, Snack Items, Crackers

Abhimanyu Shakha celebrated Ganesh Chaturthi by having Ganesh Puja in our Shakha today. Around 60 swayamsevak attended this Samoohik Ganesh Puja with great enthusiasm and devotion. 

Ganesh Puja 2009

Anil ji Deshpande conducted the Puja in perfect attire of a Pundit ji. All the kids as well as adults were able to follow the simple Puja directions and recital of Shlokas.

Puja concluded with Aarti and joyous ringing of bells. After Shakha prarthana, Lord Ganesha blessed every one with a big plate full of Prasadam prepared by various Sevikas.

Here are some moments captured from this wonderful Ganesh Puja event:

http://www.hssus.org/gallery/v/MWEST/AbhimanyuGaneshPuja09/

HSS Chicago Vibhag had their Annual Family Picnic on Saturday Agust 1st 2009. It was a full day event held at Deer Grove Forest Preserve in Palatine IL.

HSS Picnic 2009

The pictures of the event can be viewed here - http://www.hssus.org/gallery/v/MWEST/Chicago+Vibhag+Picnic+2009/

Over 120 participants of all ages, representing 42 families from across the Chicagoland area made the best of the rainy day. An unseasonably cold, windy, overcast and rainy climate failed to dampen the spirits of these enthusiastic picnickers.

The day started at 10AM with just a few karyakartas present in the picnic shed, wondering if anybody would show up in that kind of weather. People started coming slowly and within 30-40 minutes, the grove was filled with kids screaming and running around, and adults helping with vyavastha and chit-chatting with others.

All families were asked to register and the picnic officially started around 11 AM. We played the first game, which was actually a cleverly crafted introduction of the entire group. 3 ganas were formed to play various games. One group went on to play a game of Lagori, while the second group played kabaddi. A separate 3rd gana was made for the shishus and balas. 

Lunch was served at 12.30 and it needed no further evidence to the saying that the way to happiness begins and ends in stomach. All the families had contributed in bringing the food.

After the heavy lunch, some preferred to stay put and chit-chat, while most were off to playing more games again. We played volleyball, cricket, tag football, frisbees, etc. Sevikas made their own gana and played some light games. They were the group who enjoyed the most because they did not want to take a break even for the ice-cream! Others took breaks for ice-cream and then for tea.

The final session started at 3.30 PM and was the main attraction of the picnic, especially for the kids. We played various races, incluing freestyle running, lemon-spoon race, sack race, and 3-legged race. Finally there were two special races for the couples.  

We started the concluding session at 4.30. After a sanghik geet, Madhav’ji Naidu gave a bried concluding message. He talked about the purpose of coming together in functions like the picnic and weekly shakhas. The picnic ended with Prarthana.

As usual, it was a display of great team effort – the arrangements, the food and the cleanup.

HSS MW SSV 2009

Shikshaarthis/Shikshaks:

There were 37 Shikshaarthis - including 10 Sevika Shikshaarthis. 

Shri Yogeshji Bhargav was Varg Karyavaha and Shri Chandakji was Varg Sarvadhikari

There were five full time Shikshaks and one Part-time Shikshika (Shrishji Apte, Digantji Dash, Paragji Singla, Advaitji Athavale, Darshan Soni and Priyanka Bhargava)

All the Shiksharthis were Shakha going Swayamsevaks and Sevikas and as a result the entire camp was very meaningful and inspiring.
Sampark and Sewa Worshop:
Two innovative and new Karyashalas were conducted during this SSV

Sampark Karyashala:  All the Shiksharthis and Shikshaks went to neighborhoods close to the campsite (~30 to 45 minutes driving distance away) to meet Hindu families and visit public places such as grocery stores and restaurants.  All in all - there were 8 cars/vans that left the campsite in a very orderly fashion and visited several communities near the campsite.  Later on there was an experience sharing during the Ratri Karyakram of how the visits to various families and business establishment well.  Overall this was a great workshop and brought out several meaningful questions, answers and experiences regarding Sangh work.
Sewa Karyashala:  Similar to Sampark Karyashala, on Thursday all Shikshaarthis and Shikshaks visited three locations to do Sewa.  Although it was difficult to engage in actual Sewa Karya due to constraint on time,

 Vyavastha:
The Vyavastha for the SSV was managed by Chicago Vibhaag Karyakartas and it was very well done.  The food came from 40 different Karyakarta families in the Vibhaag and it was very delicious.  Chicago Vibhaag Karyavaha Yogeshji Bhargav was at the campsite full time and was in charge of Vyavastha along with the Varg Karyavaha responsibilities.  In addition to the Chicago Karyakarta Team, few other Karyakartas and Sevika Karyakartis joined in the Vyavasthan efforts enthusiastically as they were present at the campsite. 

Sharirik:

Overall, Sharirik during the Varg was excellent.  Especially, all the Khel sessions were well planned and executed keeping in mind its usage in Shakhas.  All other Sharirik Vishays were covered very well - including Pada Vinyas, Dand, Achar Paddhati, Shikshan Vidhi, VyayamYog, Dand, Niyuddh, SuryaNamaskar and Yogasan/Pranayam.  Each Sharirik Kalansh was 25 Minutes instead of 22 or 23 minutes.  This was very helpful and overall Shikshak feedback was that it helped in covering more material.
Shririk Pradarshan during Samarop went well and it included Dand, Niyuddh, Khel, SuryaNamaskar, Yogasana and VyayamYog. 

Baudhik:

Ma. Yashwantji Pathak and Saumitraji visited the Varg.
Many of the Charchaa sessions were conducted by Chicago Vibhaag Karyakartas
Overall planning of the Baudhik sessions was done well - such as Parichay, Vaiktik Geet, AmrutVachan etc.

 
Pravasi Karyakarta Varg:

There was a Pravasi Karyakarta Varg from Friday noon till Saturday noon.  All sessions were separate for SSV and Pravasi KK Vargh except for one Vibhag-wise Baihak for 30 Minutes on Friday.  The Baithak was very helpful to all Karyakartas to see how the SSV Trained Shiksharthis can help in growing and strengthening Shakha activities in their respective Vibhags. 

All Pravasi KKs attended the Samarop on Saturday. 

Pictures:  http://www.hssus.org/gallery/v/MWEST/Sangh+Shiksha+Varg+2009/
Overall, the Varg was very inspiring for all Shiksharthis and Shikshaks…

Hindu Education Foundation, Chicago Chapter with the help and participation from Abhimanyu Balagokulam Shakha, from North West suburb of Chicago , conducted Guruvandana Program (Teachers Appreciation Day) on May 31, 2009 at Palatine Public Library.

Guru Vandana

The Honorable Mayor of Hoffman Estates, Mr. William McLeod inaugurated the event by lighting a lamp in front of Saraswati Devi’s moorty. Teachers from schools from Northwest Suburb of Chicago attended the program. Total of over 100 participants attended the function.

The program began with an Exhibition on 5000+ years of Hindu contribution to world culture and civilization. Balagokulam kids gave a guided tour of the exhibition to The Mayor, Teachers and attendees, explaining each exhibit and answering their questions. Parents were also present to provide any clarifications.

After the exhibition, the Mayor and the Teachers moved to the main hall where Guru Vandana function was conducted. Prakash Saunshi coordinator for this Guruvandana program provided an introduction. He explained the goals of Hindu Education Foundation and the importance of Guru Vandana program. HEF had launched Guru Vandana event nationwide to bring students, teachers and parent together  as one large family. He informed that kids had put forward their desire to conduct the entire function end-to-end by themselves! In the spirit of the agreement, Prakash ji handed over the podium to the kids!

Priyanka Bhargava took the podium and provided an overview of the program. She invited The Mayor Mr. William McLeod to innogurate the Guruvandana Program by lighting of lamp in front of Saraswati Devi’s moorty.

Kids explained significant of lighting lamp and said that as light removes darkness, knowledge also removes ignorance. They   informed teachers about Hindu concept of Guru trinity, ’Mother, Father and Teacher’ who play important role in child life.

This was followed by group of kids from age 6 to 14 years reciting shlokas on Lord Ganesha,  Sarswati Devi and on Guru. Kids provided an explanation and significance of each of the shlokas. This was well received by the teachers and the audience.

After this all the kids were invited to present the memento to their teachers. The memento was specially designed for each teacher with their name and a personal message from the child to his/her teacher along with their photograph. Many teachers were visibly moved by the memento. This was followed by a group photograph.

After this Kathak Dance was performed by Radhika. This beautiful classical piece was choreographed by Gauri Jog. The dance told a beautiful story of playful  Krishna trying to grab butter hanging above and convincing his mother, Yashoda. Radhika’s dance won the heart of ever one in the hall.  Our special thanks to Gauri ji of Indian Dance School (www.gaurijog.com) for making Radhika available for this program.

Group of kids performed Jai Ho dance from Oscar winning movie, Slumdog Millionaire. It was an outstanding performance which took the audience by the storm! This was a fitting end to the cultural program designed, choreographed and performed by the kids.

Manish Joshi program coordinator invited The Mayor to the podium to provide his feedback.

Mayor William McLeod said:   “An outstanding event and thank you HEF for having invited me to this event. Several Indians and other communities have moved to this Chicago suburb because of its great educational system. This is because of dedicated teachers we have in our community. India and Hinduism have demonstrated strong ethical environments and shared quality in the diverse ethnic society. We do have common things to share amongst others. Our heritage, tradition, diverse background is excellent. Thanks to Hindu Education Foundation for pulling this tradition and hoping to continue every year.”

Various Indian organizations were represented which include Jalaram Mandir president Chiraybhai Parikh, Nita Virani of Art of Living and C V Desai of Ekal vidya (One teacher one school).

Teachers provided their feedback and expressed to attend such wonderful event in future. Teachers also commented that they learn more about Hindu culture by this program and  visiting  the exhibition of Hindu contribution to world culture and civilization.

For pictures visit: http://www.hssus.org/gallery/v/MWEST/Guruvandana+Abhimanyu+Shakha+Chicago+2009/

On the occasion of Holi and onset of spring, Sevikas of Abhimanyu shakha organized Face painting. Kids as well as adults enjoyed the face painting as you will be able to see that reflected in the pictures. Kids kept coming back for more and Sevikas continued to paint beautiful lotus flowers, butterflies and what not on their faces and hands. It was the best way to celebrate Holi - festival of colors !

Click here for more picture

Holi Face Painting