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Happy Pride Month to our LGBTQIA+ friends and family! May was a busy and exciting month for Sadhana:
Program Updates:
- Our Hindu liberation theology reading group, led by Sadhana board members Gautham Reddy and Nikhil Mandalaparthy, has been meeting every month. In our meeting on May 2nd, we discussed an essay about a Ram Leela performance in 1970s London that tackled police brutality, feminism, and racism, and how our work of building a progressive Hindu movement has a long history in the South Asian diaspora.
- On May 10th, Sadhana and the New York chapter of Muslims for Progressive Values held our fourth annual Hindu-Muslim Ramadan Satsangh! Thank you to everyone who joined us for a special evening of prayer and reflection.
- On May 29th, we held our eleventh and final Sadhana Samudaya class of the spring semester! We had so much fun launching these progressive Hindu children's classes this year, led by Sadhana board members Helen Lundstrom Erwin and Hari Venkatachalam, and we are excited to re-launch the classes after our summer break. If you're interested in learning more, write to us at info@sadhana.org.
Advocacy Updates:
- Sadhana sent this letter urging the Santa Clara County's Human Rights Commission to include ‘caste’ as a specific protected category in order to combat caste discrimination.
- Sadhana was honored to join an effort led by the International Commission on Dalit Rights urging the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to tackle the issue of caste-based discrimination in US workplaces.
- We joined our Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, and Sikh colleagues in endorsing a multi-religious statement of solidarity with the Palestinian people, calling for peace and justice.
- Sadhana signed on to this statement put together by New Jersey-based community organizations in solidarity with workers who were being exploited at the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple in Robbinsville, NJ. Read more about our interfaith statement below.
More Updates:
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Thank you to everyone who has been contributing to our Decade of Sadhana giving campaign! We need your support in order to do this work -- any amount helps! Keep reading to learn about upcoming events and opportunities to get involved.
Pranams,
Sadhana Board: Davanie, Esha, Gautham, Hari, Helen, Nikhil, Samir, Shivani, Sunita, and Tahil
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On Sunday, June 6th, join us for We Breathe Together: an interfaith, multicultural experience and fundraiser to support Covid-19 relief efforts for India’s most marginalized communities. We will hear from a diverse line-up of progressive faith leaders and activists, and we will be joined by leading musicians and artists from India and the Indian diaspora.
We will be raising funds for three NGOs doing amazing relief work on the ground in India: DISHA, Kislay, and Umeed Project.
This event is being co-sponsored by Auburn Seminary, Cedar Lane Unitarian Universalist Church, Hindus for Human Rights, Middle Collegiate Church, Muslims for Progressive Values, Revolutionary Love Project, and the Unitarian Universalist Association.
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Project Prithvi, Sadhana's award-winning environmental justice initiative, is BACK!
On Saturday, June 12th, join us for a beach clean-up at Jamaica Bay's North Channel Bridge. We are excited to be joined by our friends at South Queens Women's March, Ma Yogashakti Yoga Ashram, and Shree Krishna Mandir.
Please note that gloves, garbage bags and pickers will be provided along with a light lunch. Sanitizer will be made available if needed. Please dress for the weather and wear closed toe shoes. Bring a bottle of water. Verification letters will be provided for those who need to certify volunteer hours for school or community purposes.
To comply with COVID guidelines, we are asking all interested volunteers to complete the form below in advance of attendance at the cleanup:
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As we get ready for our first Project Prithvi beach cleanup of 2021, check out this blog post by Sadhana co-founder and volunteer Rohan Narine, in which he reflects on Project Prithvi's history and makes a case for why beach cleanups are so important.
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Sadhana and Micah Institute are calling on religious leaders and faith-based organizations to endorse an interfaith statement of solidarity with over 150 workers exploited by leaders of the BAPS Swaminarayan Temple in Robbinsville, NJ. Please read, sign, and share.
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On June 14th, Sadhana board member Shivani Parikh will be representing Sadhana at Face 2 Faith, a multi-faith forum with New York City's mayoral candidates organized by the Interfaith Center of New York. The purpose of this forum is to give NYC faith voters an opportunity to hear candidates discuss the issues of importance to them in this election.
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Since 2011, Sadhana has been building a progressive Hindu movement centered in social justice through community transformation, advocacy, and seva (selfless service).
We have been recognized by the White House for our environmental justice work; featured in outlets like the New York Times for helping to establish the nation’s first sanctuary temple; and are often still the only Hindu voices in progressive interfaith movements like the Poor People’s Campaign.
As we enter our tenth year, we hope to transition from being a fully volunteer-led organization to hiring our first Executive Director, who will help us take this work to the next level.
However, we can’t do this work without your help. With your support, we hope to raise $51,000 by our ten-year anniversary in October 2021.
We hope that 2021 will be a year of tremendous growth and energy for our progressive Hindu movement. If our mission, vision, and values are meaningful to you, please consider making a donation of any amount to Sadhana today.
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You can also donate a portion of your online shopping purchases to Sadhana through Amazon Smile.
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