Service. Sacrifice. Sewa. Shraddha.
Sadhana.
All words that we seem to mention every
week in our shakhas. But do we truly understand what they mean? Do we
understand what it means to be a swayamsevak? Do we understand what
sewa is?
We may think that being a
swayamsevak means to simply turn up to shakha regularly every week,
where ganvesh when appropriate, and that being a swayamsevak simply
exists in the boundaries of a shakha.
This reminds me of a recording of a
bauddhik I heard by Mananiya Saumitraji Gokhale entitled “Ideals of a
Swayamsevak.” In this he mentions that P.P. Doctorji was someone
who changed the meaning of “swayamsevak”. A swayamsevak is not
merely someone who volunteers but someone who is willing to do
whatever it takes for the sake of society. A swayamsevak will do
whatever it takes for the sake of society but without thought of
himself. .
At SIP abhyaas varg 1 had a session
about sewa, sadhana, sacrifice and we began the session by watching a
short 2 minute video. The video was entitled “Tum Chalo To
Hindustan Chale.”
The video can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0M0EZ8T5J8
As can be seen there is a lot of
distress and impatience being shown. No one is willing to try and
move the tree, but instead they think of there own interests and
simply jump over the tree to the other side. It takes a small child
to decide that he is going to do something about it. I'm sure the
child didn't think that he could move the tree by himself, but he
still put the effort in. He inspired others to do what he couldn't.
He empowered others. His actions were selfless and show the true
meaning of sewa and show how we as swayamsevaks should think.
We may not be able to do everything and
complete every task to perfection, but we should wholeheartedly
attempt whatever is to be done and always put 100% effort in. We may
not be able to complete the task however we may empower someone else
to do so. In this way, as swayamsevaks, our aim is not only to
develop ourselves as swayamsevaks and karyakartas but is also to
develop others so that they can carry the Sangh karya forward even
further than we can. We can do this by setting an example, by putting
the effort in ourselves and by trying to develop ourselves into the
“ideal swayamsevak”. Being an ideal swayamsevak should not only exist within the boundaries of our shakhas but we should aim to be the ideal swayamsevak throughout our entire lives.
In the lives of Poojaniya Doctorji and
Gandhiji and many others, we can see that one person through the
course of his actions and thoughts can inspire many to go further
than him.
“Tum Chalo To Hindustan Chale” can,
through our thoughts and actions, be brought to fruition.
You have expressed the ideals of a sangh karyakarta very well! I hope this mindset can be adopted by all our past, present and future sangh and samiti karyakartas. An Inspiring read...
ReplyDelete-Ektaa