Something Else

A Shakha is composed of three main facets, Khel, Shariek and Baudhik. A balance between these is aimed to provide a comprehensive and well rounded foundation for the individual swaymsevak to take further and benefit those around them. George Bernard Shaw once said that our ideals, like the gods of old, are constantly demanding human sacrifices, the ideals that are taught in Shakha require sacrifice as well, however a point of difference being these are for the individual to decide based on their individual conviction and understanding of themselves and environment.

The Object Relations theory was born from child psychology with Dr. Winnicott, a pediatrician himself being influtuational force. The theory states that a child's first ‘not me possession’ an object that child cannot bare to be without. The possession is given acceptance and validation from social spheres.

The theory describes the process of the developing mind, as a child grows with an object like a teddy bear or a blanket. Object relationships are initially formed during early interactions with care givers. These early patterns can be altered with experience, but often continue to exert a strong influence throughout life. In context the relationship with god or spirituality is an individual or group’s attachment or affiliation. Whilst the belief is subjective the acceptance is objective creating an intermediate area of experiencing.

Like the object being accepted so is an individuals affiliation to a religious tradition or an experience it can be viewed objectively and subjectively, the relationship is formed through initial interaction and given time and faith, strengthened through experience. Like the child crying when the object that it has grown attached to is taken away, an individual would exhibit a simliar emotional response when certain truths are scrutinized. The perception being their understanding of the truth and the environment is not what they have come to see, feel and understand.

This can be said for Swaymsevaks as individuals and ambassadors, people do not seem to realize that an opinion of the world is also a confession of character. As individuals within an organisation and as individuals who function external to the organisation a simple question has to be asked, what we are doing? A question often asked of us is when do we stop being Swaymsevaks? Those of who prescribe to the ideals of Sangh surely must live it, breathe it and experience it?. What are we doing? Either as a group or individuals is inseparable from the pursuit of ideals and the purpose of Sangh.

To keep an aim in sight and within reach be it as individuals or as a collective unit, is relatively easy. Losing the ‘why’ however is more of a concern. It leads to sense of bewilderment a state of mind where efficiency and productive come to halt. The obvious answer that overcomes this by binding the work conducted with simple, pragmatic and achievable aims tied into a long term vision. Rather than focusing on the same vision of Sangh and working to the same beat. Honest Questions Require Honest Answers! A little bit of introspection never hurt anyone. Those who are of the Sangh fold and read this should ask what am I doing?

Abhyas Varg One- Breaking the Ice?

Finally, the last of my a-level exams were completed, and after a short-period of celebrations, on came the much-awaited beginning of the Sangh Internship Programme (SIP) 2010. Like the other two participants, I was going there hoping for an ease into the first Abhyas Varg, a “classic” introduction to a program, that would involve ice-breakers and motivational speeches. Instead, we were welcomed with a sheet of paper, addressing each one of us personally, informing us of vague but specific orders. The orders were of similar nature, but also totally different. For example, my sheet read “Namaste Raghav, go to 49 gipsy lane and meet Gernal Singh Rana.”

On arrival, it was clear that the person I was going to meet would be a prominent person at a local Gurudwara. And after a few minutes of searching it was apparent that he was not there! Leaving me in a confusing situation, after while, I took some initiative to do some sewa, which I was just as willing to do. After a couple of hours, Gernal Singh Rana did arrive, and I was able to learn about the history of the gurudwara and about his efforts to improve the standard of the temple.

The session was there to see what we would do in the time we were allotted. Would we; be constructive, be pro-active, think and do more? We were put in a situation, where we were in control of our session. We could decide how efficiently we spent that time given to us. Being able to do this, successfully, is important because we shouldn’t have to be micromanaged every hour of our day. During the 7 week SIP, only we are in control of our day-to-day activities. By having the ability to be independent and make good choices on our own, we are able achieve much more.

Motivation - will we trip and fall?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

This video is incredibly useful in understanding the psyche of motivation when it comes to any organisation, however, this applies in particular, to Sangh.

At the first SIP Abhyaas Varg, we had a communcations exercise, and the majority of us had great difficulty in trying to convince an outsider what our objective was. This is how the conversation (summarised) went:

"What is you aim in Sangh?"

"to unite and strengthen the world.."

"But that is looking very far into the future. We do not have a time scale for this and so I cannot comprehend this. So what are you going to do before that?"

"Strengthen the Hindu samaj so that we can be heard."

"Even that statement does not have a timescale because we do not know how long this will take. We do not even know if it is possible!"

The point of this conversation, was that these visions cannot tell us what our next steps are in progressing towards them. Our answers are always to strengthen the world or the Hindu samaj, and yet these are so distant that the majority of our swayemsevaks cannot comprehend them. We cannot see a united world because it is so far into the future. And so we must set reasonable, short term goals in line with that end goal because Sangh is an organisation which requires "rudimentary, cognitive thinking" amongst its workers.

We have mastered mastery; we want to become the best in every field but now we must put our skills into use and this is what SIP has done. SIP has given the participants a short term goal with a specific time period (7 weeks) which is in line with the long term goal. This then allows us to set weekly or even daily goals and suddenly we have purpose to our everyday actions and this creates motivation! Motivation that allows us to drive these projects to their end goals and eventually Sangh to its end goal.

However, this must not be mistaken for the removal of our long term goal. Our long term goal ensures that we continue to move in the right direction; a bit like a compass. With that compass, I will know where my destination lies, but if I do not look at where I am going in the short-term, I could trip and fall.

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