BY SONAM MIRPURI
NORWALK, CA- At the year-end public gathering of the of Dharma Civilization Foundation held at the Sanatan Dharma Temple here on Dec 9, Chairman Dr. Ushakant Thakkar, announced that he and his wife, Dr. Irma Thakkar, were donating a $5 million legacy gift to the Foundation to further its academic mission.
NORWALK, CA- At the year-end public gathering of the of Dharma Civilization Foundation held at the Sanatan Dharma Temple here on Dec 9, Chairman Dr. Ushakant Thakkar, announced that he and his wife, Dr. Irma Thakkar, were donating a $5 million legacy gift to the Foundation to further its academic mission.
The Foundation’s mission is “To promote the understanding of India’s civilization, religion, and culture through education.” The Foundation established in 2012, hopes to support academic scholarship and research that portrays India and Indian Dharma traditions accurately from an Indian point of view. The program began with Manohar Shinde, Chairman Emeritus welcoming the guests and giving them a brief overview of the Foundation’s achievements in 2017, and outlining the goals for 2018.
Following this, Dr. Thakkar addressing the gathering highlighted that the focus should be long term.“Bring Dharma knowledge into higher education –at the Masters and PhD levels,” he said.
Board member Sucheta Kapuria, then invite the panelists, Dr. Vishwa Adluri from Hunter College and Dr. Joydeep Bagchi from Germany, as well as the moderator, Kalyan Viswanathan, Executive DFC Vice President for the discussion. Dr. Bagchi, began by giving a brief introduction about his teacher, Dr. Adluri, and his experiences.
“We have known each other for 12 years,” said Dr. Bagchi. Continuing to speak about Dr. Adluri, Dr. Bagchi mentioned the pressures to conform to the norms of society.“The bottomline is that there is money for being anti-Hindu but there is no money for being pro-Hindu,” he said. Viswanathan continued by asking more relevant questions. An interesting point that came up is that there is a misconception that the modern thought and the new perspective is the best, when it is not possible to have a today without a yesterday. “The new is right and the old should be destroyed,” said Dr. Adluri.
After a few questions, came the topic of “The Nay Science” a book written by Dr. Adluri and Dr. Bagchi. Viswanathan took a break from the panel discussion to invite on stage Dr. Poornima Thakran who in the name of her Guru Swami Swahananda of the Vedanta Society of Los Angeles awarded Dr. Adluri and Dr. Bagchi a gift of $5,000 for the `Book of the Year.’
Board members Kapuria and Vinod Ambastha, , came on stage to support Dr. Adluri and Dr. Bagchi as well as to raise funds for the Foundation. “It is our duty to keep our culture alive,” said Dr. Ambastha.
Kapuria continued by requesting the audience to contribute as well as askng them to inspire others to do so. “Our purpose is to save our children from being ashamed of being Indian,” said Kapuria. $250,000 was the set goal and over $100,000 was raised with more donations still coming in. During a brief break, attendees were given the opportunity to stretch and grab lunch provided to all guests.
After the break, interested audience members participated in a Q& A session with Dr. Adluri and Dr. Bagchi.
Following this, Dr. Thakkar addressing the gathering highlighted that the focus should be long term.“Bring Dharma knowledge into higher education –at the Masters and PhD levels,” he said.
Board member Sucheta Kapuria, then invite the panelists, Dr. Vishwa Adluri from Hunter College and Dr. Joydeep Bagchi from Germany, as well as the moderator, Kalyan Viswanathan, Executive DFC Vice President for the discussion. Dr. Bagchi, began by giving a brief introduction about his teacher, Dr. Adluri, and his experiences.
“We have known each other for 12 years,” said Dr. Bagchi. Continuing to speak about Dr. Adluri, Dr. Bagchi mentioned the pressures to conform to the norms of society.“The bottomline is that there is money for being anti-Hindu but there is no money for being pro-Hindu,” he said. Viswanathan continued by asking more relevant questions. An interesting point that came up is that there is a misconception that the modern thought and the new perspective is the best, when it is not possible to have a today without a yesterday. “The new is right and the old should be destroyed,” said Dr. Adluri.
After a few questions, came the topic of “The Nay Science” a book written by Dr. Adluri and Dr. Bagchi. Viswanathan took a break from the panel discussion to invite on stage Dr. Poornima Thakran who in the name of her Guru Swami Swahananda of the Vedanta Society of Los Angeles awarded Dr. Adluri and Dr. Bagchi a gift of $5,000 for the `Book of the Year.’
Board members Kapuria and Vinod Ambastha, , came on stage to support Dr. Adluri and Dr. Bagchi as well as to raise funds for the Foundation. “It is our duty to keep our culture alive,” said Dr. Ambastha.
Kapuria continued by requesting the audience to contribute as well as askng them to inspire others to do so. “Our purpose is to save our children from being ashamed of being Indian,” said Kapuria. $250,000 was the set goal and over $100,000 was raised with more donations still coming in. During a brief break, attendees were given the opportunity to stretch and grab lunch provided to all guests.
After the break, interested audience members participated in a Q& A session with Dr. Adluri and Dr. Bagchi.
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