The results of collective thinking

• written by Sundarlakshman

For some time, some people who originally belong to

 a village but have now settled in cities due to 

jobs or business, have started taking up some 

activities for the development of their respective villages.

While going to Mumbai by train recently I came across a person returning from Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh) with his family after having darshan of Balaji. He lives in Mumbai but does not own a house. The reason is low income, as he works as a taxi driver. He resides in a rented house at Mulund. Apart from maintaining the family, he has to educate his two kids also. Due to limited income and growing expenses following price rise he was planning to shift to Dombivali so that he could save some money by paying low house rent. Once a year, he goes to his village in Tamil Nadu. When I asked him why he came to Mumbai, he narrated a long story. He said till there was plenty of water in his village there was prosperity in the family. 

But since the water availability has come down the agriculture production declined

Shakha is a POWERHOUSE

by Sundar Lakshman

At the time when many of the village girls were not getting married due to the bad practice of unbearable dowry even at the age of 28 to 30 years, a swayamsevak, Rajlinga Raja, married a girl without dowry. This single incident changed the mindset of all villagers. Now every boy or girl of the village is get married at the proper age. There is no question of asking or giving dowry. Not only this, Rajlinga Raja also sheltered some Harijan children at his home and made all arrangements for their education. Some of them have now completed graduation, while some are drawing on handsome salaries from reputed institutions.

We have to weed out evil practices

“Everybody has to work in the society. But those who had to discharge the responsibility of sweeping were made untouchables. The mother in the family cleans the excreta and vomiting of a sick child, but all are equal there. Then how could the people doing the work of sweeping, be untouchable in the society? The Harijan society has given the saints like Ravidas and Valmiki to the nation, but the devotees of the god are deprived of entering the temples. If somebody of them becomes Christian, we start respecting him, but we do not embrace our own Madhav. These tendencies have to be changed. We have committed many mistakes, which have to be purified.” —P.P. Prof. Rajendra Singh (Fourth Sarsanghachalak of RSS)

Silent revolution among fisher folk

CHINNA Aravadi is a village under the Karsari taluka of Ramanathpuram district. Our service activities began here in 1992. It has today become an effective centre of social transformation. A woman worker through daily coaching, Samskar Kendra, monthly deeppooja, matri mandali, youth centre, etc., started the project. In the beginning main concentration was laid on education, as nobody in the village was educated more than eighth standard and not only the gents but women also were in the grip of alcoholism. There was no unity among villagers. The village temple was closed for years. But the villagers did not forget to visit the local dargah on every Thursday. 

The Hindu fishermen ruined their own boats

Self-Help Groups in Tamil Nadu - An experiment with economic empowerment

Self-Help Group (SHG) is a programme implemented in Tamil Nadu about 12 years back by Sewa Bharati. After a decade it has become a silent revolution of economic empowerment and socio-political system of the state. Since 1999, Sewa Bharati has been working in this micro credit delivery system, which has attracted the attention of the entire nation. To start with the scheme has been implemented for women and now it is getting popularity among men too. Sewa Bharati alone is guiding more than 4000 women SHGs throughout the state and above 400 men SHGs.

The scheme SHG is nothing but a small cooperative unit comprising of 20 or lesser number of people. They are organised in a group with a name and three office bearers who manage the group

your duty at present is to go from one part of the country to another

your duty at present is to go from one part of the country to another, from village to village and make the people understand that mere sitting about idly won’t do any more. Make them understand their real condition and say, ‘O ye brothers all arise, awake. How much longer would you remain asleep.’ Go and advise them how to improve their condition, and make them comprehend the sublime truths of the shastras by presenting them in a lucid and popular way. Also instruct them in simple words about the necessities of life and in trade commerce, agriculture, etc.” — Swami Vivekananda

Villagers should stand on their own legs

“WHEN I learnt that the villagers have joined together and with their own efforts and a true feeling of emotional unity have laid this road, then itself I had told that I would necessarily come to this village. Your village has progressed by one step. Our country has spread from Rameshwaram to Badri-Kedar, and from Somnath to Puri, and we Hindus are the masters of this land. The foreigners tried to divide us.

Those people sowed the

Help from outside will do no good

“To try to help villagers from outside could do no good. How to kindle a spark of life in them that was my problem. It was so difficult to help them because the people had so little respect for themselves. ‘We are cursed’, they would say, ‘only the whip can keep us straight’.” — Shri Ravindra Nath Tagore

The sense of self-respect has to be instilled

“Our approach to rural development should not aim at only materialistic development. This type of approach on the part of government agencies and various social organisations has made even the deprived people paravalambi (dependant on others) by concentrating only at their materialistic development. They failed to involve them in their activities resulting in these people not realising the need to achieve self-reliance. Therefore, the feeling of self-respect that we can solve our problems ourselves and will not unfold our hands before others has to be infused into them. The work of rural development has one more dimension. All their hidden talents, qualities and habit of hard work will resurface only when they are motivated as per the traditional Hindu values of life.” 

— Ma H.V. Seshadri

Sewa is our way of life

by Sundar Lakshman

Thirunavukkarasu Nayanmar has said: En kadan pani seithu kidappathe (my duty is to serve the people).Similarly, Vadalur Vallalar, popularly known as Ramalinga Adigal, said: “I become high and dry as and when I see drying plants.” There are many saints who said ‘my heart bleeds at the sight of withering plants’.

Many of our saints lived for sewa and became pioneer in the field of sewa. The principles like Jan Sewa is Janardan Sewa, Nar Sewa is Narayan Sewa and Jeev Sewa is Shiva Sewa, etc run in the veins of Indians. A Shiva devotee washerman, Thirukurippu Thondar, used to wash the clothes of Shiva saints first and then only start the work of washing others' clothes. Through this way only he ultimately became one among 63 Nayanmars of South India.

Kalimalai of Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu,