Write for Change

Society today has problems. Economic and emotional depressions, terrorism, climate change, racism, crime, disappearing resources, increased consumerism and poverty to name but a few. As a modern thinker you know that the only way to overcome these obstacles is to change the way society thinks and acts as a whole. You know what the ideas and solutions for change are, but your voice alone goes unheard, you need a stage upon which to educate the masses. That stage is the Book for Change. A book compiled by men and women just like yourself, dedicated to opening the hearts and minds of all who read it, changing our outlook on life for a better humanity.

This is your opportunity to become one of today's new breed of thinkers, the chance for you to get published and present you ideas to the world. Visit TheBookForChange.com to get involved!

Duty...

The inactive man does not do his duty to his Creator or to the society that maintains him. The recluse who devotes his entire life to improving himself fulfills part of man's duty because he helps society by leading by example and by making at least one of its members good.

The world is full of people that keep themselves to themselves and concentrate on purifying their own mind, body and soul by praying in solitude, reading holy books in solitude, meditating in solitude, living in solitude trying to escape the distractions of the outside world. Is this enough? They refuse to see the vast humanity around them living a life of deprivation, hunger and suffering. If you bring these facts of life, that people do not have bread to eat, clothing to wear, Hindus will misguidedly say that their suffering is a result of their past Karma (action). As Hindu’s do we not have a duty to them? They may well be suffering their fate, but is it not a negative Karma on our part if we allow this suffering to continue? If a person is born with a treatable illness, should his Medical Doctor say, “this illness is the result of your past Karma, so I must leave you untreated and let you suffer.” Would we even call such a man a Doctor?

God is not some Father Christmas type figure whose lap we can sit on and ask for miracles. He doesn't sit observing all from a high perch in the clouds. God is a state of mind. All man can attain this state of mind. The man who does his duty as a son, a father, a brother, a husband, a friend, a neighbour, his duty as a human being with no thought to earn wealth, respect, applause or self-esteem through his actions, this man has reached the state of mind that is God. This man's sole thought is his duty, this man is a divine soul. Swami Vivekananda said - "If you wish to serve God, serve human beings."

When we say that God is in everything and everything is God, it does not mean we must worship trees and rocks. What it means is that we regard everything as sacred. We respect trees and rocks and therefore must not abuse the resources that have been provided in this world. This video narrated by a Native American describes it perfectly - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61BCB2-OmRY

Change...

While trying to contact all the Vibhaag Karyawaha's spread nationally. I realised that even if I do reach my goal of a few names for each resource from each Vibhaag, the helpfulness of the data would be minimal. This is because the few names that do turn up, are probably the ones that everyone in the specific vibhaag turns to when in need of that particular resource. Therefore, inline with the project brief of 'Hidden' resources. I've decided to change my focus from national, to my local Vibhaag level, This will allow me to plunge deeper into the depths of the unknown and find resources that are rarely used or known about. So far, this has gone quite well, as I've found approximately 30 people who are not regular swayamsevaks, but know about Sangh and have skills that will definitely aid Sangh. In continuing my quest, I'll be visiting many swayamsevaks who have not attended Shakha in year, in order to find more and more resources. A great by-product of this project for any Vibhaag is the rekindling of Sangh contact with some who may have shied away from Shakha.

A further difficulty I've encountered, is that when asking for two contact numbers, simply to be thorough, the majority of people I've called are only willing to provide one number. Though this is not ideal, it is something I have no control over and have to happy about.

Adding Value...

Each day of every SIP Abhyas Varg begins with mind cleansing Safai and Mantras. Safai is performed in the mindset that we should always leave a place in a better manner than when we arrived thereby ensuring your marks is left. When someone enters the place after you have left, they should feel your were there. During Safai we try to identify areas where we can add value, in this case we are looking to add value to the Karyalaya, OUR Karyalaya. The building should give swayamsevaks who visit it a sense of pride and belonging. Just in the same way that a multinational corporation's state of the art head office does. Beginning a day looking to add value in everything we do, is a great benchmark to set, always striving to see where we can fill gaps and be better in all aspects of life. The experience of Safai in SIP has spurred me on to do tiny little things in my life. Such as picking up an empty can if I see one on the street, rather than kicking it down the road assuming someone else will sort it out. Or at home, when normally I have to be told to pick washing off the line, or dry dishes, now I am actively looking to see opportunities where I can help out, or add value, and then I simply do them. An extremely inspiring video detailing an example of adding value whenever you can, not simply because it aids you, is this. The little boy who tries moving the tree by himself has no vested interest in clearing the road. He could quite easily walk around it, yet he sees a problem and decides to do something about it. Can we be like the boy? Or will we sit on the sidelines assuming someone else fill fix things?

Conviction...

A question that we ask many a time within our own circles is: how do we instil conviction of the organisational mission within our Swayamsevaks? One method I have been experimenting with, is providing inspiration in the form of stories about great people. Simple graphic novels with morals behind them, such as Amar Chitra Katha, small books such as the Bharat Bharti series (Available from Hindu Sahitya Kendra) and full blown biographies are all sources of inspirational stories on great people such as Guruji, Jijabai, Shivaji Maharaj, Swami Vivekanada. These great people lived in a way befitting an example of our mission, and exposing swayamsevaks to their experiences and deeds is bound to inspire a deep conviction. Baudhiks at Shakha are a good platform for telling of such stories, role playing stories and doing anything else creative that provides the underlying message of the lives these great people lived. As members of Sangh, we too have a responsibility to be a living example of our mission. We cannot afford to have separate lives, for example, one at Shakha where we do not swear or mess around and are generally beacons of society, and one outside Shakha, where we act in a completely different manner altogether. We must act in a way that 50 years from now shikshaks will look back on our lives to draw inspiration for their students. If we do not, shikshaks will forever be referring to the likes of Shivaji Maharaj. Though his story is immensely inspirational to us, young swayamsevaks are slowly losing the ability to relate to someone from such a different time. We need people leading by example today, not just at Shakha, but 24/7.

Aims and Objectives...

One of my projects is to plan out what activities to include in a Hindu Summer Scheme over 2 weeks, and to ensure the whole scheme is viable from a logistical and cost point of view.
After long discussions with my project mentor, parents of prospective camp attendees and the kids themselves, I have settled on the following aims and objectives for anyone who attends the Hindu Summer Scheme:

• To instil lifelong Hindu values and establish a hunger for knowledge.
• To build individual character, confidence and skills through a wide range of sports, workshops and cultural activities.
• To teach effective teamwork and individual responsibility in daily tasks.
• To approach and experience each and every day as a new and exciting adventure.
• To encourage attendees to form social relationships and make new friends.

Litter Picking...

On the morning of 30th June we four SIPites picked litter from the local park. The act of litter picking itself is obviously sewa, but this is not the only thing to gain from the experience. One thing I know I learned is that when we walk down the road, we are socially conditioned to not see litter in the form of crisp packets, cans, gum unless its a sofa in the middle of the road we ignore and walk on. Yet when you have a litter pick and bin bag in your hand and are actively searching for litter, you see the vast amount that was previously invisible. This goes back to removing our own preconceptions to truly see. The exercise also taught me to think about sustainability in whatever we do. Its all well and good for the four of us to do one day's of picking, but what about next week when all the litter has amassed again? The solutions we find to our problems must be sustainable to be truly effective.

'The ones who walk away from Omelas'

On 31th June we travelled out to a park, sat under the shade of a tree and discussed 'The ones who walk away from Omelas' - Ursula K. Le Guin. I cannot recommend this reading enough. It takes a while to process, but what I learned from it was that we can easily speak of how would do the right thing in certain situations, but once we realise the situation is actually what we are living in right now, we find it difficult, if not impossible, to change. Especially when that change causes us hardship.
After the reading, we were asked to place ourselves in the city of Omelas and discuss what we would do. The jist of the story is that the citizens of Omelas are blissfully happy with no hardship whatsoever. But there is one child who lives locked in a cupboard on its own excrement and is miserable. The happy citizens of Omelas have never experienced hardship or sacrifice, they have not earned their eternal happiness. If the child were ever to be freed, the remaining citizens would no longer be blissfully happy. The child is sacrificing his happiness so everyone else can live in permanent blissfulness.
I believe that there cannot be happiness without sacrifice. Would one want someone else to sacrifice for one's own happiness? Usually the answer is no, and people are disgusted to hear about this child. Yet when we draw parallels with our world, we realise that we are happy, yet most of us do not experience sacrifice. The poor beggar on the street is the child, the undernourished in the third-world are also the child. We see their hardship, but how many of us walk past beggars in London's city streets and pretend them not to be there?
It is easy to say that we would do the right thing if we were in the story. Yet we are in a similar story and many of us are doing nothing.

What we actually did for 4 days, cut off from the rest of the world, in Leicester

SIP 2009 officially started on Monday 29th June with all four attendees, Sonal Mistry from Warrington, Avnish Thakrar from Wellingborough, Neil Krishna-Kundu from Redbridge, and myself from North London, converging in Sangh's Leicester head-office for a four day Abhyas Varg (Training Camp).

Naturally I can't give away everything we did, or it will spoil it for those who will complete SIP in years to come. But I can provide a small insight into a few activities:

* Litter picking in a local park, this included the expected crisp packets and cans etc. and also some fly tipped vinyl flooring and side-boards!
* Cooking dinner for 7 with only £10 and a small aubergine, and it didn't help that the kitchen felt like a furnace!
* Reading 'The ones who walk away from Omelas' - Ursula K. Le Guin
* Many more discussions and workshops on topics including, but not limited to, choice, community, communication, consumerism and commitment. (Yes they are all topics beginning with 'C' by design!)
* And a screening of 'The Legend of Bagger Vance'.Abhyas Varg
* There were also sessions directed at helping us with our individual projects, one in particular I found helpful tried to make us think about the method and presentation of the projects in as many different ways as possible. A real 'out of the box' session.