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

Graduation

Graduation is a strange time, emerging from the student slumber and awakening into the ‘Real World’. Up until this point we have been coaxed and guided into certain paths yet by the time you throw your mortar up to the heavens, you are expected to know which path you would like to continue to follow.

For me personally it was only during the final year that I started to actively think about my future and my career for myself rather than simply following what had been set forth in front of me. Many of us are set on auto pilot and although we like to think we decide a great many things for ourselves these decisions are cropped and shaped by others. Thus there is an element of conditioning which occurs resulting in individuals wanting a high paying job in order to purchase a large car/house/clothes/gadgets etc.

I observed this through conversations post graduation with many questions being monetarily centred which seems to be all too telling of our society at the moment where revealing your aspirations to be larger than simply receiving a large pay check to be somewhat strange and not fitting in with people’s expectations.

This may have arisen through the desires of individuals increasing up until they reach a point where when such desires are met, no happiness is felt from them. This is paralleled in a story within “The Kite Runner” where Amir (the protagonist) writes about a man who finds a magical cup and when tears fall into the cup they become pearls. By the end of the story the man who started off poor but happy, tried to find ways to make himself cry and ends up with his wife lying next to him and a knife in hand crying uncontrollably.

Time

On Tuesday 16th July I experienced a couple of hours of panic-driven madness. I was working on the logistics of one of my projects, which by the way is a samiti promotional video, and I was quite content with the plan I’d laid out for myself for that evening. It soon transpired that this plan of mine was not to be, for one of the key links in the chain had fallen through. In my anxiety I could not think clearly, but in the end I blundered into making a new, rather flawed plan. Having literally missed the train, I spent ages lamenting the failure of the evening and the fact that the targets I had set for myself would not be met. And running round my brain were those odious words, “should’ve", "would’ve", "could’ve”. What a waste of time! Thinking about it now, in my present state of relative level-mindedness, it is starting to dawn on me just how often time is ill-used. From the beginning of this Sangh Internship Programme we had been supplied with bounteous tasks to get done, which on paper seems ridiculous and frankly impossible to achieve in so short a time period. Having said so, by taking into consideration my behaviour of the Tuesday just gone, I can see that though I was putting a lot of effort into the work, I was actually getting very little done. Instead of acknowledging that nothing more could be done for that one task and moving on to the next, I wasted time faffing about- I just couldn’t let go! Writing this now, I am reminded of what Eknath Ranade writes in Sadhana of Service:
“Life is a gymnasium where you have to display the best that you possess within the short time allotted to you.”
Whether its a hundred years, fifty years, one year, or even a month, the time we have when we have the capacity to work is precious, and not a moment should go by when you simply think that “there’s always tomorrow…”

SIP starts

SIP started on January 14th 2009 with applications opened to Swayemsevaks and Sevikas from around the UK.

On June 28th 2009 the selected participants joined the team at Leicester Karyalaya for the first Abhyas Varg titled AB-C. Details of themes covered at this varg are available here

Over the next month, follow their progress on their projects, readings and personal reflections.