niyatam kuru karma tvam karma jyayo hy

niyatam kuru karma tvam karma jyayo hy akarmanah | sarira-yatrapi ca te na prasiddhyed akarmanah || 3. 8 || (Bhagavad Gita) Engage yourself in obligatory work, for action is superior to inaction, and if inactive, even the mere maintenance of your body would not be possible.

Pujya Swami Aksharananda ji • Born in 1948 on the sugar plantation of Guyana. • The sixth of eleven children. • In the quest for knowledge he joined the Sanskriti Bhavan. • His early exposure to Hindu texts and visiting Hindu leaders inspired him to learn more. • In 1978 He finished his Bachelors degree from the Banaras Hindu University (BHU). • Went back to Guyana and became a school teacher.

• After the abolishment of slavery in the British colony. The British sugar cane planters needed laborers, so they turned to India. • Indian indentured servants crossed the Kala Pani or “Black Waters” of the Indian and Atlantic oceans to fill the labor needs of the British Guiana sugar plantations. • Arrival of East Indians in 1838 to the shores of Guyana South America, known then as Demerara. • British sugar cane planters brought 238, 909 Indians to Guyana between 1838 and 1917 to work on the sugar plantations. • The indentured servants lived in the same houses that was abandoned by the slaves and endured some of the same treatments as the slaves. • After the end of indentured ship most Indians stayed in Guyana. To date there is about 43. 5% of Indians in Guyana

• Motivated and inspired by Pujya Swami Purnananda who came and settled in Guyana from the Bharat Sewashram Sangh in Calcutta. • Went to India and took initiation at Rishikesh. • Came into contact with RSS while studying in India. • Returned to Guyana and started the relentless job organizing the Hindu people. • Swami Aksharananda organized the First Regional Conference on Christian Conversion in Guyana (Sunday April 28, 1996).

Swami ji is affiliated and has influenced a lot of organizations and some of these are: • • • Co-chairman of Guyana’s Inter. Religious Organization (IRO). Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh of Guyana (HSS). National Suicide Prevention Committee of Guyana. • Ramnaumi Committee. • Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN). • Society for Empowerment and Wholistic Advancement (SEWA). • Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).

Hindu Swayamseak Sangh • Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh is a nonprofit, non-political, socio-cultural Hindu volunteer organization in Guyana. Started in 1996 Headed By Swami ji. • HSS vision is to establish peace and harmony in the world. The means to achieve this is by establishing and protecting the 'Universal Dharma' (Vishwa Dharma).

Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN) • • Hindu High School founded by Pujya Swami Aksharananda. Opened on May 11, 2003. • A not-for-profit secondary school, located on premises of the Cornelia Ida Temple complex, West Coast Demerara, Guyana, South America. • Funding for the school was obtained from both local and overseas donations. • The sleek concrete building is approximately 7, 200 square feet and can comfortably house up to 150 students.

• SVN has embarked on a philosophy of education that is aimed at the overall development of the student. • At present, the school offers 20 subjects that include the core subjects of English Language, Mathematics, Social Studies and Integrated Science. In addition, courses in computer science, Hindi, Hinduism, the Bhagavad Gita, Music, Art and Yoga are offered.

• • • In 2005 Students of SVN wrote the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examination for the first time and got a 85. 9% overall pass rate. President Bharat Jagdeo of Guyana was the guest speaker at the Graduation ceremony. The President commended the Saraswati Vidya Niketan Education Institute for the work the Principal, Pujya Swami Aksharanandaji and teachers have done. He recognised, particularly, the discipline instilled in the students.

• The school has established a Presidential Award for the top graduating student who gets a full academic scholarship to pursue a Bachelor’s degree education at a college in the USA. • Currently there are two Students in the United States Pursuing their studies. • Expansion of the school has begun where there will be state- of-the-art science laboratories for Chemistry, Physics and Biology. There also plans for an administrative office, a library, teacher’s rooms, a canteen and storerooms.

Swami ji Awareness Campaigns Includes; • Television Programs explaining Hindu Dharma. • Symposium on various social problems affecting Hindus and the Indo-Guyanese population. • Writing articles in the newspapers, highlighting various issues facing Hindus in Guyana like religious conversion, racial violence, suicide, alcoholism.

SEVA : • Guiding force behind Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Sewa International. • Member of the National Suicide Prevention Committee. • Organized aid relief during the devastating flood in Guyana. • HIV Prevention.

“There is a very popular myth especially prevalent amongst our Hindu leaders that Hinduism will somehow survive regardless of what we do in the here and now. And, I repeat, this is a myth. And a dangerous myth at that for it encourages many of us to simply sit on our hands and do nothing. Hinduism, and for that matter, any other religion which has survived, has only done so on account of the strenuous, sustained and deliberate efforts of countless souls through the ages…. There will be no Hinduism without Hindus. ” Swami Aksharananda ji

“As Hindus we should not let politics and politicians make us enemies of one another. Dharma is paramount above the interests of any and every political party. ” "Let us not be fooled. If every census since 1917 has shown an increase in the precentage of Indians who call themselves Christians, and a corresponding decrease in the percentage of Hindus, it does not take a genius to extrapolate into a future where there are no more Hindus in the Caribbean. It has happened in places like Grenada and Saint Lucia. . . " (Swami Aksharananda (National Conference in Guyana: "Conversion Activity in Multi-Religious Societies, Cove and John, Guyana, April 28 1996).