As Tolstoy said “Everybody wants to change the world, but
nobody wants to change himself.”
At present, we live in a modern world. Thanks to the gift of
education and scientific development.
Everybody knows ‘ABC’ of everything. No branch of knowledge
is not beyond his grip and his
oratorical prominence has enriched. Articles, speeches and preaching
are abundant as guiding tools
to the civilised mankind. But pollution in words, deeds and
creeds are increasing day by day.
All the
theists believe that “man is born to do karma, the fruit of karma will be given
by the
Almighty.” Of all the living beings man is only destined to
work and earn for the benefit of the
universe. To everlasting peace and contentment of the
universe the only creative panacea is the
human being. The heaven is in his hands and also the hell.
An
incident that comes to my mind is what my father told me about a ten year old
boy,
when I was a little child. The boy lived in a remote village
where there was not even electricity
and street lights. One rainy day, on the way to local market
he saw a branch of a tree broken
down almost in the middle of the road. With much effort he
pulled the branch to the side of the
road and resumed his walk. An old man was surprised to see
the act of the young boy and asked
him “Are you Ok? Why you did that?” The boy gently replied
that, pedestrians and cyclist may
come along the road at night and they may hit the branch on
the road accidently and result in
injuries. The old man was speechless and hugged the boy and
blessed him. This story still remind
me the goodness when I think of changing the world.
I
would like to share with the readers, my experiences as part of my social
commitment.
After my superannuation, I wholeheartedly stepped into the
path of volunteering. I joined two
organisations, one ‘Thanalil’, which is a shelter for the
lonely distressed women and the other one
All India Women's Conference (AIWC), an organisation aimed in
the upliftment of women and
children.
At
Thanalil, the inmates were mostly elders who are all alone in their lives.
Being a human
resource person, relating to them was my priority to start
with. I found that they were hesitating to
express, accept or even to smile. To make a change towards
me with each of them, I made an effort
to be close with the inmates through love chat in groups and
individually, with eye contact and
warm touch to create a rapport. Slowly they became at ease
to relate with me. They began
unwinding and free to interact and express their feelings.
The main problem I realised was, they
were under fear. Slowly I initiated talk therapy,
relaxation, simple breathing exercises and
meditation. As the sessions progressed, they became friendly
to open up. A feeling of wantedness
developed in between us. Then I started laughter and music
therapy, which worked very well to
keep them healthy and happy. This results in the development
of progressive relationship
between the inmates and members of our organisation, and a
lively atmosphere occurred in our
campus. The inmates were really empowered to express their
needs and capable to interact with
others and involve in the activities. Remembering or
celebrating their birthdays was alien to them
as was the severity of distribution they found of
themselves. Their birthdays were traced out and as
secretary of the organisation I started celebrating their
birthdays with special gifts to them. It is
continuing as a practice which make them feel they are no
more alone, they can also take part in
changing the world.
At AIWC
in the day care centre for old, our aim is to create a sense of sociability for
those
who are alone at home. They were starving, not for food but
for acceptance. The activities like
reading, experience and jokes sharing, singing along with
yoga and meditation sessions, they
started to be more energetic. Special emphasis is given to
make them interact freely in weekly
review programmes. Besides the monthly medical check-ups and
terminal day trips are also
arranged for exploring and increasing the creative pursuits
in them. All these activities created
a lively and happy feeling, which propelled a change to
physical and mental wellbeing in them.
They don’t want to miss a single day from Monday to Friday
every week.
At San Antonio, United States during the short visit to our daughter
I was really blessed to
befriend a couple from India who were also
visiting United States. During our evening walk, we started
sharing and found out the lady was
totally disturbed with insomnia, joint aches, heart burn and
constipation. Being a visitor it is not
that easy to have doctor’s appointment. Both of them were
unhappy and helpless. I thought to
share my experience with neurobics and offered a seven day
course at our residence.
They accepted and we started it, daily two hours.
Neurobics
is the best methodology to utilise mind power to keep, mind and body healthy.
By concentrating on the seven life centres (Chakras) in our
body, holding hand gestures (Mudras),
by breathing action and visualization are the keys to
neurobics. Daily practice of thirty minutes to an
hour helps in cleansing the life centres, thus maintaining a
balance in the energy flow in our body
resulting in making body and mind completely fit.
Special care
of two hours a day for a week, worked out on them and they start feeling their
uneasiness slowly shedding away. With a thankful heart, full
of love, they bid farewell and left
exchanging phone numbers and email id to keep the friendship
forever.
These
experiences are making me more and more powerful with positive attitude.
My principle is to master , the skills I acquired, and use
it for the needy, so that I can also take
part in changing the world.
To lift
self into full potential is to know the purpose of life. Each one of us has the
unspoken
assignment to propel ourselves. The core purpose, when we
embrace it, lifts us feeling wonderful
and fulfilled. As we progress in the path, we start
forgetting self and discomforts in our personal
life. The goal ahead
truly kindles light in our body, mind and soul. Dedicated and enlightened in
the purpose of life is a bliss which is always positive.
Positive means being creative and fearless.
At this stage one can feel the total change in self and
start doing things with their unique talents.
When we feel how everything works together in nature, we can
realize that there is benevolent
underlying flow to things that we can tap and ride.
I would
wish to conclude with the quote of Mother Teresa that always inspires me,”
Nothing
makes you happier than when you really reach out in mercy to
someone who is badly hurt.”
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