'...It's our Dharma': Indian-American doctor commits $4 million for Hindu advocacy, awareness in US

Prominent Indian-American physician Mihir Meghani who has donated $4 million to support Hindu advocacy and awareness causes in the US has said that Hinduism is a way of life rather than merely a religion.

At this month’s annual Silicon Valley gala, emergency care physician Meghani, who co-founded the Hindu America Foundation with his friends two decades ago, promised to contribute an additional $1.5 million to the Hindu cause over the following eight years.

With this payment, his two-decade total of charitable contributions will reach $4 million.

Dr. Meghani may now have the title of largest Indian American donor to the Hindu cause in the US as a result of his declaration.

In an interview to PTI news agency, he Meghani , “My wife Tanvi and I have contributed $1.5 million to the Hindu American Foundation thus far. We’ve also contributed a million dollars more over the last 15 years to other Hindu and Indian organisations and causes. Over the next eight years, we’re making a pledge of $1.5 million to pro-India and Hindu organisations,” told PTI in a recent interview.

He said that he is an emergency doctor on a salary and is not making millions of dollars a year, but he has promised to donate the amount for his Dharma, which is a duty.

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“I say this to all of you who are viewing this to realise that I don’t have a startup company. I don’t have any side businesses. I’m an emergency doctor on a salary. My wife is a fitness instructor and a jewellery designer. We’re not making millions of dollars a year. We don’t have stock options. We’re doing this because it’s our Dharma, it’s our duty,” he added.

Just out of university, Dr Meghani and three of his friends Aseem Shukla, an associate professor in urologic surgery; Suhag Shukla, an attorney and Nikhil Joshi, a labour law attorney co-founded the Hindu American Foundation (HAF) in September 2003, the first of its kind Hindu advocacy group in the US.

Responding to a question, Dr Meghani said Hinduism is not as easily understood by most Americans because most Americans are Christian.

“They come from an Abrahamic background. When they look at different religions, they can’t understand that Hinduism is not just a religion, it’s a way of life. It’s a way of thinking about life,” he said.

Hindus who are coming from India don’t quite understand that they have a Hindu identity and an Indian national identity, he said, adding: “We need to talk about that”.

“What we need are Hindus to be strong in the Bharatiya or Indian identity, which is the political identity for our civilisation, but also they should be very proud and open about their Hindu identity. And when they have that, their coworkers, their friends, and neighbours will understand us better,” he said.

One of the early successes of HAF in Washington DC, he said, was to get Diwali recognised in the US.

“Now you can see that Diwali is celebrated at the White House, with the Vice President, in the US Congress and all across different state and local governments across the country. But it took time to get there,” he said about the three-year effort by them.

The Hindu American Foundation, which in its initial years was all based on volunteerism, now has an annual budget of $2.5 million and has several full-time staffers. Its goal is to increase its budget to $5 million next year and $20 million by the end of the decade, he said.

With inputs from agencies