Sep 25: First meeting of new term

In the first meeting of the Autumn term, after freshers week, we met at 5:30 pm in St Peters chaplaincy library. There were John, James the new chaplaincy assistant, Claire, Oxana, Joy, Enrique, Rueyfen, Shimon, Mo, Kevin etc. We decided to have Hana Agil (a muslim) as chair, Enrique (a buddhist) as treasurer and Kevin (a catholic christian) as secretary.

We also decided to have a timetable for formal meetings only 1st and 3rd (and 5th) Tuesday of every month at 5:30 in St Peters, but we will meet informally other tuesdays. We will have following:
Films: organised by Yoji
Workshop on Peaceful Zen martial art (oxana) and Bahai tranquility Zone (Schimon)
Scripture study on a given topic (organised by Claire)
Invited speakers for talks (organised by John, he has already talked to Dada from Ananda Marga, a hinduism-related spiritual group)

Kevin's summary of the meeting:
Summary of Minutes from preliminary meeting:
* Events on 1st and 3rd tuesday each month
* Abraham's Table 4th December
* Film 1st October - Yogi has it sorted, I need to book room, projector
* Need to sort visit - Jewish synagogue
* Need to sort speakers
* Scripture - sorted (thanks Olga!)
* Baha'i workshop with Simon sometime

Oxana's proposals for topics for Scripture Studies in 2007-08:
1. Righteous Anger: can anger (or any negative emotions for that matter) be justified?
2. Food and eating
3. Balance between social practice and spiritual practice (Variation: Which figure is an ideal in your religion: a Hermit or an Activist?)
4. What is the balance between the individual and the collectivist in your reigion?
5. The level of Fundamentalism (Dogmatism) prescribed by your scriptures?
6. Balance between institutional religious authority and individual consciousness in your religion?

Then we went to Gita Bhavan hindu Temple on Wilbraham Road (catch 85 bus from RNCM), it was the first meeting of national hindu students forum, website http://www.umsu.manchester.ac.uk/nhsf and
http://www.nhsf.org.uk/

We heard the Panditji (Hindu priest) chant some mantras and prayers to various Gods including Ganesha (God of auspiciousness), Saraswati (Goddess of learning), in Sanskrit, followed by Arati (lighting of lamps and ceremonial worship). Many NHSF officers gave talks about their various activities, including Yoga in Owens Park, Diwali ball, Navratri, Raas Garba, Alton Towers trip etc, all of which are non alcoholic events. A speaker gave an interesting talk on Transnational Indian Identity, and publicised a forum for exchanging views and getting involved in the topic, http://www.t-identity.com/ . Then the people sang some hindu kirtans to Lord Shiva.

Finally we all had some icebreakers and delicious Indian vegetarian food kindly provided by the temple. The priest said that the temple is open daily in the morning and in evening between 7 and 8:30 and invited everyone to visit.