KATalyst - Bringing Youth and Rural Development Together

7 weeks of work has produced what I like to call KATalyst. This is a project that will be headed by Kalyan Ashram Trust in order to spread awareness about the work that we do within the younger generations. I am really excited about the possibilities that this project can have and the goals that it can reach. Below is a link to the promotional video we have developed over the last 7 weeks which gives a small glimpse of what my project and what KATalyst has meant over the last 7 weeks.

As I said at the SIP samaroop on the 23rd August 2010:

I present to you... KATalyst...

http://vimeo.com/14553539

The only journey is the journey within- (Rainer Maria Rilke)

For the past couple of weeks I have been giving myself five minutes at the end of the day for reflection. This period of reflection, whether be it in the form of meditation, or writing my feelings during the day on a bit of paper, has helped me tremendously in understanding myself. I was able to ask myself questions to whether my actions were necessary ones, or were they pretty much useless…and even detrimental.

I have realised that there is lots of room for improvement. I admit, there is a habit of telling myself that everything is ok, and making excuses when anything that has gone wrong has been because of everything and anything else but me. I give credit to this realisation to Abhyas Varg two and specifically the talk with Sachinji Nanda. Before, if I did any self-reflection, I would still make up those same excuses for why I didn’t write my blog, or visit a community. But since that abhyas varg, I have really been able to “watch my thoughts” and really analyse them… Geez it made me feel like crap at times, knowing that one day, or at one specific moment I really “messed up”. But this whole self-reflection business isn’t just to give yourself a pat on the back, or a telling off. It’s about “self-refinement” or in some cases, self- major development.

You have probably heard this a lot, but I really recommend giving yourself sometime to reflect on your actions, and then think about how the situation could have gotten better. Try it. Even if you’re unable to change that “habit” for example, at least you can admit there IS room for improvement. The only journey is the journey within.

SIP - Stretching I__________ P__________

In the title, I have to be honest when I say, I was trying to be clever and change the name SIP to sum up what I have felt over the last 7 weeks. I knew stretching was the right word to start with but I couldn’t decide what should come after that. It’s not because my English is terrible, because I have access to a thesaurus, but the truth is that I could have put any word in there and it would have fit.

The last seven weeks have stretched me, not only psychologically, but physically and my personality has seen changes that I never would have dreamt of. We must all now know the incredible stories from our initial Abhyaas Varg and the programme has only gotten more intense, more inspiring and more integrated into my life.

I believe that the last seven weeks have seen me reach heights which I didn’t realise I was able to reach and have enabled me to bring all my skills and attributes to one project. What is more important, is that I have been able to bring these skills to something that I care about so deeply – Sangh and it is only over the last 7 weeks when I have truly lived as a swayamsevak. The quote “1 day shakha, 6 days Sangh work” has become my life. Working every minute of every day for Sangh has helped me to understand the philosophy of this organisation ten times better than I had in the past and I hope that I come out a better karyakarta for it.

From the very beginning I said that I wanted this is be a stepping stone, a starting point from which I am able to dedicate more time and more of my life for Sangh work but never did I realise the true potential of those words until now. In the space of weeks we have each been able to achieve so much, and if we were able to bring that same structure to our lives, we could do so much more.

This is the last week of SIP, but only the start of my life in Sangh and I hope that I can give as much towards our end goal as everybody has given to me over the last seven weeks. I will put everything towards this week’s work but I hope that others are thinking of apply next year, because SIP has changed my life forever and I hope that you find it does the same for you.

Service: To Whom? Where? When? How?

Today I visited a Buddhist temple in North Birmingham and the Birmingham Buddhist Centre as part of the ‘community immersion programme’, and I know its not strictly “Hindu” in that sense, but I decided to go because; a lot of their values are closely linked to Hindu values, it is a Dharmic religion, and I personally had an interest to find out more about a community I hadn’t been exposed to in Birmingham.

When speaking to a member at the Birmingham Buddhist Centre, I gradually found that they also struggled in terms of communicating with other Buddhist communities, and really it was a microcosm of what is sometimes happening in the Hindu samaj. He also told me that they do require volunteers when it comes to trying to hold big festivals and events. At this point, I gave him my number and asked him to call whenever they required volunteers for help of any sort.

It was something inside me that made me feel that we should create a bridge with these communities. It may not strictly be a Hindu community as such, but does it really matter? Maybe I made a rash decision but this was what was going through my mind while in the discussion. In Sangh, one part of our bi-focal visions is to unite the Hindu samaj, and also the rest of the world. My experiences today made me realise that I really haven’t been doing enough as a Swayamsevak. I agree, if it weren’t for these 7 weeks in SIP then I probably wouldn’t have gone to the centre and offered to help.

We should be making a conscious effort to continue Sangh work in our daily lives, if not Sangh work then at least spend time in the service of others, a recent book I have been reading, mentioned how the only true happiness comes from the service to others. I believe that somehow, our service to others needs to be like it’s a part of our ‘Super Ego’. So we are prepared to offer our service to the community and the rest of humanity with sheer instinct. I know that this kind of character seems a bit farfetched and something like a Dharmic superhero, because we all have different situations trying to manage our personal lives let alone anything else. But it is something we should all aim for.

We need to remind ourselves that we are Swayamsevaks, and it is definitely within our reach to serve the community. Right here, Right now.