The spiritual head of Swaha, Paramacharya Pundit Hardeo Persad, is calling for T&T to be a more caring society. Persad gave this message during his feature address at Swaha’s 20th anniversary Indian Arrival Day dinner and awards ceremony held at the University of the West Indies, St Augustine JFK Auditorium, on Thursday.
He said Indian Arrival Day was a time to reflect on both past and present. The ancestors of T&T’s Indian community had struggled and sacrificed to give their descendants what they had today, he added. And although these ancestors had crossed the kala pani—meaning black water, a taboo in Indian culture—their descendants crossed the kala pani everyday, he said.
Persad said it was time to put an end to divisiveness, self-centredness, vindictiveness and hatred. “There’s no peace. There’s no truth. Where are the values that our ancestors lived and died for?” he asked. He said the kala pani that had to be crossed today was more difficult to cross because it was in the mind. Persad also said Indian Arrival Day was a time for everyone.
“Indian Arrival Day is not only for Indians to arrive; it is for everyone to arrive in oneness with the creator itself. It is for everyone who is a human being.” Persad also helped present awards to more than 40 winners from the 2013 Swadeshi Competition. The annual competition is open to all Swaha bodies, including schools and ashrams. Awards were given for story-teling, poetry writing, music, and musical performance and composition. The ceremony also included performances by the winners.