Author: NT Bureau
Publication: News Today
Date: February 7, 2009
URL: http://newstodaynet.com/newsindex.php?section=7&catid=16&id=14685
'Hindu Dharma has its soul in 'contribution'
that is giving and one should not stop oneself being a 'consumer' and should
also contribute, spiritual leader Swami Dayananda Saraswati has said.
Inaugurating the Hindu Spiritual and Service
Fair - 2009 in Jaigopal Garodia Vivekananda Vidyalaya at Anna Nagar in Chennai
on Friday, the spiritual leader said every human being must be a contributor
and that is Hindu Dharma.
The Dharma of religion, culture, society
and government is to convert every human being from a 'consumer' to a 'contributor'.
Teachers, gurus and religious leaders must make the people think what they
should contribute, he said.
'We have to develop the habit of 'giving'. The incapacity to give must be
given up and the capacity to give must be nurtured. We should learn to give
and it could be learnt only by giving, like how we learn to swim by swimming
and drive by driving.
Similarly we should give to grow into a giver.
Once we start giving, we become contributors', the Swamiji said. Quoting Vedic
verses, the spiritual leader said, 'there are two ways of earning Adrishtam
to understand the Hindu Dharma and to control the hidden variables.
One is through prayer and rituals and the
other is through Poortha Karma, that is serving society through many activities
like water harvesting, digging wells for the public and ponds for cattle and
constructing hospitals,' he adds.
'Annapradhanam is to create situation where
people take care of their livelihood which is very important for the development
of a Dharmic society', Swamiji said.
Earlier, Swami Mitrananda, director of Chinmaya
Yuva Kendra and organising secretary of the fair, said, 'The idea to organise
this fair was conceived a year back, which evolved into Global Foundation
for Civilisational Harmony (GFCH) with an aim of establishing peace and harmony
through dialogues with various faiths.'
Every prayer is valid, every faith is valid
and every civilisation is precious. Right to retain faith is also a part of
human rights, he said. About the fair, he said, 'Thirty-three organisations,
which have a combined membership of 22 crore have taken part in this exhibition
and all these organisations have given more than 30,000 schools and equal
number of medical centres to the society, underlining the importance of education
and health care.
This fair is a good beginning of the progress
of collective service and every exhibitor and visitor must see the exhibition
with the feeling of 'my religion, my culture,' he said.
Swami Athma Shraddanandaji of Ramakrishna
Mutt read out the speech of Swami Gouthamananda, president, Ramakrishna Mutt,
in which he said, 'religion is not mere belief on any dogma, but realisation
which leads to spiritual enlightenment. Service to man becomes worship of
God and the service can take many forms such as social, educational, medical,
relief and rehabilitation'.
Swami Nithyananda Paramahamsa, founder of
Nithyananda Dhyana Peetam, said, 'Freedom is the foundation for growth and
such a freedom in Hinduism has grown into different traditions and different
concepts. Hindu Dharma has been there since time immemorial and it doesn't
require marketing.
The fair is organised to make people understand
the concept of service. One should learn to serve and the success of this
exhibition is going to be a milestone in the journey of modern day Hindu Dharma'.
Organisations like Kanchi Kamakoti Peetam
Service Activities, Vivekananda Kendra, Mata Amritanandamayi Mutt, Arsha Vidya
Gurukulam, Sanatan Sanstan, Art of Living and Chinmaya Mission and many others
have put up stalls in the exhibition. All the stalls have displayed their
publications and service activities. The fair will be on till tomorrow.
