Sixty-seven student competitors, supported by their enthusiastic families, participated in the Gītā Pariksha hosted by the Friends of HUA North Carolina at the Hindu Society of NC.
The Third Annual Bhagavad Gītā Pariksha took place on August 2nd at the Hindu Society of North Carolina with 67 participants across three age groups.
(Morrisville, NC) – Sixty-seven (67) students from North Carolina, mostly from the Triangle Area participated in this year’s Bhagavad Gītā Pariksha (BGP) competition on August 2nd. Over 200 members of the community attended to cheer the students, while a $5,000 prize pool was awarded to the winners who showed exemplary knowledge and understanding of the Bhagavad Gītā.
Shri Amit Kulkarni during the 3rd Annual Bhagavad Gītā Pariksha leading a prayer.
In the Yuva group, Srianeesh Kalva took 1st place and Shubham Shanubhogue earned 2nd place. In the Kishore group, Pranit Pattanashetti won 1st, Maadhav Dawda took 2nd, Sri Lasya Chintalapati and Avika Malhotra finished tied for 3rd place. In the Bala group, Srikeerthi Tirumalapeddinti won 1st, Ishaan Chintalapati was 2nd, Ishaanvi Devarasetti took 3rd, and Poorvi Pattanashetti received a special appreciation prize. The prizes, including participatory certificates and medals awarded by Mr Sajjan Agarwal, Chairman of the Hindu Society of North Carolina, in a closing celebratory session.
Some of this year’s Pariksha winners.
Shri Sajjanji said, “Over the course of my life I have always resorted to the Gītā for guidance and counselling. It is great to see young minds get connected to it with this unique competition.”
Shri Kalyan Viswanathan, President of Hindu University of America, said, “We hope this pilot program catches on and more Hindu Temples in North America come forward to create this competition in their communities in partnership with HUA. We aspire to
enable young Hindus to grow up with the Bhagavad Gītā as a companion resource for the rest of their lives.”
Dr. Kalika Uttarkar, Faculty at HUA who served as a judge and test writer for the BGP shares that “We are trying to inculcate into the students that knowledge without application is redundant, so philosophy of Gītā needs behavioral application. This competition helps parents open the doors of culture to their children.” She went further into the depth and purpose of the BGP, “Language is a window, isn’t it? Not being able to transfer their wisdom through English, it is important for Indian born parents to find ways to share cultural history and heritage.”
The competition included three categories: Bala (K-3rd grade), Kishore (4th-8th grade) and Yuva (9th grade and above). In the Bala Gana competition, participants chanted five shlokas from a selected set of 25 shlokas and explained their meaning. The Kishore and Yuva competitors took a written exam in the morning with the five top scorers in each category interviewed on their understanding of the concepts of the Bhagavad Gītā during the afternoon finals.
Dr. Mahadevan Seetharaman announces the semi-finalists after the participants have completed the written portion of the Pariksha.
The Third Annual Gītā Pariksha was hosted by the Hindu Society of North Carolina (HSNC) in a joint effort with Sri Venkateswara Temple of NC, supported by Shree Shirdi Saibaba Mandir of NC, Radha Krishna Temple of NC, and the Friends of HUA (FoHUA). Co-Sponsors organized volunteers, raised funds, and created a unique competition that elevated and shared discourse around the Bhagavad Gītā. Dr. Raj Polavaram, FoHUA-NC Chapter, said “People these days glamorize temporary, transient things, but what if we make the good things like Gītā more fun? So that’s why we came up with this idea of the Gītā Pariksha. This is the third year and each year we are getting bigger and better response which is very heartening”
Volunteers like Aditya Sharma, Amitesh Gupta, Amit Kulkarni, Aravind Swami, Archana Nukal, Gopal Pingalli, Gopi Vasudevan, Keshav Kode, Kishor Trivedi, Lalit Mahadeshwar, Mahadevan Seetharaman, Nivedita Kulkarni, Nilabh Srivastava, Ridthi Patel, Shrinivas Joshi, Sethu Raman, Viral Trivedi, and several parents, and others worked together to make the event successful.
HUA is committed to fostering the culture and traditions of Hindu Dharma in an atmosphere of academic excellence, through community education courses, and local events designed to energize the community. Dr. Uttarkar teaches a course on Hindu Dharmic Parenting as well as Growing up with the Gītā. If you think your children and community would enjoy such a Gītā Pariksha competition in your city, reach out to Director of Outreach, Ankur Patel (ankur.patel@hua.edu).