YES, WE DID IT.
The Conferences (both GV-2000 and YC-2000) were grand success. It was a great
accomplishment for all the organizations involved in achieving the goal of the
Vision-2000. For many many years the impact of the conference would continue
to be felt all over the world. This will definitely provide a big impetus to
the growth and propagation of the Vivekananda's Vedantic message of universal
brotherhood (Vasudeva Kutumbukam) and religious harmony (ekam sat vipra bahuda
vadanti), and that would create the Vision for the next century.

The attendance for the three day program exceeded the goal and expectations of
the organizers. This ofcourse created some mismanagement and difficulty for
finding accommodation for everybody. And still the volunteers acted with
dedication and enthusiasm. There are not enough words of thanks and apprecia-
tion for the work put in by these young volunteers, without whom the conference
would have never been such a big success.

There were over 4200 delegates for three day program including over 2200 youth
delegates. For one day program held at the capital center arena, another 6000
participants joined. So there were overall 10,000 participants in one day
program.

People came from all walks of life, of all ages: few months to 90 years old,
from over 35 countries: Hongkong to Hawai, in all dresses: wearing beautiful
saris, attractive salvar-kameej, jeans, traditional dresses, saffron robs. The
Washington Post (August 9) had rightly described as: They arrived from Bombay
and Bethesda, New Delhi and New York, wearing safrron robs, suits and ties, and
saris flecked with golden thread. As many as 8000 Hindus from all corners of
the Indian diaspora flocked to Washington over the weekend for what was billed
as a grand cultural and religious fest called "Global Vision 2000".

The Capital Center had turned into a miniature India when a parade of 2000
representing various organisations and various states marched on the floor
of central arena on the beat of the melodious patriotic song "Yeh kal kal
chhal chhal behti, kiya kehti ganga dhara, yug se behta aata yeh rashtra
pravhah hamara...", and in between the young girls and boys demonstrating
classical and folk dances from various parts of India on the popular local
musical tunes. The entire 45 minutes program was just awfully inspiring and
portrayed the underlying cultural unity in diversity.

All the sessions were well received and enthusiastically attended and listened
to by the delegates. People came to listen the message of Vivekananda and what
Hinduism offers for a harmonious world order, and they got much more than what
they expected.

Two cultural events (6 and 7th August) were just great. All the artists had
enthralled the audience for hours by their superb and inspiring performances
which were mixed with culture, music, dance, and talent. The gala cultural
event on 7th in the Arena was an experience of a life time. When Hari Parasad
Chaurasia played on flute the Rag Vachaspati, and "Ankhiyan Hari darshan ki
pyasi with a perfect jugalbandi with Tabala, it was only then that people
realised the mesmeric effect of flute which Lord Krishna used to make upon
the inhabitents of Vrindavan, Gopis, Cows, birds etc.whenever he used to play
on flute.Anup Jhalote and Anuradha Paudval sang heart stirring several devotio-
nal songs and bhajans. When Jhalote rendered " sansar mei pyare do he naam, ram
aur shyam..." and Anuradha tuned on "payoji mene ram ratan dhan payo..." the
entire arena was surcharged with Ramdhun, the entire atmosphere became Rammey.
Shatrughan Sinha made the audience into splits by his wit and satirical anec-
dotes. Also several musical and dance performing groups presented several
items based on India's cultural and mythological heritage. And there was a
beautiful presentation on the life and teachings of Swami Vivekananda. Sonal
Mansingh's Oddisi Dance performances were just superb, despite the fact that
her musicians could not make it and she had to use only the recorded cassettes.

Some comments from the artists:
...I am here in this arena not as a professional artist, but as a worker of
Vishwa Hindu Parishad. And I will go anytime to any part of world whenever I
am called by VHP....    Shri Anup Jhalota

...I am very greatful and honored to offer my services at the feet of Swami
Vivekananda, and to this proud audience. I sincerely thank for this to this
great organization (VHP).... Smt. Anuradha Paudval

...It is just a miracle that I am here in front of you tonight performing
              ...Sonal Mansingh

...I was a villian, a flop hero, my name is Shatru..., but it is only in India
that its people offer love and acceptance to the 'Shatrus' like me. That is
the message of tolerance and brotherhood Vivekananda spread throughout the
world....   Shatrughan Sinha

How about the demonstration of the opponents of Vision-2000?
Well, they did come on Sunday, some of us did notice them. Perhaps the number
of organisations which had publicly supported this anti-Hindu, anti-India
demonstration were more than the number of people which showed up. Four
separate groups had asked the permission to picket from 8 am to 2 pm. About
9 am at three places in front of Hilten across the street, three tiny
groups (4, 12, 16 to be exact) were pesent with pamphalates and placards. After
few minutes for whatever reason all three joined together and stayed there for
about two hours. During there stay some of our volunteers went out of curiosity
to talk to them, and some of us had some discussion/argument regarding their
motives and objectives of this farce. One interesting thing some of us noticed
that the flags (supposedly India's) some of these demonstraters holding had the
three colors upside down: first green, white, then saffron. Upon enquiry why
it was so? One 'patriot' answered that the flag is just a symbol and they do
not believe in symbols, they believe in soul. Then why the hell they were
raising the mutiliated flag of India? Is it not the delebrate dinigration
of national symbols and a disrespect to the Indian Constitution which is
considered soul of India?

I think this demonstration had done a great service to the Vision-2000, and we
must thank them for this. The Washington Post did not notice this big event
for three days, did not mention a single line in its local reports until this
demo took place, suddenly WP woke up and did take notice of this microevent
which even 99.9% people in the Hilten did not even see or hear. And in its
9th August report WP gave about one page coverage to the GV-2000 albeit with
misleading headlines. But that is OK considering the fact that 60-70% material
in the text was positive, and I am sure the credit goes to our 'friends' who
had made big publicity in the media and had lobbied to the speakers to decline
the invitation. And this had helped indirectly the Vision-2000 program.

More later

Dinesh Agrawal...