A prominent Indian American emergency care physician, Dr. Mihir Meghani, has pledged USD 4 million for Hinduism advocacy and awareness in the United States. He says that Hinduism is not just a religion; it is a way of life.
Dr. Meghani had founded the Hindu America Foundation (HAF) along with his three friends, Aseem Shukla, an associate professor in urologic surgery; Suhag Shukla, an attorney; and Nikhil Joshi, a labor law attorney, about two decades ago, in September 2003. It was the first of its kind of a Hindu advocacy group in the United States.
Meghani had pledged to donate 1.5 million USD to the noble cause at the organization’s annual Silicon Valley gala earlier this month, bringing his total contribution to over 4 million USD spread over a span of two decades. With this announcement, he became the biggest Indian American donor for the Hindu cause.
He further added that his wife Tanvi, who is a fitness instructor and a jewelry designer, and he himself have together contributed millions of dollars to other Hindu and Indian organizations and causes. Over the next eight years, they pledged to donate more than 1.5 million USD to such causes. "I am a salaried doctor with no stock options, and though I don’t own a startup company or have side businesses and don’t make millions of dollars every year, we are doing this as it's our duty and dharma," said Dr. Meghani.
According to Dr. Meghani, Hinduism is not easily understood by most Americans, as they are Christians who come from an Abrahamic background. They fail to understand that Hinduism is not just a religion; it’s a way of life; it’s a way of thinking about life. He further added that Indians who come to the United States from India don’t realize that they have a Hindu and Indian identity, and they too need to be proud of it and spread the word.
Dr. Meghani said that one of the earliest successes for HAF in Washington, DC, was to see Diwali celebrated at the White House and in all other states. But it took three years of their efforts to get there. He further added that the HAF aims to increase its budget to 5 million USD and 20 million USD by the end of the decade.
(Inputs from various media sources)
(Rehash/Dr. Sushmita Ganguli)
