Bhajans: Boring or bonding?

Beginning SIP (Sangh Internship Program) has made me become more aware of the environments that I am in. The 1^st Abhyas Varg (development workshops) taught us to observe our surroundings, engage in conversations by actively listening and influencing the context of the discussion. This may seem simple and straightforward but taking that step back and noting how you react in these situations is very intriguing.

As part of SIP, we are to visit a different swayamsevak’s house each week. The swayamsevak I visited wasn’t exactly different, as am always at their house every so often and the enticement of idli sambhar was too much to resist!

The world – as we don’t know it

At the start of my Abhyas varg I was given the task of “Paying it forward” with £30 in Birmingham city centre. The whole context of this task made me look at the world in a different way. Instead of thinking “what do I want to do next?” my thought process changed to “Who can I help next?”

Have we become desensitised?

What happens when we see a situation but do not react in a positive, helpful manner? Is it because we have become desensitised?

This is something I experienced when at the first Abhyas Varg last weekend. The story written by Ursula LeGuin is one that evokes great feeling and imagery and makes us to question deeply our personal morality. "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas" is a short story that allows us to feel changing emotions because of the twist. It starts off as a wonderfully described city, with bright colours and happy feelings, but as we read on we are told there is one child who suffers to ensure the happiness of others. The citizens have taken it upon themselves to visit and see this child and witness the squalor is lives in. Some feel anger, others feel sympathetic and there are the few who carry on with life as though they have not seen anything. Is this because they are now desensitised to the situation? There are very few who are unable to handle knowing something that terrible is happening but rather than finding a solution to change it, they simply walk away, leaving behind society and family, walking away alone. But then is it any less immoral to walk away, despite knowing this continued evil is occurring?

The Art of Listening

Communication is undoubtedly a skill we need to master in order to do well in any field we choose whether it is verbal or written. We will go through our education careers developing our own writing style and we will still be learning through our working careers, the art of writing is something we all consciously feel the need to improve. The same goes for spoken communication – we accept the importance of clear and concise verbal communication and even Sangh goes in some way to help individuals develop this.

So what is my point?