Seva Sangama—2012 in Shimoga
Rajesh Padmar in Bengaluru
WITH the call to ‘get involve of in regular sewa and involve others in sewa’, the Sewa Sangam-2012 concluded in Shimoga on October 28. The two-day event was jointly organised by Rashtriya Sewa Bharati and Hindu Seva Pratishthana.
The event was unique as it provided an opportunity to different sewa organisations to share their experiences and suggestions with each other. It also gave them an opportunity to witness the sewa activities causing a revolution at the ground level. A unique sharing of experience was of a couple from Shivamogga, who both are involved in sewa activities. They said they were pleasantly surprised to know about the thousands of sewa projects going on all over the State through different organisations affiliated to the Sangh only through this conclave. Some participants also shared their ideas on how the next similar conclave can be made more impactful.
The concluding ceremony was presided over by the Akhil Bharatiya Sah Sewa Pramukh Shri Ajit Prasad Mahopatra. Director of the Hindu Seva Pratishtana Shri Shridhar Sagar and Uttar Kannada Prant Pracharak Shri Gopal Bhat were also present on the occasion. In his speech Shri Bhat said we have to serve the society not to ‘do and die’ but for ‘do and live’. He said the sewa is not only service during calamities but also serving the needy and the society in our day-to-day life or whenever possible. He stressed the need to start a ‘Balagokula’—a periodic event organised to instill Bharatiya culture and traditions in kids through game play and informal coaching, in their respective localities as Balgokula has been so impactful that many Christian families were reformed and returned to Hinduism after witnessing the change in their children. He concluded by saying that it is our duty to involve everyone in the society for sewa and thus witness a glorious Bharat in near future.
Earlier, the Sewa Sangam was inaugurated by Shri Prasannanatha Swaniji of Adichunchungiri Mutt on October 27. Swamiji spoke on the need to preserve dharma through sewa by quoting examples of lessons from Ramayana, Mahabharata, Vedas and Upanishdas. He recalled his early association with the RSS and its activities in Shivamogga.
Shridhar Sagar stressed on the fact that sewa needs to reach the remotest parts and generate volunteers from local populace. He praised Adi Chunchunagiri Mutt for years of constant support towards the Sangh activities. RSS Karnataka Prant Sanghachalak Shri M Ventakataram, Shri Laksman Mallya of Rashtriya Sewa Bharati, senior Pracharaks Shri Na Krishnappa and Shri Su Ramanna were also present. An audio CD on patriotic songs was released by Shri Narendra Desai, vice president of the Rashtriya Sewa Bharati, Mumbai.
Shri Lakshman Mallya spoke on five important focus areas of the Rashtriya Sewa Bharati including training, research and publication. He also highlighted the fact of 108 Ekal Vidyalayas existing only in Jammu & Kashmir with most of them handled by the Muslims for their students.
Four people were also felicitated in the function for their exemplary work in the field of sewa.
One of them was Shri NS Narayanamurthy of Ripponpet of Shivamogga who has been involved for close to 40 years in research and protection of medicinal plants apart from treating patients free of cost using Ayur Veda.
‘Goodluck’ Eshwariah of Kashipur, Shivamogga but a native of Mysuru was felicitated for his involvement in treatment of physically challenged and destitute. He has also managed to get eight organ donations so far.
Dr Suresh Hanagawadi, who for being a hemophilic patient himself, has done extensive research on hemophilia and has established the Karnataka Hemophilia Society for treatment of hemophilic patients. He has successfully treated more than 1,000 patients with the help of low cost medicines. Similarly, Shri G Prabhakar Belipara, who himself struggled to make ends meet as a kid, is today successfully running an anathashrama. He is also a successful snake catcher. Till now he has managed to catch 16,423 cobras, 43 king cobras and 7 pythons and release them into the wild ensuring no harm to them.
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