Response to Message from President Ikeda

Dear Sensei: 

Thank you so much for your beautiful message for the South-Asian Group’s General meeting. 

We were so touched by your thoughtful words and your compassion and concern for all of us. Even though you were not present in person, we could feel your spirit and smiling face with us throughout the meeting. We cannot tell you how happy we felt when we heard that we had received a message from Sensei! Please accept our heartfelt appreciation. 

Our group started with a humble beginning two years ago, but on October 3rd, 2004, we had 120 members and guests attend the meeting. We chanted a lot of daimoku to be able to have a meeting that would help shakubuku lots of new people and encourage the existing members. We were so fortunate that our SGI-USA Men’s leader Tariq Hasan accepted our invitation. He gave us a very inspiring speech and reminded us to be proud of our heritage and still keep in mind that the most important meetings are the district discussion meetings. 

We have included our meeting flyer and agenda for you. With the help of many members, we were able to present a program that included experiences that had changed impossible to possible, power point presentation on the history of Buddhism, meaning of Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo, a skit on the Buddhist concept “Earthly desires are enlightenment,” explanation of the Gohonzon and how to practice correctly, Indian dance, and a Gakkai song, hosted by the youthful energy of three youth division MCs. In spite of facing many obstacles earlier on, we finally created great unity and harmony and achieved a successful meeting. We also had three new members receive their Gohonzon on this day! 

We are truly inspired by your encouragement and feel determined to strengthen our faith and carry out our mission of propagating Nichiren Daishonin's Buddhsim in this nation. We are confident that more events like this will bring us closer together as bodhisattvas and endow us with the courage to spread this powerful Buddhism amongst fellow Americans. The concept of spreading “World Peace” seems closer than ever before, we feel we have embarked on this mission as “ many in body one in mind”. 

Thank you and Mrs. Ikeda again for your constant guidance and encouragement for our human revolution for accomplishing our mission for kosen-rufu in America. Thank you for praying earnestly for our excellent health and happiness. 

The SGI-USA leaders’ support was commendable. We especially want to thank Kathy Geisler, our Vice-Women’s Region leader for her sincere support.  She supported us from the beginning till the end. 

With Sincere Regards, 

Sapna Batish, Varnita Kohli, Archana Bhasin, Rekha Rajani, Lalima Palecanda, Anula Bhusry, Sameer Kumar, 

Veena Rajpal, Seema Nayyar, Simi Chowdhary, 

Sharda Chowdhry, Babita Tahliani, Sonia Sidhwaney, 

Harish Ruchandani, Kavita Ruchandani, 

Avinash Srivastava, Bala Palecanda, 

Savita Krishnamurty

 
President Ikeda's Message is here. 
Also visit: Study material with a South Asian flair 
and the Mission Statement