SPIRITUAL and community leaders, military personnel and members of the Hindu community attended a Raksha Bandhan celebration at the House of Lords on Monday (14), marking the festival’s message of protection, duty and mutual support.
Hosted by Lord Krish Raval OBE and organised by the Defence Hindu Network, the event was opened by Hindu chaplain Bhanu Attri.
He spoke about the importance of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the belief that the world is one family.
“We respect all faiths, regardless of anybody’s culture, colour and gender. It is a special blessing to have people from all walks of life here, in this very special place of democracy, amongst members of the House of Lords, members of Parliament, and of course all the defenders — Army, Navy and Air Force, and defence leaders,” he said.
His Holiness Pujya Swami Chidanand Saraswati Ji of Parmarth Niketan Ashram in Rishikesh, north India, and Pujya Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati Ji joined the celebrations.
Sadhviji said Raksha Bandhan was a celebration of protection, love, security and connection. She linked the festival with Ganesh Chaturthi, saying the greatest obstacles people face are often within their own minds, including separation, division, anger, hatred, greed and arrogance.
She also connected the festival’s message with the work of the armed forces.
“You are those who are prepared not only to bend, but to actually lay your lives on the line for others, in the air, on the ground, in the water,” she said.
Raksha Bandhan was a reminder that people were not separate because of gender, race, religion or colour, but were part of one family, Sadhviji said.
Lord Raval thanked representatives of the armed forces attending the event and paid tribute to Hindu personnel serving in Britain’s military.
He said the festival’s traditional rakhi ceremony carried a message of protection and sacrifice, drawing on the story of Maharaj Bali and the idea that a warrior’s duty could require self-sacrifice.
Raval said actions, rather than notions of ethnic or social differences, should determine how people are judged.
Vice-air marshal Commodore James, representing the chief of the Air Staff, recalled being anointed at a temple in Varanasi while backpacking through India three decades earlier.
He paid tribute to the more than a million Indian soldiers who served in the First World War and the millions more who contributed to Allied success in the Second World War, saying the legacy of Hindu service “continues to this day across the Royal Navy, the Royal Marines, the British Army, the Royal Air Force”.
Diversity was “not simply a reflection of modern Britain; it’s one of our enduring strengths”, he said.
The Defence Hindu Network’s chair, Flight Lieutenant Nigam Joshi, spoke about his own experience of serving as a Hindu in the armed forces.
Joshi recalled that 17 years ago, while taking an Army selection test, a physical training instructor stopped him during a set of pull-ups and asked about a thread he was wearing. He said the incident showed the lack of understanding that could exist around Hindu practices.
He later served for 10 years in the British Army before transferring to the RAF. Of his 17 years of service, he said, 11 were spent overseas, where he continued to observe his faith and celebrate festivals, including Diwali.
Joshi said the Defence Hindu Network now works with senior leadership, the chain of command, serving Hindu personnel and veterans. It also supports defence and civilian engagement and helps Hindu personnel serve with their faith “understood, not merely tolerated”.
He said the network’s Raksha Bandhan roadshow had visited nine locations across the country this year, compared with five the previous year.
A Brahma Kumaris representative focused on the idea of inner protection. She said modern life provided many forms of external protection, from locked doors and security systems to insurance, but people also needed to develop inner protection.
She described this in terms of the mind, intellect and sanskars, saying that when these were aligned, people could make better decisions and ensure their words and actions reflected their values.
She said peace was the mind’s original nature and that finding this inner peace could help people bring it into different areas of their lives.
The event concluded with the traditional tying of rakhis, symbolising protection and mutual respect, including ceremonies involving representatives of the armed forces and religious leaders.
