Sadhana Satsanghs are our monthly inclusive, egalitarian and earth-honoring worship gatherings. During the Covid-19 pandemic, we have been performing biweekly e-Satsanghs on Thursdays via Zoom.

Join us for a Satsangh following Labor Day where we will be reflecting on worker’s rights, economic justice, and caste abolition, and why we as Hindus should be committed to these progressive causes.

We will begin by hearing from Nafisah Ula, the organizing director for the national office of Jobs With Justice. Now based in Portland, OR, she has been an organizer and campaigner since she was a teenager in Laramie, WY. Nafisah has worked with the domestic and international trade union movement since 2009. She’s hopped all over the country for the AFL-CIO’s Center for Strategic Research, built campaigns with SEIU, and supported working people who provide behavioral health and head start services in Oregon join together with AFSCME. In recent years, Nafisah aided members of the National Guestworker Alliance and the New Orleans Worker Center for Racial Justice in experimenting with new models of building their power.

We will then hear from Dr. Balmurli Natrajan, professor of anthropology at William Patterson University in New Jersey. Dr. Natrajan will be speaking on "Caste, Labor, and Progressive Hindus." When we think of worker's rights, we must also keep caste in mind — since, as Dr. BR Ambedkar said, caste is not just a division of labor, but a division of laborers. In particular, the Cisco caste discrimination case has highlighted that casteism is a workers’ rights issue in the US. If we as Hindus are committed to worker’s rights and economic justice, we must also be committed to dismantling caste in the US and abroad.

We hope you can join us!