HWN Conference Reaches 10 Year Milestone

On Saturday February 24th, 2024, Hindu Women’s Network (HWN) of Atlanta, commemorated their 10 years with an annual Hindu Women Conference at Best Western in Roswell, Atlanta, Georgia. Theme of the conference this year was Empowerment Through Knowledge.

HWN, an initiative of VHPA, aligns to the values of Shakti (Empowering Self and others), Seva(Social contribution), Sadhana (Spiritual Enlightenment) and furthers the conversation on enrichment.

The archway of Best Western board room turned into a vortex of, ‘colors of India’ beyond the hydraulic doors. Registrations were done online as well as booths were set up with volunteers to register walk-ins. The inauguration of eight-hour session started with lamp lighting ceremony done by VHPA Atlanta Chapter President – Veena Katdare, Vice President – Kusum Khurana and Keynote speaker – Brahmacharini Jyoti Chaitanya followed by prayers led by Manju Tiwari, Smita Daftardar, Preeti Gupta, Neetu Sharma, and Nisha Desai.

Sabitha Venugopal, the facilitator at HWC initiated the program with the welcome speech followed by outlines of the program schedule spanned between 9pm to 4pm. Mina Menon, a certified yoga instructor, led the conclave through breathing exercises – Pranayama Brahmini, Dwitiya, Tritiya, and Omkar Sadhana, which energized the convocation. Anita Houde, one of the volunteers at HWN moderated the first session – Women In Dharma and invited Brahmacharini Jyoti Chaitanya. Respected Brahmacharini Jyoti ji with her extensive background in Advaita Vedanta addressed the audience on the topic with wealth of her knowledge. Coming from an illustrious background of bachelor’s in medicine and surgery, Brahmacharini Jyoti left her post-graduate studies in search of truth. Heavily inspired by the Vedic Scriptures she went back in search of her roots and trained under Sandeepany Sadhanalaya in Mumbai, Bharat. Currently she serves at Chinmaya Mission, Atlanta.

The core crux of the speech of Brahmacharini Jyoti Chaitanya was Devi (Goddess) who is considered the supreme symbol of women divinity. Hindu Scriptures accept and embrace female divinity. Female energy is the God essence – a pinnacle of Brahm Vedanta, leading humans to enlightenment. The principal element of our culture divinizes women and believes that God revels in the society or nation that idolizes women energy. The reason for confusion today is because we have lost touch with Swadharma. The loss of sight for the inner essence has led to much turbulence on the outside. When head, heart and body align and work together it is then we can act in Dharma. When we connect within, we rewire, re-find, and reinstate that Dharma in ourselves. Mahabharata says where there is Krishna there is Dharma. Where there is Dharma there is success. When we think of God – Dharma becomes foremost in our lives. When we follow Dharma, we become like Arjuna. We change ourselves and the world around us changes for the better. When we find Krishna inside, life becomes an expression of Krishna. Then Dharma lives through you.

The moderator for the next session, Manjula Reddy, introduced the guest speaker – Gita Vemparala, a certified life coach who specializes in divorce and transition into life after divorce. She helps women in navigating the complex and stressful procedure of separation and divorce. She gave her valuable insights to more than seventy women present for the conference.

Hitherto to lunch of Indian delicacies like Palak Paneer, Pulao and Gulab Jamun, Smita Daftardar, a veteran teacher of decade at Balvihar, heralded in her speech about the growing community of VHPA organization. Semicentennial VHPA’s foundation was instituted to bring community together for social and spiritual growth of Hindus. Balvihar was set up in early seventies followed by a family camp in the same year. Hindu Student council in 1990, Coalition of Hindu Youth 2010, Bhagwat Gita Santana Dharma Scholarship  in 1993, which was later expanded to Sharada Scholarship Program 2022. Durga Project supports abused women, Hindu Women Network, to name a few. And announcement of Hindu New Year that will be celebrated on April 20th, 2024.

The interlude of the group was followed by Yoganindra led by Ms. Rita Belsare who guided the audience to succinct relaxation. The timekeepers for the diverse sessions were masterfully managed by timekeepers – Nisha Desai and Neetu Sharma for the flawless tete-a-tete. 

Preeti Gupta, moderator for the session – alternative medicine, welcomed Dr. Satish Nair on stage. Dr. Nair is a compassionate healer and an enthusiastic teacher who has expertise in Ayurveda, Yoga, Massage Therapy, and Naturopathy. He takes an integrative approach to healing by combining the positives of both ancient sciences and modern medicine. He talked about mental, physical, social, emotional, and spiritual health of women. According to him sickness is not inherited, ‘ Genetics only helps in loading the gun, it is the environment that we provide that triggers the sickness.” Focusing on prevention more than cure, he implored the women attendees to take charge of their health.

Sarika Jaswani, contributor at Hindu Vishwa Magazine, introduced the next set of panelists to the podium in the session – passion to profession. Invitees on the panel included Bishakha Sinha, an amazon best seller author, Monika Mittal, artist guild president at Johns Creek Art Center, Pragati Kolage, an award-winning actor, director and producer who has fueled her passion to reach new heights, and Neha Negandhi, a TEDx speaker, podcast host and journalist. Each of the artist came from a different professional background and shared their awe-inspiring stories of struggles and triumphs in pursuing their passions and turning them into a profession. 

HWN segways several initiatives from donation drives, fundraisers, and marathons. This year they introduced a new fad for their loyal patrons – The HWN Book Club. The motto being to enrich booklovers and promote women authors in the community, thereby building a dialogue that invigorates the women network and support in the community. The link to join book club – https://chat.whatsapp.com/LWmhZKi49RCHaNd6jGSdM7

The program, wrapped up with prayers and triumphant volunteers huddling for group pictures and selfies with the dignitaries. Each participant went home with a hint of epiphany and a load of empowerment.