It was indeed a great honour bestowed on Malaysia by the Universal House of Justice, when the organizers of the first West Asian Youth Conference held in New Delhi were requested by the Supreme House to include Malaysia as a participating country. For many weeks there was a sad silence from the Malaysian side as eager friends pondered on the problem of finance. At the last moment, the clouds cleared a little, and three Malaysian youth managed to board the plane to New Delhi to soar to new spiritual heights with the youth of the vast continent of India.
The Conference was held at the Gandhi Peace Foundation Hall from the 27th to the 30th of August, and in addition to the participating countries which were India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Iran and Malaysia, there were friends from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sikkim, Bhutan, Burma and Thailand. The Conference was honoured by the presence of Hand of the Cause, beloved Dr. Muhajir and Counsellors Vasudevan of the North West Asian Zone, and Chellie Sundram of the South East Asian Zone. Malaysian youth who participated were T. K. Lee and A. Govindasamy of the National Baha’i youth Council, and Palani, a youth of Kuala Lumpur. These three were joined in India by Malaysian pioneer Maheswaran and Malaysian students Sree Ganesh and Sreetharan who are presently studying in Mysore. A total of three hundred and fifty friends took part in this first West Asian conference.
A personal account of the whole event as recorded by Govindasamy is presented below:
As I walked towards the exit door of Palam Airport, New Delhi, after the Customs and Immigration clearance, it was approaching three in the morning. My colleagues, T. K. Lee and Palani were already outside chatting with Auxiliary Board Member, Mr. E. Afshin and four members of the National Youth Committee of India who had come to meet us. It was a joyous meeting.
We all squeezed ourselves into a jeep and bumped along the rough road in the stillness of the night to Baha’i House at Canning Road, New Delhi. We hardly slept that night and were up early for a hurried breakfast and an exciting reunion with Counsellor Vasudevan. Then we joined a large group of youths who had gathered in a room. I really did not know why they had gathered — about 45 of them. Beloved Hand of the Cause, Dr. Muhajir soon arrived and then Counsellor Vasudevan announced the purpose of the meeting. They were to be divided into teaching teams and sent to the colleges in and around New Delhi for mass teaching! The three of us were very tired (having arrived in the early hours of that morning) and we hadn't checked into our hotel yet. The idea of going to the colleges did not excite us just then. I grunted, Lee looked sour and Palani pretended to be happy. We were excused. Little did we realize that history was in the making and we were depriving ourselves of the first day of a great spiritual adventure. We spent that day in the hotel grumbling about our stomach upsets and the hot climate
Fully recovered the next day, we were ready and happy to join the teaching teams. I was in a group of about seven, led by Shohre Ashraf, who is presently pioneering in Mysore from Iran. We went to the University of Delhi and spread ourselves around a college canteen. I was given some pamphlets and enrolment cards. I observed what the other friends did, and walked over to tables occupied by two or three college students and talked to them about the Faith the way we do in Malaysia. I did most of the talking and ended by telling them to investigate more, and that if they were interested they could write to the address at the back of the pamphlet for additional literature. A sheepish smile and I was off to the next table. This continued for about three hours. I had already talked to about ten students. Declarations — nil. I went back to Shohre for more pamphlets. The first question she asked me was,
“How many declarations?”
"Nothing," I said.
"Nothing?" she said.
"Nothing," I said.
I felt like a student standing before a teacher awaiting some punishment. She asked me whether I talked about the principles of the Faith. I nodded. "Did you say something about Bab, Baha'u’llah", Abdu'l-Baha and the Guardian?'
"Of course,” I replied.
"Were they receptive?"
"Yes, very receptive" I replied.
"Then why didn't you ask them to enrol?"
"But we must give them some time to think it over.... We cannot simply bring in believers like this."
Patiently Shohre explained "Govin, this is mass teaching. If the enquirer agrees to the principles and the stations of Bab, Baha'u’llah, Abdul Baha, the Guardian and the present day administration, ask him whether he would like to enrol himself as a Baha'i. If he is willing, invite him tosign the declaration card. Don’t hesitate."
The Conference was held at the Gandhi Peace Foundation Hall from the 27th to the 30th of August, and in addition to the participating countries which were India, Pakistan, Ceylon, Iran and Malaysia, there were friends from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Nepal, Afghanistan, Sikkim, Bhutan, Burma and Thailand. The Conference was honoured by the presence of Hand of the Cause, beloved Dr. Muhajir and Counsellors Vasudevan of the North West Asian Zone, and Chellie Sundram of the South East Asian Zone. Malaysian youth who participated were T. K. Lee and A. Govindasamy of the National Baha’i youth Council, and Palani, a youth of Kuala Lumpur. These three were joined in India by Malaysian pioneer Maheswaran and Malaysian students Sree Ganesh and Sreetharan who are presently studying in Mysore. A total of three hundred and fifty friends took part in this first West Asian conference.
A personal account of the whole event as recorded by Govindasamy is presented below:
As I walked towards the exit door of Palam Airport, New Delhi, after the Customs and Immigration clearance, it was approaching three in the morning. My colleagues, T. K. Lee and Palani were already outside chatting with Auxiliary Board Member, Mr. E. Afshin and four members of the National Youth Committee of India who had come to meet us. It was a joyous meeting.
We all squeezed ourselves into a jeep and bumped along the rough road in the stillness of the night to Baha’i House at Canning Road, New Delhi. We hardly slept that night and were up early for a hurried breakfast and an exciting reunion with Counsellor Vasudevan. Then we joined a large group of youths who had gathered in a room. I really did not know why they had gathered — about 45 of them. Beloved Hand of the Cause, Dr. Muhajir soon arrived and then Counsellor Vasudevan announced the purpose of the meeting. They were to be divided into teaching teams and sent to the colleges in and around New Delhi for mass teaching! The three of us were very tired (having arrived in the early hours of that morning) and we hadn't checked into our hotel yet. The idea of going to the colleges did not excite us just then. I grunted, Lee looked sour and Palani pretended to be happy. We were excused. Little did we realize that history was in the making and we were depriving ourselves of the first day of a great spiritual adventure. We spent that day in the hotel grumbling about our stomach upsets and the hot climate
Fully recovered the next day, we were ready and happy to join the teaching teams. I was in a group of about seven, led by Shohre Ashraf, who is presently pioneering in Mysore from Iran. We went to the University of Delhi and spread ourselves around a college canteen. I was given some pamphlets and enrolment cards. I observed what the other friends did, and walked over to tables occupied by two or three college students and talked to them about the Faith the way we do in Malaysia. I did most of the talking and ended by telling them to investigate more, and that if they were interested they could write to the address at the back of the pamphlet for additional literature. A sheepish smile and I was off to the next table. This continued for about three hours. I had already talked to about ten students. Declarations — nil. I went back to Shohre for more pamphlets. The first question she asked me was,
“How many declarations?”
"Nothing," I said.
"Nothing?" she said.
"Nothing," I said.
I felt like a student standing before a teacher awaiting some punishment. She asked me whether I talked about the principles of the Faith. I nodded. "Did you say something about Bab, Baha'u’llah", Abdu'l-Baha and the Guardian?'
"Of course,” I replied.
"Were they receptive?"
"Yes, very receptive" I replied.
"Then why didn't you ask them to enrol?"
"But we must give them some time to think it over.... We cannot simply bring in believers like this."
Patiently Shohre explained "Govin, this is mass teaching. If the enquirer agrees to the principles and the stations of Bab, Baha'u’llah, Abdul Baha, the Guardian and the present day administration, ask him whether he would like to enrol himself as a Baha'i. If he is willing, invite him tosign the declaration card. Don’t hesitate."
 |
| Shahnaz Furudi of the NBYC of India with T.K. Lee from Malaysia |
And that's exactly what I did after that, and by the end of the day, our group had about 50 declarations — all college students and lecturers! I was simply thrilled. Lee and Palani had similar experiences. The teaching continued for two more days after which the historic West Asian Youth Conference began, heralded by 750 declarations from the colleges in and around New Delhi in just four days!
The Universal House of Justice has called this a "highly significant" event. The teaching efforts continued after the conference, and on the night of our departure on 3rd September, the enrolment from the colleges were nearing two thousand. We were simply flabbergasted. This was something new — we had witnessed a miracle of Baha'u'llah.
Teaching was not limited to teaching trips. The friends even taught when they went for dinner. One night we joined a few Persian friends and went for dinner at a restaurant. Our Malaysians in India, Sree Ganesh (Dr. Sreenivasan's brother) Mahesh- waran (pioneer from Kedah) and Sreetharan (of Taiping) were also in this group. We did not sit together but spread ourselves around. It was hard to believe that we went home that night after a lovely dinner, with 17 declarations!
The Conference itself had its excitements.
What the beloved Master Abdul Baha had yearned to see, was actually happening. ....I kept wondering if this can happen in New Delhi, can’t it happen in Kuala Lumpur? I couldn't get the thought out of my mind.
Publicity
Another thrilling experience was our involvement in publicity work. We were told to serve in the group dealing with proclamation during the conference. Shanaz Furudi of the National Youth Committee of India headed our group. Raymond Peter also joined us. We had to meet some of the top Radio and T.V. directors and organizers. There were three radio interviews, and TV coverage of the Unity Feast and the public talk. The radio also covered the social part of the Unity Feast and the public talk. We also met a multi-lingual press agency and a reporter from a weekly newspaper. This was not all. There were other surprises. One of the main programme organizers from the All India Radio signed up! This was followed by another declaration from the TV staff.... and the official photographer for the Conference completed the picture! The National Youth Committee of India must be congratulated for its wonderful programme. Youths and adults from 14 countries were there. Beloved Hand Dr. Muhajer was there. Counsellor Vasudevan was there. Our Counsellor, Dr. Sundram was there. The Auxiliary Board members were all there. The pioneers were there. The prayers of the Universal House of Justice were with us. We were assured of the blessings and favours of Baha'u’llah. What more did we need? It was a Conference of words and deeds.
(Malaysian Baha'i News, Vol. 7, No. 3, October 1971)
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| Govin at the mike during the social part of the Unity Feast, New Delhi. |
The Universal House of Justice has called this a "highly significant" event. The teaching efforts continued after the conference, and on the night of our departure on 3rd September, the enrolment from the colleges were nearing two thousand. We were simply flabbergasted. This was something new — we had witnessed a miracle of Baha'u'llah.
Teaching was not limited to teaching trips. The friends even taught when they went for dinner. One night we joined a few Persian friends and went for dinner at a restaurant. Our Malaysians in India, Sree Ganesh (Dr. Sreenivasan's brother) Mahesh- waran (pioneer from Kedah) and Sreetharan (of Taiping) were also in this group. We did not sit together but spread ourselves around. It was hard to believe that we went home that night after a lovely dinner, with 17 declarations!
The Conference itself had its excitements.
What the beloved Master Abdul Baha had yearned to see, was actually happening. ....I kept wondering if this can happen in New Delhi, can’t it happen in Kuala Lumpur? I couldn't get the thought out of my mind.
Publicity
Another thrilling experience was our involvement in publicity work. We were told to serve in the group dealing with proclamation during the conference. Shanaz Furudi of the National Youth Committee of India headed our group. Raymond Peter also joined us. We had to meet some of the top Radio and T.V. directors and organizers. There were three radio interviews, and TV coverage of the Unity Feast and the public talk. The radio also covered the social part of the Unity Feast and the public talk. We also met a multi-lingual press agency and a reporter from a weekly newspaper. This was not all. There were other surprises. One of the main programme organizers from the All India Radio signed up! This was followed by another declaration from the TV staff.... and the official photographer for the Conference completed the picture! The National Youth Committee of India must be congratulated for its wonderful programme. Youths and adults from 14 countries were there. Beloved Hand Dr. Muhajer was there. Counsellor Vasudevan was there. Our Counsellor, Dr. Sundram was there. The Auxiliary Board members were all there. The pioneers were there. The prayers of the Universal House of Justice were with us. We were assured of the blessings and favours of Baha'u’llah. What more did we need? It was a Conference of words and deeds.
(Malaysian Baha'i News, Vol. 7, No. 3, October 1971)
