Setback

While looking at the Nutritional Content of SSV I thought why not attempt to try and solve the problem from a more grassroots level i.e. by trying to implement a healthy eating scheme within Shakha. However there is a big difference between having an idea, talking to others about it and actually going ahead with such a plan. From talking to others there seemed to be a positive reaction to such a scheme yet when it came down to the crunch everyone had things to do on that particular day.

It does become slightly dis-heartening when you put in effort to try and change things even slightly and yet the response isn’t there and although I did feel like this for a time I decided there is no point in ruing the chance but instead to create another chance and look at what can be improved upon to make sure this does not occur again. So I’m trying to strip it down to basics and think what would entice me to such a scheme...

Progress and Problems?

Whilst researching for different ways of taking the Sangh Sandesh Interactive I have compiled a short questionnaire to aid in my research which can be found here:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=tJuAfY3FSD4xt2sJjfiRZg_3d_3d

The questionnaire and its answers shall enable me to hone the wants and needs of swaysevaks and sevikas in relation to the Sangh Sandesh. The main problem shall be the time limit in which responses can be taken as if responses are taken too late I shall not have enough time to research the feasibility and act upon such points.

With regards to the Nutritional content of SSV the main problem I have faced so far is assessing the calorific content of such foods since there are many websites and walkthroughs on how to calculate the calorie intake of most ingredients yet when it comes down to Indian dishes this task is much more difficult. Especially since with Indian dishes there are generally no set ingredients with most participants that I have asked on how they create the same food giving varied answers. This is another obstacle which has to be overcome in some manner.

RULES, RULES, RULES

As part of my project for Strengthening the Sewa Shop, I have been given the task to find out about recently implemented legislation on matters ranging from health and safety to returns policies.

The amount of law on such matters is absolutely staggering. In one sense it is beneficial. The legislation ensures that all organisations follow and abide by a given standard. This is particularly crucial for matters such as fire procedures as most people have the view, 'it won't happen to me.' Therefore, by introducing laws, it forces people to take action and try to avoid this stereotype.

However, a lot of it is highly unnecessary for example having a 'No Smoking' sign which must be 77mm in diameter. Much of the legislation is there due to the 'suing' culture we live in today. It is a sad state of affairs that the such far fetched measures must be taken just to avoid being sued. This thought led me back to the TED videos we watched at Abhyas Varg B:

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html

It begs the question are all of these rules and regulations stemming creativity and reducing the need for us to think? We merely follow a set of rules given to us; mainly out of fear of being sued. But why has this suing culture arisen? Do we not care about our fellow man? Do we take great pleasure in taking from them? What are the motives for taking others to court - greed, revenge, want free money? A common feature to all of these motives are that they arise from material or egotistic desires.

From interviewing and meeting many different Hindu Organisations over the past few weeks, the answer to this may lie in some of our most ancient scriptures - Lord Krishna told us that focusing our minds on God helps reduce the ego; raja yoga enables us to search within and find answers to our lives and become more spiritual. Perhaps a more spiritual society is needed to cure the suing culture that we live in today.

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.

I'm Starving

As part of my second project, I’ve been assigned with helping improve the Sewa shop in Birmingham. Before today I had never seen the shop and after hearing many stories about it, I thought I would be in for a tedious day, but I was wrong. Today involved me helping making the store look more presentable, talking to the volunteers and listening to their stories and spending time learning about the way in which the shop’s administrative side is managed. It was very informative and will aid me greatly for my project.

However, I was not prepared for what was in store for me in the evening. Dipvandana took me to feed the homeless in the city centre. She’s been trying to get involved in more community projects and I feel this is something that all of us should do in our local area.

After getting slightly lost amidst the one way systems in the city centre and because of road blocks, we parked up on a side street and walked towards the car park where the food was to be served. When the food arrived, a swarm of people surrounded the car and I immediately thought, ‘what have I let myself into?’ but the people were courteous, kind, generous and in good spirits despite their bad luck. What struck me the most was that they were all willing to help each other out, ‘that’s the only way we survive’ Tim said. Another homeless gentleman said, ‘this is the nicest curry I’ve ever had.’ This struck me hard. The meal served was only daal, bhaat; the simplest Indian meal you can get and one which we all take for granted. It made me realise how unappreciative we all are and take the simplest things in life for granted which for others is a God send. It’s absolutely throwing it down with rain tonight, I hope Tim and the others find a safe place to stay.

Step Your Game Up

The afternoon session of Abhyas Varg B was designed to give us the tools to enable us to push ourselves further and aspire for excellence. We watched a video from the TED website – an organisation that does talks and seminars spreading innovative and creative ideas.

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/barry_schwartz_on_our_loss_of_wisdom.html

To push for excellence, he motions the idea of ‘virtue’. To illustrate his point he gave the example of a hospital janitor. His job description does not involve one aspect which requires human interaction. However, when interviewed, many janitors gave stories of how they ignored orders and parts of their job description in order to help patients such as helping them with their rehabilitation. So, despite not requiring any social interaction as part of their described role, many janitors feel it is necessary to do so and this helps the hospital run smoother and create a pleasant environment.

So values such as kindness and empathy are an essential part of their job. A wise person requires the moral will and moral skill in order to do the right thing and knows when and how to make an exception to every rule. A wise person is adaptable and changes according to the situation.

A wise man is made, not born. Wisdom comes from experience and this requires trying new things and accepting and overcoming failure. To be brilliant, you need not be wise but without wisdom, brilliance is not enough.

Applying the above to society today, we see a world full of compliance and bureaucracy. Rules are rigid and we often hear the phrase, ‘I hate to do it but I have to follow rules.’ Has it occurred to us that rules often prevent thinking and initiative? Rules and incentives are useful in the short run but in the long run they deprive thinking and discourage people from using their moral will and doing the right thing.

But this structured and regulated society we live in is rife. Today’s education system hampers creativity and promotes mediocrity. Children are losing their ability to think and their creative prowess is diminishing. I, like many other university students can relate to this. To pass our exams, all we do is memorise a few lecture handouts and read the core textbook (obviously, not just the night before the exam!) and once it is finished, we forget everything that we learnt. As a result of the current education system, we often lack initiative and struggle to adapt to working life which is fast paced and ever changing.

To address this issue, the speaker spoke of how the education system needs revamping in order to promote creativity and forward thinking. In addition, work needs to be re-moralised – people should be inspired to do the right thing and this requires moral will and initiative. Furthermore, social interaction is needed to gain a greater sense of community spirit.

In many of our lives, we will be faced with the following dilemma – do we follow the rules given or do we use our moral will and do the right thing?? What would you do??

Money Can't Buy Happiness

Today I had the privilege of speaking to Bhupendrabhai, head of Brahma Kumaris in Wellingborough. The founder of the movement, Dadaji was a diamond merchant and possessed great wealth and had all the worldly desires that he cared for. However, he was still not happy. He found that the power of meditation was the answer to achieving a peaceful and loving world. It was evident to him that money cannot buy happiness.

Therefore, the aim of Brahma Kumaris is to take a journey within ourselves to seek for answers such as, 'what is my purpose in my life?' - only once we change ourselves can the world change. Thus, there is great emphasis on self improvement. The interesting feature of this message is that it is strikingly similar to the aims of other organisations such as Swadhiya. This supports the pluralistic nature of Hinduism, that there is only one God but many different paths to it; a message that the Vivekananda Centre strongly promote. This again shows the diverse approach to our Hindu tradition but the goal for all the different organisations is the same and this is what unites us all.

After a session in the gym, I attended the Wellingborough District Hindu Association's Youth Committee's forum along with two fellow swaymsevaks. There, Kunalji gave a talk on the Guru Poornima utsav and we discussed a variety of activities planned for the youth in our area. e.g. Bal Gokulam. It was a productive meeting and the pizza afterwards made it even more worthwhile.

Finally, to end what had been a very informative day, I attended a talk organised by the Brahma Kumaris. As with all their talks, it was extremely thought provoking and reaffirmed much of what I had learnt about them earlier. What stood out most from the talk was the technique where we meditated with our eyes open! I find trying to focus with my eyes closed difficult as it is; but that is the power of Raja Yoga.

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.

Self improvement

My quest for finding out more about the different Hindu Organisations in the UK took me to Kettering to find out about the Swadhiya perspective. To accompany me, I brought along a fellow swaymsevak from Wellingborough in order to enhance his knowledge and just as importantly, keep him out of trouble in his summer holidays!

What struck me the most about the Swadhiya movement was their goal of living a life practicing the teachings of Krishna Bhagwan. A key part of their ethos is the notion of self improvement - we cannot change the world so instead must focus on changing ourselves. This is remarkably similar to Gandhiji's quote, 'be the change you want to see in the world.' Another way in which they practice Lord Krishna's teachings is by keeping God in the centre of all that they do. This is particularly crucial in reducing one's ego because everything we possess and do is done in the name of God.

I also celebrated Guru Poornima utsav at the Swaminarayan Mandir in Wellingborough. Like always, I thoroughly enjoyed the bhajans and prasad!! I met a number of people there who will aid me in finding out more about their organisation. Let's see what surprises tomorrow brings!

My SIP Project

Namaste,
One of the projects I have taken on for SIP is to take the Sangh Sandesh interactive, i.e to use the technology available to make it leap of the screen or paper and thus easier to engage than just a standalone piece of literature.

I have talked to many people so far including friends and family and even those who you may not even think to ask such as the shop assistant at your local corner shop and even your driving instructor. These individuals are still a part of our community and thus still have valuable experience and knowledge that may help in such projects. As expected there were the myriad of usual answers such as using facebook and twitter to expand readership yet from the unusual sources such as through the simplicity of children I have found various other methods including the use of sms text, humour and even quizzes.

Furthermore I have uploaded the Sangh Sandesh through a simpler pdf web viewer to encapsulate the magazine feel with a simple turning of a page. Have a look for yourself here with the latest issue.

http://issuu.com/sanghsandesh/docs/ss_apr_jun09_web

Vivekananda Centre - The Beauty of Pluralism

Namaste,

One of the projects that I’m doing for SIP is finding out about the different Hindu Organisations in the UK and trying to find ways in which we can work closer together in the community.

Today, I spoke to Krishnabhai to get the perspective of the Vivekananda centre. It was an insightful conversation. He spoke passionately about the concept of pluralism that our religion promotes – i.e. there is only God but many different paths to reaching the ultimate reality; with each path being legitimate avenues to spiritual progress. I think this is a wonderful message that our religion promotes and one which all of us need reminding of in our lives. If all thought like this then surely there would be greater harmony in the world.

Tomorrow I’ll be going to be going to the Swaminarayan Mandir to celebrate the festival of Guru Pooja and to find out more of the work that they do. I must admit my knowledge of the Swaminarayan organisation is fairly limited so I am looking forward to learning more about their practices.