https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/hindu-temples-peel-break-in-1.6346570

In light of above break-ins Dwarapalakas are rolling out a Firearm safety and training programme to all interested temples of Canada.This is a govt approved firearm training and safety programme, where interested temple will undergo training including the process of acquiring a gun license.

A break in / vandalism in a Temple is violence against all Hindus The safety of Temples, and people working there are paramount concern. We believe its important that each temple has at least one staff trained in firearm safety and practices. A trained hand will provide deterrent and a sense of security at any Temple premises. For further information please contact dialogue@thedialogue.ca

Trust us this meet was different, Hindu concerns were quite effectively addressed.. but its a arduous journey with many things on agenda ahead!!

To those who complain that Hindu leadership of Canada is not doing its role effectively this article proves it otherwise. Wish to acknowledge and congratulate the leadership of Hindu Federation of Canada who maintained dialogue to Canadian standards and blended it with best Hindu traditions.They did not hesitate a bit to represent Hindu interests effectively. We can say for sure that Hindus are in safe Hands with HF when it comes to critical issues.
 
In the spirit of communication this dialogue is in operation now. We can share details to those who are interested. Key participants to the dialogue are
 
1- https://www.cccb.ca/church-in-dialogue/interreligious-dialogue/catholic-hindu-dialogue/
2- https://www.hindufederation.ca/
 
The most recent meeting was in Sep 2021, and while many things were discussed, this part of the interaction on current controversy is being presented here..
 
Dwarapalakas Wish to ask CCCB, many who are affiliated with University of Toronto on this conference of Dismantling Hindutva
CCCB: Co-sponsored by departments of over 50 US universities, including Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, New York University, Cornell and Northwestern University, a three-day global academic conference addressing the rise of Hindu nationalism is being held from September 10-12.Titled ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva Conference’, the virtual conference seeks to look into issues relating to the Hindu supremacist ideology from a scholarly perspective.
 
Dwarapalakas This is exactly the problem “ Hindu does not have a supremacist ideology”
CCCB: But soon after the event was first announced, Hindu groups both at home and abroad have touted it as “Hindu phobic” and demanded for it to be called off. They have also launched a sustained online campaign against its organisers.The event’s organisers say they have been on the receiving end of harassment by various Hindu groups, some of which have resorted to sending them threats of violence and death. The organisers say the theme of the conference has been grossly misconstrued as an attack on Hinduism, when, in fact, the aim is to study Hindutva as a right-wing political movement.” From The Indian Express
 
Dwarapalakas Who are the event organizers and what are their views? if anyone examine their work you will see clearly a bias . Hindus have not to date involve in any terrorist activities any where in the world. Today as the world remember the Sept 11 Islamic terrorist, this group is discussing Hindu hate. Is this conference deliberate attempt to change the conversation?
CCCB: What do we know about the ‘Dismantling Global Hindutva Conference’? Most of the organisers of the event — which is being held between Friday, September 10 and Sunday, September 12 — have chosen to remain anonymous. They have, however, released a lengthy list of prolific speakers and academicians who will be participating in the conference.The conference will host a number of panels on the rise of Hindutva, caste-based oppression, Islamophobia, and the persecution of minorities in India. “This is a major international scholarly conference which has garnered support and sponsorship from many different university departments and academic units across the US with the participation of well-known intellectuals from both India and the US,” a statement released by the South Asia Scholar Activist Collective (SASAC) read, noting that “concerted and organised efforts” have been made to prevent the conference from proceeding.“
 
Dwarapalakas Thank you for the extract from the newspaper Indian express. If you have access to data would be happy to receive info on any examples where North American Hindu’s have either expressed or carried out threats of death against any academician, religious or otherwise in North America. The key participants at the “dismantling Hindutva” conference are Indians and based in India, who don multiple / mixed hats of identities political, religious & are entangled in other regional issues within India. Any threats within India for “non academic issues”are no reflection on the good spirit of peace loving North American Hindus. Attributing violence to NA Hindus sounds like a pre-emptive propaganda attempt to put NA Hindus on the defensive mode. Hindu violence in NA is a imaginary paper tiger, neither muscle or teeth to it. Perhaps its time to call it out for the fiction it is.
 
CCCB: Your points seem insightful Dwarapalaka. I only heard about this conference this morning, so am unclear about all the related issues and interests at play here.
HF: Have noticed this in multiple cities, towns across India. Evangelicals from NA, who visit India are given VIP / Royalty reception by Indians. Right from the moment they land at Airport to the entire duration of stay. Perhaps you have experienced it. Not sure if you have been to India in your role as a messenger of Christ. Reid Locklin was speaking of his fascinating experience at Chennai city, South India.
CCCB: I was extremely well treated when I visited India many years ago. Glad to hear this continues.
 
Dwarapalakas Suggestion for next topic of discussion,” Ethical Evangelism in India & Hindus approach towards North American Christianity”. This conference at University of Toronto is more about dismantling Hinduism!

https://www.tst.edu/directory/faculty/locklin-reid-b

We present selected communication with this fine Gentleman Mr.Reid Locklin. Hindus of Canada may be aware that this Gentleman is leading the evangelism drive, targeting Hindus in Canada, under the banner of “Hindu-Catholic drive”. His approach is to target Temple leadership.

Dear Mr. Reid Locklin,
(letter sent in 2017)

It has been over a year since you successfully won the confidence of Sringeri Vidya Bharathi Foundation Temple Toronto. I was in the audience when you delivered your speech on, “Viveka”. I was impressed by your style of presentation and your studious work in associating yourself to a culture that is alien to you. Your concluding line asking Hindus to show “Viveka” towards JC jolted me out of my reverie. It naturally led me to your online work on theology & discovery of your Jesuit goals. Your fascinating style led me on a journey on the web and the discovery that you may be inspired by Jesuits of Tamilnadu like,
 

 
A common thread in the approach of the above Jesuits was the significant effort they put in and succeeded in assimilating themselves to Tamil culture. For example
 
* Robert De Nobili, learnt Tamil and Sanskrit, wore Sandal paste
on his forehead, wooden sandals on feet and had the Kundili on his
ears,
 
* Joseph Beschi learnt Tamil and wanted to challenge Kamba
Ramayana and came out with Thembaavani, and laid the foundation of
hate speech against Hindus with his work, “Paramartha Guruvum
avarin Seedarkalum”
 
* Bartholomäus Ziegenbalg Sr called himself the Zieganbalg Iyer
and by his work laid the foundation for “Anti-Brahmanism” in
Tamilnadu
 
* George Uglow Pope, translated Tamil works to endear himself to
the Tamil literary works and laid the foundation for the strategy
of, “praising Hindus to pull them down”
 
I wish to complement you on your highly intelligent insights into Tamil Brahmin psychology. Even your body language was so in sync with Hindu way, and you can almost pass off as a Tamil Brahmin. The gentlemen at SVBF Toronto who facilitated your lecture are we believe simple hearted fine people, who are open and welcoming in true Hindu spirit. Perhaps they succumbed to your suave talk.
 
Online, I could see that the most Reverend Daniel Miehm, Auxiliary Bishop of Hamilton, is serving as the Catholic Co-Chair. & Dr. Tinu Ruparell, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Calgary, is the Hindu Co-Chair. Jean-Louis Cardinal Tauran, President & Bishop Miguel Ángel Ayuso Guixot, MCCJ Secretary (PONTIFICAL COUNCIL FOR INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE) have used a critical term “Respect for others” in their 2017 Deepavali greeting. However, there is not much on the objectives of HCD. Would u have a copy of the stated objectives of HCD?

Signed
GK / Dwarapalakas
 
We provide examples of Hindu leadership that demonstrated not so strong example of leadership
1- One Hindu Temple president said, “Since Canada offered clean roads, water and electricity we should express our gratitude by opening Hindu temples to Christian influence”
2- Another temple president said that he will introduce christian imagery at “his”temple
3- Of course the Vedanta society of Toronto, take the cake for deceptive religious practices.
 
Hindu leadership of Canada is no match to the suave, diplomatic and smooth talking evangelist like Mr.Reid Locklin. What will Hindus do and where will they seek a spiritual platform if our Temple leadership do not show resilience, and working to preserve our space in the face of sophisticated evangelism? Please check this section for developments.

This mail was sent to all Temples of Canada.
 
Namaste,
 
We are Dwarapalakas. You may be familiar with our work via direct or indirect communication.
 
As there is a growing focus of inclusion of diverse identities & faiths in developed countries like Canada, the understanding and correct representation of these diverse faiths becomes especially important. We all can agree Hinduism is one of the most diverse, rich, ancient, and multifaceted faiths. When it comes to understanding Hinduism in Canada and spreading Hindu values, temples are at the forefront of it. We represent ourselves as the followers, believers and advocates of Hinduism. In addition to that, our group represents many devotees of temples across Canada.
 
Dwarapalakas goal is to establish an academic communication between Hindu scholars and scholars from various faiths in Canada as well as to address the challenges that Hindus face in Canada due to their identity of being Hindus. We believe temples have a big role to play when it comes to propagating and defending Hindu values in right spirit.
 
We trust that Dwarapalakas and you can be effective partners in meeting our shared goals. It would be great if you could spend some time to discuss this with us. In this meeting, we can introduce our priorities and together we can establish areas where we can leverage the synergies to strengthen Hindu ecosystem in Canada.
 
Please let us know a suitable time and we can send you a Zoom or Google meet invite accordingly. We look forward to hearing from you.

The Dwarapalaka Team

We have been successful in compiling the authentic list of all Temples of Canada. This project took almost a year’s work. To get the true coordinates and contact credentials of the management. We have been seeking out individual appointments and last year it got hit badly due to Covid. Yet we managed to meet many of them. We presented our 5 point agenda and to be honest we are quite happy with the response from almost all the temples we visited. Temple managements liked our non emotional and balanced articulation of challenges and goals.
 
In fact we were pleasantly surprised at the counter offer of help on the objectives of Dwarapalakas. They liked our very name itself and many felt it was very unique. Few did ask, why the name “Dwarapalakas”? We replied in fact that our work starts and stops at the door steps of the Temples. We have little interest on the internal affairs of any Temple. This offered them the requisite confidence. Because a Temple would be approached by many and they have a duty to protect the interests of the Temple.
 
Its unfortunate that Covid is extending to 2021 but we hope to e-meet them and discuss goals ahead. We also had a multiple meetings with the Federation of Hindu Temples. We also reached out to Peel Police and Toronto police on the need of including Hindus into their community consultative committees.We are also quite proud that we establish working relationships with fellow Hindu organizations.
 
Vedanta society of Toronto seems to be a major challenge. we have been doing a one way communication with them for over 10 years. There has been no response from them. We need to think creatively on how to connect with them. For the benefit of readers, Toronto University has a Hindu Chaplin. His name is Mr.Kripyananda. Yes he is the head of Vedanta society. Yet he professes strong christian beliefs and the image below explains the contradiction that he is avoiding to talk about.

This was the mail sent by a Temple in USA recently. What does it say of us?

Most Hindus of Canada feel secure here on the belief that evangelism is happening only in India and they are safe and strong here. They could be right because evangelism here is not done in the style and manner as its done in India. Here is very subtle and strategic and top level. Here it happens under the banner of “Hindu- Catholic dialogue”. We got a first glimpse of this scheme at The Sringeri Vidya Bharathi Temple in Etobicoke, Toronto. A gentleman named Mr.Reid Locklin was invited on “Sankara Jayanthi”day to speak on the subject of “Vivekam”. We will come to that story later but on following the trail of Mr.Reid Locklin, we discovered the following,

1- Hindu Catholic dialogue is not a Hindu initiative. (We abbreviate it as HCD). It’s the initiative of the Church
2- HCD is a formal structure and operates across major western cities of world
3- Key players in Canada are the University of Toronto (UFT) and The Vedanta society (TVS)
4- It seems that UFT in consultation with TVS sets the agenda to reach out to Hindu Temples

The image below presents a overview,

 
Now let’s examine the first institution.

Institution / Temple no 1: Vedanta Society – Toronto
Many would associate the term “Vedanta”with Hinduism as it holds special significance for Hindus rooted in deep spiritual knowledge. However this institution is directly engaging in Evangelism under the guise of a Hindu identity. Please check the image below that has non Hindu and Christian icon in the main altar,

Analysis: On studyings its activities over the years the following information emerges

1. This institution is the focal point and platform to reach out to Hindu Temples
2. The leadership has been compromised from its Hindu centric thought
3. The staff including its head Swami Kripyananda holds Christian evangelical convictions
4. However it has retained its physical Hindu identity in dress and rituals
5. Hindu rituals at this institution are given a christian finishing touch
6. Talks on Hindu scriptures are merged into Christian theology thinking
7. Hindu physical identity & terminology as a spear head to communicate to Temples
8. Serves as a meeting point for Hindu leaders for discussions on Hindu catholic dialogue
9. Our team made 10 attempts to have a dialogue with Swami Kripyananda & no response

 
Questions:

1. Is it appropriate to engage in evangelical activity under the guise of Hinduism?
2. Is it ok for Hindu leaders of Toronto to patronise this
3. Would Hindus of Canada approve of such a deceptive practice?

We have been monitoring this since 2010. This is the copy of the first mailer sent in 2013. Courtesy and values demand a response. As of date we did not received any response. We followed it up with 3 mails by Canada post, 4 emails. Now we are compelled to go public.

To
Swami Kripamayananda,
Vedanta Society,
120 Emmett, Toronto,
ON M6M 2E3
 
Dear Swami Kripamayananda,
 

On a recent visit to your society I was surprised to find an image of JC along with images of Paramahamsa Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi, Gautama Buddha and Swami Vivekananda,

• Vedanta society of Toronto did not have a picture of JC when conceived. Why would the society do something of that kind now?
 
• To put things in perspective, Shri Ramakrishna Parahamansa was a profound Sanathana Dharmist and in sync with those principles have had taken a rare cursory consider other creeds like Islam and Christianity to evaluate their spiritual strengths, and the society cannot use those experiments to justify JC picture at the society,
 
•If the society is going to use the experiment of Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa as an argument to justify its action, then the fact remains that he also experimented with Islam. So, would you also soon have Islamic symbols on the spiritual platform of the society?
 
•If the society is bringing in the inclusiveness agenda, then you would naturally possess the spiritual strength to persuade Islamic and Christian religious centers in North America, to have images of Shri Ramakrishna Parahamansa, Buddha and Swami Vivekananda on their spiritual platform at their locations! Are you moving in that direction?
 
•Not sure if the committee members have taken a walk on the streets of India in the recent past where Evangelical activity is intense. The hostility that Evangelical Christian workers display against Sanathana Dharma defies basic civility. And a closer example within North American borders, is the book by a western scholar who propagates the idea of a homo-sexual relationship between Shri Ramakrishna Parahamansa and Swami Vivekananda. In such a one sided, scenario how can you have the picture of JC on the Vedanta platform?
 
•The image of JC on your spiritual platform stirs the question, “Has the current leadership of Vedanta society of Toronto compromised on its cultural, religious and spiritual strengths? Is it deceptively patronizing evangelical objectives?”
 
Majority of Indians living in GTA are not aware of this development at the Vedanta society. They would be as shocked if they come to know of this development at the society in the name of Vedanta. Vedanta is an intrinsic Hindu thing. It cannot be either diluted nor segregated from Sanathana Dharma to favor third party creeds.
 
Every day Hindus look up to organizations like yours for spiritual strength and guidance. If you dilute the spiritual heritage that was passed by enlightened Sanathana Dharma gurus, then both the future generations and the current GTA Dharma population will feel betrayed with your parochial approach. In consideration of the above factors it becomes imperative to urge the Toronto Vedanta society to,
 
a) Revert the spiritual platform of the Vedanta society to its original pristine pedestal without recalcitrant delay,
b) If you forecast a delay due to any internal issues then Dharma practitioners of GTA should also see the images of Shri Ramakrishna, Sarada Devi, Gautama Buddha and Swami Vivekananda on the spiritual platforms of Churches and Mosques of Canada.
 
Best Regards,
 
The Dialogue Team,
7th August, 2013
 
PS:It also becomes relevant to comment that we have nothing against JC. He is one of the many saints who walked the earth, but are surely against the hostile actions against Sanathana Dharma that are happening in the name of JC. It would be a tragedy if the leadership of Vedanta society of Toronto, is facilitating soft core, back door and closet Evangelism for financial or other career privileges. That would also be a demonstration of cultural weakness. And you would agree that Swami Vivekananda has always championed for strength.

We decided to pay a visit to Toronto Vedanta Society (VST)and this is our report.

Mr. Kripamayananda who goes by the definition (minister – a christian term) was not available and was in Ottawa. We met Mrs.Rina Chakravarthy the care taker & Mr.Buddhadev the reader. Our team introduced ourselves and the purpose of our visit was to meet Mr.Kripamayananda and desire to know the working of the VST
The lady Mrs.Rina Chakravarthy said she is 70 + with health issues which evoked sympathy from the team. But as our team member said her faculties are strong and her line of communication confirmed our fears!
 
For example she said the following
1) That we are activists groups
2) That some of their members were asking why Jesus picture is small
3) Was explaining how Ramakrishna paramahamsa had visions of Mr.J
4) Mr.Buddhadev on the other hand understood our visit and slipped away
Our team responded the following way
1) That Ramakrishna hardly spoke and hence the story of his visions are false
2) Why are churches nearby not having pics of Vivekananda
 
Conclusion:
VST is aware that what they are doing is a deceptive work
VST is emboldened due to lack of protest and awareness by Hindus of Toronto
VST is being used as a platform by the church to enter other temples of Toronto. This is the key concern.
 
Next steps
We believe that VST should invite us for a formal dialogue on this issue of mis-use of Hinduism on many levels