Sacramento Travels Conclusion

Here is a brief summery of Acharya Arumuganathaswami's and Natyam Jayanatha's travels in California. After the two left for California's Capitol of Sacramento, they had a day to prepare before attending Day One of the meeting of the California State Board of Education. Following the first day, which was mainly about standards for evaluation throughout the state, our monks attended the second day which was the primary reason for going. This was were the two year process of a revised narrative for History and Social Science was to end, with final approval from the Board. This was also the last chance to attempt to make improvements to the draft, which gives 6th grade students an introduction to World Religions, including a not-too-great introduction to Hinduism.

Several prominent Hindu group were there, Including Hindu Education Foundation members, Chinmaya Mission members and Hindu American Foundation leaders. We also had backing from a very prominent group of scholars, and of course our monks were there too. Over 300 speakers testified about the narrative, many of which were on different sides of various debates about the India section. After many, many hours, the public comments had ended, and the board accepted the draft as it stood, with a few minor changes. Over all, Hindu groups succeeded in making a few important improvements to the narrative, though there was still much that could have been improved upon. Nonetheless, a good step in the right direction. Next comes the textbook adoptions process, which any Hindus in California would be wise to pay close attention to, as it decides the final content which will end up in classrooms.

Following the meeting, our team had a nice vegetarian lunch with some of the California Hindu leaders and youth that had attended the meeting. The next morning our monks caught an early flight home to Kauai.

Aum Namah Sivaya

Our monks pose for a photo with Hindu youth who were there in hopes of improving the presentation of their religion

The public comments began early in the day

Each speaker had only one minute to speak

After testifying, youth line up for a photo

lunch with other Hindus who had come to make a positive change to the curriculum

everyone shared their personal thoughts on the overall accomplishments. Many noted the strong solidarity that now exists between Hindus in California because of this process

Our monks catch a sunrise flight to Hawaii

However, due to a short-lived smell of smoke in the cabin, the plane made an emergency landing on the big island

This wasn\

t all that bad however, because they then got to take a plane to Maui and then Kauai, thus flying over the whole island chain. '

Each island has its own unique beauty

Maui has done well with its windfarms

Good to be back at Kauai Aadheenam!

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