Report by OD bureau; Seattle: The first Washington State Summit on US-India Trade & Commerce is being organized by the Washington State and India Trade Relations Action Committee (WASITRAC) in collaboration with the Seattle Center Foundation, Consulate General of India in San Francisco, City of Seattle, Port of Seattle, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Foster School of Business and University of Washington.

The Summit is also supported by the U.S. Commercial Service, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Washington State Department of Commerce, Washington Tourism Alliance, Washington Economic Development Commission, and a host of sponsoring organizations. Details of the summit including early bird registration information is available at: http://www.NextFiftyIndia.org.

The Summit will open with WASITRAC's 3rd Annual Building Bridges Reception at the Intiman Theater, Seattle Center on Thursday, September 27. Established in 2009, the annual Building Bridges award is given to individuals for bringing communities and nations together through their specific field of work and expertise. Previous honorees include Northwest Asian Weekly publisher Assunta Ng, legendary Indian film maker Prashanta Nanda, Port of Seattle CEO Tay Yoshitani, and Olympian Narayan Gurung who has also been the coach for the US Taekwondo team. WASITRAC is a Seattle based non-profit advocacy group working for a stronger bilateral trade relations between US and India.

This year, organizers will honor Dr. Chandra Bhanu Satpathy, also known as "Guru Ji," with the “Building Bridges across the Nations” award for bringing the whole world together through his extraordinary works in literature, music, and spirituality. Dr. Satpathy was recently conferred with a D. Litt. (doctorate of literature) by the Rashtriya Sanskrit Vidyapeeth (National Sanskrit University) in Tirupati and an LL. D. (doctorate of law) by the Berhampur University in India. He has also been bestowed with numerous awards in India in recognition of his outstanding contribution in the field of music, lyrics, and composition of devotional music.

Dr. Satpathy wrote his first book "Eka Dashakara Ramya Rachana" (delightful short stories of a decade) in the Oriya language during his college years in the early sixties. At that time, the book was well appreciated by many established writers in India, many of whom encouraged him to continue his passion for writing. His latest book, “Shri Guru Bhagavat,” has been published in India in Oriya, Hindi, and English and has become immensely popular among thousands of his fans and other scholars due to its depth and simplicity, highlighting the Guru-disciple relationship while describing the invaluable aspects of human life.

Interestingly enough, this recently authored book is written in the poetic meter (lines with nine letters each, in couplet form) of the Bhagavat written by Shri Jagannath Das, the legendary Indian author of the 15th century. With the growing demand of "Shri Guru Bhagavat" outside India, the book might get published in the US very soon.

Dr. Satpathy comes from a family of academicians and administrators with a high level of cultural and religious involvement. He holds multiple master's degrees and for some years taught in Delhi University before joining the Indian Police Service. There, he excelled and was awarded three recognitions by the President of India for gallantry, meritorious service, and distinguished service. In his 35-year long career, Dr. Satpathy had been the Director General of Police for the State of Uttar Pradesh (UP), as well as the Director General of the Central Industrial Security Force. He was also senior adviser to the departments of Civil Aviation and Petroleum for the Govt. of India.

He is currently playing a pioneering role in spiritual literature of excellence and has engaged himself with the task of creating literature and music related to Shri Shirdi Sai Baba, an enlightened saint of the 20th century. Dr. Satpathy was and continues to be instrumental in creating Shirdi Sai Baba temples worldwide, the numbers now exceeding 250.

The day long US-India Trade Summit in Seattle will end on September 28 with Dr. Satpathy's discourses on “Mystique India, Eastern Philosophy and Sai Revolution”.