Maryam Asif Siddiqui, A 12-year-old Muslim girl from Mumbai wins Gita contest

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Where every human being in our society is very much concerned about the religion , caste, creed etc of other human being here is a 12 years old Muslim girl from Mumbai wins the contest organised by Iskcon. At a time when many adults are failing to look past their differences and some netas are busy sowing the seeds of hatred to reap political rewards, a 12-year-old is living proof that the future of our nation is in safe hands. The girl named Maryam Asif Siddiqui was chosen from over 4,600 students as the winner of a contest on the Gita, organised by ISKCON; the 12-year-old has already read the Bible, is taking lessons on the Quran and has finished studying the Bhagwad Gita.

Sunshine Story: Here she is! Mumbai's Beacon Of Communal Harmony-Tweets as #gita

“What saddens me is that while all the holy books talk about humanity and the virtue of giving one s life for another human being, many people in our society misunderstand the teachings” says Maryam.

Firstly hats-off to her parents for encouraging her to read all holy books and teach her that every religion is equal and there should not be any religious barriers in the minds of the people. At a recent contest — “Gita Champions League” — organised by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in the city, which saw 4,617 students participating from 195 schools, the first prize was bagged by Maryam Asif Siddiqui. The participants were tested on their knowledge and understanding of the Bhagwad Gita, one of the pillars of Hinduism.

Participation in the Gita Champions League was optional and open to all students from the secondary sections of all city schools. What’s surprising is that, at Maryam’s school, the Bhagwad Gita, distributed by ISKCON, had been taught for barely a couple of weeks before the students were asked to appear for the test, which was held in January this year.

Sunshine Story: Here she is! Mumbai's Beacon Of Communal Harmony-Tweets as #gita

This book, which has been distributed in schools across the city, is based on the 18 chapters of the Bhagwad Gita and all the shlokas (verses) have been translated in English for the benefit of students. While the first half of the book focuses on the Mahabharata, the second looks at the teachings of Sri Krishna. Students who participated in this contest were made to answer 50 questions each from both the parts of the book.

Maryam, who has a keen interest in finding out more about the Hindu religion, chose to go through the entire book on her own and tried understanding the shlokas and the moral of the stories explained in each chapter.

“One of my favourite chapters was the one with the dialogue between Shri Krishna and Arjun, just before the war. Shri Krishna explains to Arjun why, even though the war was with their enemies, he chose not to hurt them. No religion teaches us to hurt one another,” added Maryam.

Sunshine Story: Here she is! Mumbai's Beacon Of Communal Harmony-Tweets as #gita

On Thursday, when mid-day visited Maryam and her family, she was busy preparing for her ongoing final exams. Maryam seemed surprised that they were interested in writing about her.

“Why should I be any different? Why treat me differently just because I am from another religion? Even in school, we have never treated each other differently on the basis of caste or religion, and my parents had taught me to treat everyone alike,” says Maryam.

“I have always taught my children not to differentiate between religions. In the end, God is the same and even though my children attend classes to understand the Quran, they have been taught to take equal interest in other books and religions,”says Maryam’s father Asif Siddiqui, who works as an editor with a Hindi magazine called Vartaman Media.

The parents and other family members said that they were proud of their daughter for proving extremists wrong and winning the contest on her own by taking interest in the book.

The Success of Maryam is being appreciated by One and all. Here are few Tweets that says Maryam Asif Siddiqui is the Mumbai’s Beacon.

Tweets On the Success of Mumbai’s Beacon Maryam Asif Siddiqui

Home » News » Maryam Asif Siddiqui, A 12-year-old Muslim girl from Mumbai wins Gita contest

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