Guru Poojan - Dakshina Program

Guru Pooja and Guru Dakshina

Devotional worship of the Guru - the preceptor, something more than a teacher - is one of the most touching and elevating features of the Hindu cultural tradition. A Guru could be in the form of a elevated human being, or a deity of choice. However, Dr. Hedgewar chose the Bhagwa Dhwaja (saffron flag) to be the guiding light of the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh with much deliberation and poise. It represents an emblem of strength, courage, devotion and sacrifice in the service humanity. It has achieved great respect throughout history, witnessed great valour and events and attracts obeisance even today. The param pavitra Dhwaja thus brings to mind and heart several divine qualities befitting those of a Guru. A true offering of worship, or pooja, to the Dhawja is the dedication of strength, mind and heart for the welfare of our society. It truly signifies the worship of all the preceptors of all times, and is referred to as Guru Paurnima.

Please refer to the " Events" section for details on liocation and timings.

What exactly is then the offering, or Guru Dakshina ? To live by the lofty ideals placed before us by the ancient seers and sages of whom we are descendants—that would be the dakshina desired by the guru. However, on a more practical note, the spirit of Sangh is expanding across the globe and financial support is required to operate a list of growing cultural and heritage programs. The monetary offering to the guru, however small or large it may be, is the Guru Dakshina to the Bhagwa Dhwaja. These oblations are utilized to accommodate the expenses of activities that lead to individual progress and character building, strengthening of our society, and also, to promote Hindu culture and way of life. Please remember the dakshina is complementary to the lofty concept of Guru Paurnima. It is not compulsory, yet certainly essential for our growth and advancement.

May God and guru inspire you to contemplate this in all seriousness and sincerity.

Please read a review of this years activities here.

Diwali Food Drive 2009 - Report

Diwali Food Drive 2009 - Report

As part of our tradition, we always like to donate whatever we can during the festival days especially during Diwali which is not too far from today.

Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (Canada) is held a food drive from 27-Sept-09 to the Thanksgiving long weekend. Shiva Ji Shakha organized Food donation program on the occasion of Deepawali to help needy families. The participants - teenagers and adults collected non-perishable food items from their homes, friends and work places. It took almost 3 weeks to organize this program.

Everybody got together at the Salvation Army, Brampton location to drop off the collected food and appreciate Salvation Army's food bank program. The Salvation Army thanked all the participants. It was a great learning experience for all the involved people.

Next year we hope to reach out further into the community to serve this noble cause.

Vijaya Dashami Utsav - A Report

The festival also has a special signifcance in Sangh. It is on this day, 84 years ago, that Dr. Hedgewar pledged to consolidate and re-build the Hindu society and uplift it above the narrow loyalties of caste, sect, province and language. Various gathering are organized to celebrate this event - "patha-sanchalan" or route march being one of them.

In Canada we are welcoming the 85th year of Sangh's journey with a "sports event". Inter-shakha team competitions in Khokho, Kabaddi and Soccer are being held to demonstrate team spirit and strength.

The shakha ekatrikaran program at Vivekananda Shakha was very exciting, especially the khokho competitions. With an attendence of 76, six teams for various shakhas participated. The gripping final played between Vivekananda Shakha and Keshav Shakha teams unfortunately ended in  a draw. The 30 min soccer competion played between Madhav Manu shakha was very energetic as well. Due to lack of time, only one Kababbdi match was played between the younger yuva and tarun teams. The younger team demonstrated skill and vigour in playing the game, and at one point, it appeared they would actually emerge victorious. However, pure strengh and experience overcame the tough youngsters and they eventually lost the quite a thrilling match.

A group of about 20 yuva presented a niyuddh demonstration, all which was learnt at the Sangh Shiksha Varg in held July. There after an "amrut-vachan", Swami Vivekananda's words of wisdom was introduced by Divyang Patel. In August, two swayamsevaks from Toronto had been to the USA for 3 weeks as Vistaraks. Kanjan Patel presented his learnings and experience during the trip and how thrilled he was to visit other Shakhas and camps. Shri. Digant Dash, a HSS pracharak (full-time worker), then gave an inspiring bauddhik on Vijaya Dashami. He explained the importance of a combining wisdom (Saraswati), strength (Durgaa) and wealth (Laxmi) in the development of a healthy individual and therefore, a society. Shivaji's shakha food donation drive on the occasion of Diwali was announced as part of their Sewa activity. Vismay Patel graced the greatly successful event as Mukhaya Shikshak.

Raksha Bandhan: Rakhee program at a Police Station

Keshav Shakha undertook a unique and auspicious work on this year’s raksha bandahan day by tying rakhee's to police officers at 43 Division in Scarborough. 7 swaymsevaks and 5 sevikas visited met the superintendent and other officers who were on duty that time, briefly introduced HSS, explained the meaning of Raksha Bandhan, its relevance in the defence of the society, and how we celebrate it. 

Swayamsevaks and sevikas than tied rakhi to every officer. Officers were very much impressed with rakhi on their wrist and the novel concept of celebrating festivals at police station. Various questions were asked and and answered to the officers' satisfaction and bewilderment. At the end we offered sweets to all of them. Tt was a very joyful moment for all swayamsevaks and sevikas.