Sadhvi Ritambara inspires Indians in Florida

FORT LAUDERDALE. FLORIDA, June 26, 2007 – More than 200 members of the local community comprising of several faiths including Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Judaism came together at the Hollywood Beach Culture and Community Center, Hollywood, FL, on Saturday, June 23, 2007 to support a unique and noble humanitarian program founded by Her Holiness Sadhvi  Ritambhara.

In the true spirit of Vivekananda’s call, Sadhvi Ritambharaji, has arisen; she has woken up and is waking up others. And she is not going to stop till the goal of Hindu unity is reached. Ever since she took up Sanyas (Renunciation), she has worked tirelessly and fearlessly to inculcate in Hindus the pride of their ancient cultural heritage.

A powerful speaker whose words flow from her lips, not in prose but in sheer poetry, in the language she loves most–Hindi, Sadhaviji appropriately enough spoke on the importance of Hindu identity, of  unity in diversity and of never ever dividing ourselves on the basis of region, caste and colour.

Her Holiness Sadhvi Ritambhara runs a “Village of maternal affection” called Vatsalya-Gram (Vatsalya meaning: Maternal love and Gram meaning: Village) located 2.5 hours from New Delhi, India where she provides permanent families and homes for orphan, homeless and abandoned, infants and other kids, and less-fortunate women of all ages and faiths. These kids and women are then paired up to make a family unit. As a result each woman gets to be a mother and each child grows up having a parent and a family. These kids are then educated to serve the society and the human race.

The program began with dinner provided by Robert Soloman of Royal India Restaurant, followed by devotional songs and inspiring discourse on world harmony and the Hindu tenets of tolerance and peaceful coexistence by Her Holiness Sadhvi  Ritambhara.

Local resident Andrew Vaz who supported this event stated “Her Holiness Sadhvi  Ritambhara is providing a valuable service to the human race as a whole with her Vatsalyagram project. This concept should be supported by all and be replicated around the world.” Similar sentiments were expressed by Joe Kauffman, Ashrad Bhatti, Farida and Dan Spencer.

Organizers of this event have been involved in several similar causes over the past decade. They have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for various causes such as Tsunami victim relief, Katrina relief etc. This group periodically sponsors events to feed the homeless in Broward County.

Many attendees were amused to see about 10 people including small children and women wearing head covering, claiming to represent 15 different organizations, mostly Islamic, protesting against this noble cause.

One of the reasons for the amusement of the attendees was primarily a report published in Miami Herald where Syed Rahman a Member of the Executive Council of CAIR an organization that was named a co-conspirator to the financing of terrorist outfit Hamas from the US (read statements from United States Senators and Representatives Richard Durbin, Charles Schumer, Barbara Boxer, Bill Shuster and Statements From Sept. 2003 Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security and additional information at http://www.cairwatch.org/ ) was maligning the name of Her Holiness.