On April 16, Fox Valley Mall in Aurora was the site of Darshana Day, hosted by Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh (HSS).
“Here we have organized a Hindu civilization exhibition to showcase about Hindu culture to all of our American friends and neighbors in different cities in the suburbs of Chicagoland,” said Siddesh Shevade, National Executive Director of HSS.
What is Darshana?
“Darshana is various different posters like twenty four of them, and we talk about Hindu specialties like arts, sacred texts, scriptures. We talk about our values, and also our religion too. Through this we hope to tell everybody and offer what our culture has to say, but also introduce everyone to all the aspects of our tradition and how we practice our life using this religion,” said volunteer Anvi Shevade.
“As well as we have musical instruments like ancient things that we have used in the past and there’s also an exclusive center for Indian food and also tea. So kind of like all aspects of our culture we’re just kinda sharing that with our community today,” said volunteer Kritin Shukla.
Organizers were excited to give the public a small sampling of Hindu traditions.
“It’s a new thing that’s starting and it’s the first thing we’re hosting and it’s a new experience for all of us, and we’re enjoying trying to showcase our culture to different people,” said event volunteer Harsha Gangasani.
Is Aurora the Only Location?
Aurora is the third city in Illinois to hold Darshana, with previous exhibits in Urbana-Champaign and Schaumburg. It originally started in Indianapolis and has now spread to thirty-four of the fifty states. Organizers of the Aurora event plan to make theirs mobile.
“So we want to take this exhibition on the road and go to as many states as possible. So I think after this, we are encouraged to take this to all the different states in the U.S.,” said Shreyas Suresh, media coordinator of the event.
“I think with this there will be much more awareness, and with more awareness with more interaction with more exchange of idea bigger better things can result,” said Suresh.
Naperville News 17 Patrick Codo reports
