ADJOURNMENT SPEECH ON PRESENTATION OF HOLY HINDU BOOK, BHAGAVAD GITA TO NSW PARLIAMENT HOUSE- 28 August 2013 The Hon.

SHAOQUETT MOSELMANE [6.14 p.m.]: On 26 June this year, I moved, and the Legislative Council agreed to, a motion to present the Hindu holy book, the Bhagavad Gita, to the President, the Hon. Don Harwin, to receive on behalf of New South Wales Parliament. I am proud to say that last night the Hon. Amanda Fazio and I formally presented the Bhagavad Gita to the President. It was a wonderful ceremony, attended by many members of the Hindu community and a great number of my parliamentary colleagues to whom I say thank you. It was a most auspicious occasion as the presentation of the Bhagavad Gita took place in this country's oldest Parliament. It is in my view a historic occasion: a milestone for our Hindu community and the people of New South Wales. It was a tribute to their traditions, their culture and their beliefs. It was also an opportunity to celebrate the Hindu religion, one of the oldest and most profound religions in the world. The night began with a traditional welcome to country given by the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Ms Linda Burney. I am grateful to her, as I am to members of this Parliament, for their support and for the message they have sent to the people of New South Wales and the rest of the world. By endorsing the motion to welcome into this House the Bhagavad Gita, one of the most fundamental texts that forms the basis of Hinduism, this Parliament has in fact recognised the hundreds of millions of faithful followers around the globe. That message of welcome and acceptance is one received loud and clear by all Australians. The message is that this Parliament welcomes and accepts all Australian irrespective of their race, their colour or their religion. I particularly thank the President of the Legislative Council, the Hon. Don Harwin, who was gracious enough to formally receive the Bhagavad Gita as he had received the Holy Koran. I am informed that this is the first time the Bhagavad Gita has been presented to any Parliament on this side of the globe. The only other such occasion I know of is when the International Society for Krishna Consciousness presented a set of precious books to Beatrice Ngcobo, Member of the South African Parliament. I am informed that there is no founder for the Hindu religion rather there are thousands of teachers imparting thousands of practices, spiritual and physical, to reach closeness to God. Put simply, Hinduism is a way of life, a philosophy, a journey of enlightenment. The Bhagavad Gita is a 700-verse scripture that is part of the Hindu epic Mahabharata, and this scripture contains a conversation between the warrior prince Arjun and Lord Krishna whilst he is experiencing a crisis of conscience and moral dilemma before embarking on a war. The conversation is on a variety of theological and philosophical issues, and is set out in 18 chapters dealing with matters such as devotion, selfless action and self-transcending knowledge. The Bhagavad Gita has been a guide to millions around the globe, including prominent leaders such as Mahatma Gandhi, who said: When doubts haunt me, when disappointments stare me in the face, and I see not one ray of hope on the horizon, I turn to Bhagavad-Gita and find a verse to comfort me; and I

immediately begin to smile in the midst of overwhelming sorrow. Those who meditate on the Gita will derive fresh joy and new meanings from it every day. In a culturally diverse society such as ours, it is a matter of privilege and honour to be able to bring this Holy Book to the New South Wales Parliament. Indeed I hope it will serve as a priceless opportunity when, one day soon, one of our Hindu Australians can come to this place as an elected representative and swear on this very book. I conclude by taking this opportunity to thank Mr Arun Kumar Goel, Consul General of India; the Hindu community; and the many members of Parliament who attended the ceremony, whose names I would like to mention, but time does not permit. I express my gratitude, however, to Ms Aruna Chandrala and Mr Harish Velji for their help and guidance. I acknowledge a few of the many distinguished community leaders who attended the evening, including Dr Nihal Agar, John Niven, Amarinder Bajwa, Bhupinder Chhibber and Rajeev Kapoor amongst many others. As I have said previously, I truly hope to be able to formally present other holy texts to the New South Wales Parliament. I now look forward to sometime soon presenting this Parliament with other texts of other faiths, including Buddhists and Sikhs. Today is Krishna's birthday. I take this opportunity to wish all of the Hindu faithful a holy and very happy Krishna birthday.