Page 105 - SocialHarmony

Touching the Chords of the Heart 109

We do not have a habit of proclaiming our social work to
the world; we carry it out in a very informal manner, which
sometimes leads to it going unnoticed. Christian missionaries
are renowned for their social work, to the extent that it is
assumed that only they can carry out systematic social work.
We have never paid attention to the services rendered by our
own saints and people like Anuben. We often criticize our saints
and monks, without bothering to find out if our criticism is true
or not. Innumerable people in our country have attained
spiritual bliss by rendering services to the needy; there are
thousands of such saints, but we don’t have their names or
pictures. The work that Anuben has carried out in her lifetime
is not something that can be easily overlooked.

I have stayed at the Santram Temple for quite some time.
There cannot be a centre of social work bigger than this. If there
is a marriage in town and food falls short, the Santram Temple
will come to the rescue. Poor families just need to reach there
with their sons and daughters-in-law and all other arrangements
are taken care of. People suffering from any form of illness are
welcomed and all their needs are provided for with a simple
“Jay Maharaj”. However, nobody notices this, why? There is an
inherent mentality among us in India to degrade and downplay
the services rendered by our own people. It is only people like
Anuben who can help change this outlook of people and inspire
all of us.

The Nobel Prize is highly discussed. But I believe that even
noble causes should be discussed. Anuben may not have
received the Nobel Prize but she was noble, which is more
important. I have seen twenty-five thousand people queuing
up to donate blood in Surat, which was unprecedented. Even
laboratories were not equipped to store these huge quantities
of donated blood. This landmark event shows that the intent to
serve others is part of our basic nature. “Seva Parmo Dharma”
(service is the ultimate religion) is inherent in our mindset. It is
the deeds of a man that turn him into a God. There is no
demarcation between man and God – God is the divine form of
man himself. No other religion has such a philosophy. Many