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Hindu Youth Convention organized in Texas for spiritual reawakening
22 Hindu organizations came together to organize the event.
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Staff Reporter - Sun, 22, Jun 2025
- 02:52 EDT
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The event saw participation from over 600 attendees. / Courtesy photo
NextGen Hindu Youth Leadership Convention 2025 was organized in Texas on June 14.
The one-day convention, held at Sri Meenakshi Temple, witnessed participation from over 650 attendees, including tech billionaire Dr. Sridhar Vembu, actor Anil Sankaramanchi, bestselling authors Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni and Rajesh Sengamudu, and spiritual teacher Gauranga Das Prabhu.
This event was organized in partnership with 22 Hindu organizations including Coalition of Sri Meenakshi Temple Society of America ,Hindus of North America (CoHNA), Hindu University of America(HUA,) Hindu American Foundation (HAF) and Hindus of Greater Houston (HGH).
Dr. Dhamo S. Dhamotharan, chairman of NextGen highlighted the importance of the convention and said “Our young people love Hinduism, but their interest in rituals is much less.”
He added, “We all have the duty to motivate our Hindu youth to take on leadership roles in our community…They value what we tell them about Hinduism, but we need to empower them.”
In addition to speeches and panels, the event featured interactive breakout sessions—designed not just for youth, but also for the parents.
The breakout sessions were ‘Young Role Models,’ ‘Being Happy & Deciding Between Choices’, ‘Community Service, Impactful community work,’ ‘The Hindu Way of Life’ and ‘Wisdom of Well Being.’
“I think it's really good that we have social participation here,” said Aarya Vyas, a 16-year-old student at Elkins High School in Sugar Land. She added, “We're covering, like, a variety of topics. I think that would be a really interesting way to gain more perspective.”
“Many times, people that are more experienced and older in life don't respect or pour into the next generation,” said Manvel Mayor Dan Davis. “It's that next generation that's going to take care of us when we get older.”
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Young attendees highlighted the significance of participation in the event / Courtesy photoCongressman Suhas Subramanyam, while addressing the gathering, recalled volunteering in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, an experience that deepened his commitment to seva, selfless service.
Subramanyam emphasized the need for unity in the face of global challenges. He urged young people to stay rooted in their Hindu heritage.
Dr. Marc Halpern, founder of the California College of Ayurveda, said “I was crippled back in the 1980s…I had one of the first cases of Lyme disease.”
He continued, “Western medicine didn't have anything to offer me. But Ayurveda and yoga, particularly a technique called Yoga Nidra, together helped me not only to survive, but to thrive again.”
Swami Gauranga Das from ISKCON also spoke at the convention and talked about the need to redefine success and happiness through the lens of Hindu philosophy.
NASA scientist Dr. Kavya K. Manyapu advised the students to “spend just seven minutes a day in self-reflection or meditation.”
She added, "When you're aligned internally, your outer impact is going to be infinite.”
Nimai Shukla, Hindu American Foundation’s Texas Policy Fellow was also a guest at the event. He said, “Education was something really important to me, because that is going to be how most Americans view us.”
“It's what they learn in school. It's what they read online.,” he said, stressing the need to replace outdated stereotypes—from sources like Indiana Jones and The Simpsons—with accurate information.
Zoho founder, Sridhar Vembu, participated in the event virtually. Citing Bharat’s millennia-long tradition of harmony amid extraordinary diversity in language, customs, and food, he said, “living peacefully together in practice, day to day--that is an achievement of our civilization. And this has gone on for thousands of years.”
Haripriya Sundar and Satheesh Kumar, co-chairs of the event, talked about the success of the event and expressed their gratitude to the young men and women who came in large numbers.
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