On 1 December 2021, the new Unitarian Hindu Association held its first of many planned “Unitarian Hindu Connection” online meetings. Supported by Unitarian Transformers, the Unitarian Hindu Association is for: “all Unitarians from a Hindu background or those interested in Hinduism and similar eastern philosophies. It holds meetings with speakers, opportunities to study and discuss Hindu concepts and to celebrate festivals together. Unitarians share many values with Hinduism – most centrally, that there is a unity at the core of religious diversity. Spirituality can be experienced in many forms, with many faces, but underneath there is one ultimate reality. For further information please contact Indra Sikdar at nuf@nufonline.org.uk”.

Unitarian Transformers is a new UK Unitarian Initiative, a “programme of spirituality and education that builds community by developing both in-person and online gatherings, supporting and encouraging new and existing Unitarian fellowships.” Part of this involves these ‘Connections’ gatherings where Unitarians can meet and learn from each other – find out more about this here: https://unitariantransformers.org.uk/

Organiser Indra Sikhar led us in a chalice lighting, welcomed us all, then guest speaker Suresh Rajpura led us in an introduction to Hinduism, one of the world’s oldest religious and spiritual traditions. It was an excellent opportunity to have a Unitarian event with a very diverse attendance; Unitarians, Hindus, and people of various spiritual backgrounds were all present for a lively discussion. We had the chance for a discussion afterwards.

It’s very good to see our movement committing to giving us opportunities to have what we often say we want to see in our gatherings – learning from other faith traditions. The next UHA event (as of the time of writing) is on 2^nd February at 7pm, led by Rev. Mark Hutchinson on “Baby Jesus, Baby Krishna: Playfulness in Spirituality’. Find out more here: https://tinyurl.com/UHA022022