Service
Swami Nikhilaananda recollected an old byword:
"I cried for shoes, till I saw a man with no feet"
Most of you might have heard this famous adage... Why am I mentioning it here? Well, it's most relevant because, my friend had asked me to read an entry from a blog - http://360.yahoo.com/rmourya1 the title being "Can you make a difference?" And the entry is similar to a story which I would have written to strengthen a proverb. Do read it. And continue after completing reading that article.
But I have got something more to say about it myself. A lot of us suddenly realise things, truth dawns upon us... A bulb glows above our head when we see real life incidents.
But as Gyani Triviani always said - "Realisation is only half the journey". How many of us have realised, and then made grand plans for the future... But till now not achieved anything? How many of you, after reading this are muttering - "You just wait, give me time. I'll show you that I can make a difference..." and thinking of firing mild invectives at me? To feel is half of it - I am not denying that realisation is important. But after realisation, doing something is very important.
Allusion to the famous e-mail now, would be very apt. A large number of you guys would have received an email - a mail which shows a picture of a dying young child, a baby... dying due to starvation, and a vulture waiting for this to happen sitting behind the child. The mail says that the photographer won a Pulitzer prize, and that the photographer committed suicide due to depression. It also says - noone knows what happened to the child after that.............. Now, here's the sad story - the man did realise; but he did not do anything about it. The child obviously died. He could have atleast saved the child by taking him to a hospital and then committed suicide if he wanted to... (May the man's soul rest in peace!)
I feel that, things need to be done, and they need to be done continuously, not by one or two... But by everyone. If you cannot do very big things, start out small - Giving away bread to urchins is a great deed. Many feel that forming of NGOs is going to sort problems. NGOs, though the concept sounds great, I feel, is not as hunky-dory as it is made out to be. There are a large number of cases where money keeps getting siphoned off, the poor remaining poorer, someone else, undeserving, getting richer, and state of affairs remaining as they are. Things in reality, practically speaking are a lot more different than it seems to the young, the "new gen" people who think radically and have this desire to change stuff... Stuff has remained miserable from a long time. To change it, we need a large scale awakening, (like Rang De Basnti, something radical should be done to awaken people - and I don't mean killing someone to drive home the point...) and people, like my friend above are doing a great job by creating awareness. But remember, not only creating awareness, but also taking steps is essential.
We hope that together, all of us stick together and make the world a better place to live in, rather than cowering and fleeing scenes of horror like our photographer friend did.
Gyani Triviani believes in this:
" A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds"
But a word of caution from the ancient oracle of wisdom, Swami Gulagulaananda - If you are interested in something, do it - ask your friends or others to join you, but force none. Don't be over-enthusiastic and prevent someone from upgrading his car from a 3 lakh vehicle to a 10 lakh vehicle, by saying that there are millions of people dying of hunger - why do you need luxury? If you feel that way, then you don't upgrade your car. Everyone has his/her own way of thinking - you can advice them, not impose yourself on them. If they feel your way, they'll join you. Else, leave it at that. The three Swamis bless all of you!!!
Sarve janaaha sukhino bhavanthu (May all the people live happily)
"I cried for shoes, till I saw a man with no feet"
Most of you might have heard this famous adage... Why am I mentioning it here? Well, it's most relevant because, my friend had asked me to read an entry from a blog - http://360.yahoo.com/rmourya1 the title being "Can you make a difference?" And the entry is similar to a story which I would have written to strengthen a proverb. Do read it. And continue after completing reading that article.
But I have got something more to say about it myself. A lot of us suddenly realise things, truth dawns upon us... A bulb glows above our head when we see real life incidents.
But as Gyani Triviani always said - "Realisation is only half the journey". How many of us have realised, and then made grand plans for the future... But till now not achieved anything? How many of you, after reading this are muttering - "You just wait, give me time. I'll show you that I can make a difference..." and thinking of firing mild invectives at me? To feel is half of it - I am not denying that realisation is important. But after realisation, doing something is very important.
Allusion to the famous e-mail now, would be very apt. A large number of you guys would have received an email - a mail which shows a picture of a dying young child, a baby... dying due to starvation, and a vulture waiting for this to happen sitting behind the child. The mail says that the photographer won a Pulitzer prize, and that the photographer committed suicide due to depression. It also says - noone knows what happened to the child after that.............. Now, here's the sad story - the man did realise; but he did not do anything about it. The child obviously died. He could have atleast saved the child by taking him to a hospital and then committed suicide if he wanted to... (May the man's soul rest in peace!)
I feel that, things need to be done, and they need to be done continuously, not by one or two... But by everyone. If you cannot do very big things, start out small - Giving away bread to urchins is a great deed. Many feel that forming of NGOs is going to sort problems. NGOs, though the concept sounds great, I feel, is not as hunky-dory as it is made out to be. There are a large number of cases where money keeps getting siphoned off, the poor remaining poorer, someone else, undeserving, getting richer, and state of affairs remaining as they are. Things in reality, practically speaking are a lot more different than it seems to the young, the "new gen" people who think radically and have this desire to change stuff... Stuff has remained miserable from a long time. To change it, we need a large scale awakening, (like Rang De Basnti, something radical should be done to awaken people - and I don't mean killing someone to drive home the point...) and people, like my friend above are doing a great job by creating awareness. But remember, not only creating awareness, but also taking steps is essential.
We hope that together, all of us stick together and make the world a better place to live in, rather than cowering and fleeing scenes of horror like our photographer friend did.
Gyani Triviani believes in this:
" A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds"
But a word of caution from the ancient oracle of wisdom, Swami Gulagulaananda - If you are interested in something, do it - ask your friends or others to join you, but force none. Don't be over-enthusiastic and prevent someone from upgrading his car from a 3 lakh vehicle to a 10 lakh vehicle, by saying that there are millions of people dying of hunger - why do you need luxury? If you feel that way, then you don't upgrade your car. Everyone has his/her own way of thinking - you can advice them, not impose yourself on them. If they feel your way, they'll join you. Else, leave it at that. The three Swamis bless all of you!!!
Sarve janaaha sukhino bhavanthu (May all the people live happily)
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