1. religion and spirituality
2. hinduism

PRESENT
THE 7TH ANNUAL
FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS
Balboa Park on October 18, 2014
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Celebrating 150 years
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Union Bank is proud to sponsor the 7th Annual Festival of Lights — Diwali Celebrations.
Union Bank ® believes in the power of partnerships. That’s why we partner with
communities and organizations to make a positive difference in the places where we
work and live. To us, building a strong community is the most valuable investment of all.
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Seventh Annual Diwali Festival of Lights
Celebration Program
Balboa Park, Saturday, October 18, 2014
3.00 – 8.00PM: Large Diwali Lamps Display in Organ Pavilion. Lighting at 6.15PM
3.00 – 6.30PM: Free admission to The San Diego Museum of
Art and Mingei International Museum with ticket
3.00 – 6.30PM: Family-friendly art-making activity in front of
The San Diego Museum of Art
3.00 – 6.30PM: Docentled tours of the Edwin Binney 111 Collection at The San Diego Museum of Art
3.30 - 5.00PM: Two performances of classical dances, Odissi and Bharatanatyam, in the James S. Copley Auditorium at
3.30PM and 4.30PM (free with ticket)
3.30 – 5.30PM: Presentation of cultural heritage and folk
dances of 13 Indian States at Plaza de Panama
3.30 – 6.00PM: Henna painting in the rotunda of Mingei
International Museum
3.30 – 8.00PM: Indian cuisine for sale in the parking lot behind Organ Pavilion
6.00 – 7.30PM: Cultural program on Organ Pavilion stage
including 1008 lamps lighting ceremony
7.30 – 8.00PM: Participatory Bhangra folk dance at the
pavilion
Donors of the Large Lamps
Nacha and M.C. Madhavan
Lata and Ashok Israni
Asmita and Rasik Bosmia
Neera and Subal Goswami
Harriet and Maneck Wadia
Bharat and Hema Lall
Saroja and Dak Murthy
Gayatri and C.K. Prahalad
Kanta and P.K. Patel
Bonnie and Krishna Arora
Anita and Sridhar Gopalakrisnan
Priya and Mukesh Assomull
Gopa and Purna Patnaik
Sejal Parikh
Diane and V.S. Ramachandran
Francois and Salim Shah
Gowri and Raj Madhavan
Girija and Venu Prabaker
Shittal and Manish Parikh
Neelam and Kunal Roy
Uma and Swaminathan
Lakshmanan
Sudha and Srinivasa Praba
Radha and Venu Chari
Nalini and Narendra Doshi
Hamsapriya Srinivasan
Kamla Singh
Imdad Ali
State Bank of India
Lamps are stored in a storage facility donated by Lata Israni.
A replica of ancient lamp in Ayyappa Swamy temple in Kerala is the
tallest lamp in our collection of 54 lamps drawn from different eras
and regions of India.
The Festival of Lights Committee
Executive Committee
M.C. Madhavan
Hamid Daudani
Jas Grewal
Manish Parikh
Neelu Bhardwaj
Ram Seshan
Martha Ehringer
Merry Lampinen
Program Coordinators
Mansi Acharya
Anita Bhakta
Jonathan Bosco
Gargi Chattopadhyaya
Laila Daudani
Purnima Gopakumar
Pratibha Goyal
Panna Hazarika
Manjula Jain
Snehal Kashipara
Lata Kumar
Sudesh Kumar
Rita Lim
Krishna Meduri
Anar Mehta
Vimala Narsimhan
Harini Narsimhan
Shalini Param
Shalini Patnaik
Anu Rajaskaran
Varsha Rakholia
Edward Remias
Tanaya Roy
Shashikanth Sadineli
Ashwini Sangam
Sharavati Sathe
Shalima Sidhik
David Soudamalla
Selvi Srinivasan
Padma Suverna
Madhukar Yedulapuram
Festival of Lights: Meaning and Relevance
A symbol of Surya (Sun) and Agni (fire), the lamp plays a very
important role in life in India. “The flame of the lamp is likened
to the Supreme Self ”.
Lamps have evolved over centuries in India. Throughout human
history, every faith has used lamps to give a positive spiritual
meaning. Lamps appear in the Torah as a symbol of “lighting”
the way for the righteous and the wise. There are several references to oil lamps in the New Testament. The sanctuary lamp
in the Orthodox Church is an oil lamp. Buddhism, Jainism, Zorastranism, Islam and other faiths have also used and are using
lamps for spiritual purposes. In Vedic times in India, fire was
kept alive in every household in some form. Later, the presence
of fire in the household or a religious building was ensured by an
oil lamp.
The Meaning of Diwali – Stories and Morals from India
Diwali or Deepavali is one of the biggest and most important
festivals in many countries. It is a time of great celebration with
family and friends, the exchanging of gifts and of course the lighting of lamps and fireworks. The word “Deepavali” itself comes
from Sanskrit and means a row of lights. In the Hindu tradition,
light represents knowledge, purity and the divine. The darkness
of night represents the negative forces of ignorance, anger, greed,
bigotry, injustice, and oppression. When the light of the lamps
pierces the darkness of night, it symbolizes the victory of good
over evil, the triumph of virtue over vice and the conquest of
ignorance through reason and understanding.
Festival of Lights: Meaning and Relevance
(continued)
There are many legends associated with Diwali. For many, it represents the return of Lord Rama to his kingdom of Ayodhya. For
others, it represents the slaying of the demon Narakaasura by
Lord Krishna. Diwali is also a day of inner renewal. Given India’s
multitude of faiths and cultures, Diwali is not just a Hindu festival, but a pan-Indian celebration. The core messages of Diwali
are as universal and relevant for us today as they have been for
millennia.
Festival of Lights
This Festival of Lights attempts to present in large strokes the
lamps used in different eras, traditions and regions of India. It is
in the fascinating variety of lamps that we see the art of the creative craftsmanship from the past to the present. Here we present
fourteen different types of lamps that are recreated from ancient
designs. One thousand and eight small lamps, similar to the ones
used in India during Diwali celebrations, will also be lit.
We wish you all a very happy Diwali!
San Diego Indian American Society
Highlights of its activities
The San Diego Indian American Society (SDIAS) was founded on January 14, 1984 by Professor M.C. Madhavan with the support of Arjun and Judy Waney, Maneck and Harriet Wadia, Harry
Singh Jr and others in the Indian American community.
Since its inception, over 500 Mahatma Gandhi memorial
scholarships, up to $2,000 each, have been awarded to outstanding San Diego Area high school graduates irrespective of national
origin along with the Congressional Certificate of recognition provided by Congressman Bob Filner and now by Congressman Juan
Vargas.
Since 2005, the Society has also supported 4 to 7 AVID scholars every year from families with no college education. About 60
such scholarships of $4,000 each were given under this program.
Scholarships are almost entirely funded by people of Indian origin.
In 2014, SDIAS awarded scholarships amounting to $45,000.
Every year since 2004, the Society has organized the Unity in
Diversity Cultural festival in Poway Center for Performing Arts,
attended by over 700 people. Each year, we honor a chief Guest
for his or her contribution to human development. In 2013, Dr.
Pradeep Khosla, Chancellor of UCSD was the honoree and Ambassador N. Parthasarathy, Consul General of India at San Francisco was the chief guest in 2014.
Every year Mahatma Gandhi memorial lecture was delivered
by world class scientists, diplomats, public policy experts and elected officials. Inaugural lecture was delivered by Dr. Jonas Salk, Polio
Vaccine inventor and founder of Salk Institute (see sdias.org for
details). Roger Revelle, Herb York, and Ravi Shankar are some of
the others who delivered Mahatma Gandhi memorial lectures.
The 30th annual Mahatma Gandhi lecture was delivered by
the Third Indian American Congressman in history, Congressman
Dr. “Ami” Bera on July 20, 2013, and the 31st Memorial lecture by
Dr. William Brody, President, Salk Institute on July 27, 2014. These
lectures are held in UCSD Calit2 auditorium since 2006.
The silver Jubilee memorial lecture was held on February
14, 2009 at 3.00PM in UCSD Atkinson Hall. Professor Raj Mohan
Gandhi, one of Gandhiji’s grandsons and a professor at University
of Illinois, delivered the memorial lecture and Mr. Arun Gandhi,
another grandson and a well recognized peace activist and founder of Total Non-violence Institute, presided.
We have honored 9 very distinguished people in the world
with Chakra Awards for their monumental contribution to humankind. These people are: Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen of Harvard;
Bharat Ratna Pundit Ravi Shankar; Maestro Zubin Mehta; Sound
System pioneer Dr. Amar Bose; Mr. Arjun Waney, “Raja of Rag
trade” and small business pioneer; Dr. John Kapoor, entrepreneur;
Yogananda Paramahamsa, Founder of Self-Realization Fellowship;
Congressman Dalip Singh Saund, First Congressman of Asian descent; and Harry Singh, Pioneer farmer of San Diego county.
We have organized over 85 seminars and symposia on various subjects by very outstanding world class experts. After a lapse
of a few years, this program was restarted in October 2013. These
programs will be held every quarter in October, January, April and
July in Carmel Valley Public Library from 5.45 PM to 7.45PM.
We have supported 26 projects in India benefitting high
schools and colleges in Punjab, Gujarat, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh,
Andhra Pradesh, Tamilnadu, and Bihar as well as an eye hospital in Orissa and community development projects in Gujarat
and Tamilnadu. We have also supported two projects and helped
needy families in San Diego. We have also occasionally supported deserving students of Indian origin both at undergraduate and
graduate levels.
Do you want to learn Hindi
from a scholar?
Gayatri Devi Timalsina is a well-versed
scholar in Hindi, Sanskrit, and Nepali literature. She is dedicated to promoting Indian
languages and cultures and currently teaches
a Hindi Heritage language course at UCSD.
She is also available for private lessons.
You can contact Gayatri at:
[email protected]
San Diego Indian American Society
wishes you a very happy Diwali
&
invites you to attend our 2015 programs:
March 29, 2015: Twelfth Annual Unity in Diversity in
Poway center for Performing Arts
June 27, 2015: 32nd Annual Mahatma Gandhi Memo
rial Lecture and Awards at UCSD Atkinson Hall
October 17, 2015: Eighth Annual Diwali, Festival of
Lights in Balboa Park
2015 Chakra Award to a person of Great Eminence
Quarterly programs in March, June,
September and December
SDIAS also seeks new ideas to improve our service
to the community.
For more information, please
contact M.C. Madhavan, Founder
and Executive Director at
[email protected]
SDIAS Board of Governors 2013
President: Dr. Inder Verma
Vice President: Dr. Ramesh Rao
Treasurer: Mr. Manish Parikh
Past president: Mrs. Gayatri Prahalad
Dr. P.K. Patel
Mr. Salim Shah
Mr. Sabodh Garg
Mrs. Lata Israni
Mrs. Hema Lal
Dr. Purna Patnaik
Mr. Hamid Daudani
Mrs. Hema Majumadar
Mrs. Neelu Bhardwaj
Mr. Ram Seshan
Dr. Venu Prabaker
Mr. Ray Patel
Mrs. Vera Kripalani
Founder and Executive Director: Dr. M.C. Madhavan
FINANCIAL POSITION OF SAN DIEGO INDIAN AMERICAN
SOCIETY:
Besides the large lamps, SDIAS has net liquid assets of
$440,000 in bonds, bank deposits and investments.
We invite you to contribute to this worthy cause. Make checks
payable to SDIAS and mail them to 6105 Del Mar Mesa Road,
San Diego 92130.
This brochure was designed by Nitya Timalsina.