Donate food just with a click !

Kudos to my friend Arun abraham and others who are spreading the following message. My only request is that, we can visit those sites and give a click daily, atleast once!

"Hi buddy ,
Please can u do me a favour ? I hope u’l do it for me ! As per the latest Indian survey 7000 hungry people die in India . This is really disgusting ! A day earlier I came across two websites in which just by clicking the box in the websites , u donate a cup of food to an hungry indian at no cost. So I request u to visit these sites , and click the GREEN BOX in the first website and the YELLOW BOX in the second website. Plz visit this link daily and just give a click on the box so that u help a Indian daily.
1 . http://www.bhookh.com/
2. http://www.thehungersite.com/

And one more , just FORWARD this to all of your frnds so that they also form a part of this campaign. Thank you !"

Maha periyava s thoughts for us - PART 1

*The medicine of Grace to wipe out our sorrows is to develop unshakable faith in God and tolerance is the medicine of Grace to wipe out our sorrows. Bhakti alone can give us the capacity to put up with sorrows. Temples are the agencies for developing that Bhakti. Hence, the need for temples at all places. All offerings to the deities in the temples are tokens of our gratitude to God.

*That which is within all, which is seen as "This" is the source. He who is within and sees as "This" is God. It is the reality. It is in yourself. What is limited is Sadhana; what is unlimited is the end.

*He alone is an Acharya, who, after clearly understanding the conclusive teachings of the Sastras, makes the people of the world gain their welfare by making them stick to the path shown in the Sastras and also himself does everything according to Sastras and remains in that experience

*Many acts relating to God, like building temples, digging tanks are performed. While executing them, there would be many difficulties. There would come also several kinds of dishonour. Not minding any of these, they would complete their tasks with mental one-pointedness removing impurities from their minds and letting the mind wander. By straightening their mind, they acquire mind control and at the end, they realise the Reality that is to be known. Digging tanks, building temples and such other acts are called poorttam. The performance of sacrifices, etc., is known as ishtam. Combining these two, we have the word Ishtapoortam

*In all that you do, let love be the sole motive. Any need must be with reference to another. Let action be out of love. Passions such as desire and hatred , anger and malice must be totally eschewed. If love becomes the grounding principle of all deeds . then most of the ills of the world will vanish. to be contd...

PICS OF MAHA PERIYAVA...

The ideal prayer...

Prayer plays an important role in day-to-day life. From childhood, we have the habit of making requests to god regarding our needs. This kind of prayer is known as 'ego-centric' prayer. If the wish is answered, we thank him or else be in displeasure.

But, this is a misconception regarding prayer. Prayer should not be 'ego-centric'. We consider god to be a Genie who has to fulfill our wishes. Prayer, as said by SWAMI RAMA of the Himalayas, should be a thanking process to God('God-centric'). If a wish has to be made, let it be for the whole world (Let all be happy).

It may be difficult for you to understand this initially, but if you ponder over what the saints have said, you will realize and understand the truth.

Please spend few minutes by hearing to Swami Rama's thoughts on Prayer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TP2c0gLHH0

The Ideal Seva...

There are certain points which have to kept in mind while or after doing Seva... These are points which I learnt through various forms.

• We should keep in mind that we are not giving our property... What this means is that, whatever we (assume to) own in this world is taken from here only, as said in the GITA.
• We should not remember the service which we did to others and we should not forget the help rendered to us by others.
• We should realize that, though we are doing the SEVA, the doer is the SUPREME...
• Seva should not just be monetary-based, it should come from the heart.

SEVA IN OUR DAILY LIFE... - PART II

I wish to add some more points (as a continuation of the PART I) which i feel like sharing with you all.

• Service to parents and ancestors is service to GOD. Spending time with them, amidst all our work, will give them immense happiness. I have seen my grandma happy, whenever I enquire about her health.
• I see a lot of people(youngsters), who feel that there is some particular age for service. I strongly feel that factors like AGE, MONEY etc do not matter if we have the interest for doing service.
• Service is not just donating money. It has to be done whole-heartedly. People who have not settled in life can do service by spending their valuable time, acting as a vounteer for various organisations.

I wish to share 3 Points ( which I learnt from ART OF LIVING program) with all of you. I recite this (not orally) before taking my food. If you feel like following this, you may do so.

1. Thanks to those, because of whom, I am eating this food (parents, farmers etc)
2. Let this food be available to all other living beings in this world.
3. Pranams to GOD.

MAHAPERIYAVA - THE GREAT SAINT...

I am writing this post with ultimate satisfaction as it is about the great saint of Kanchi.

I dedicate this post to my beloved grandfather ( LATE SRI K.SANTHANAM).

H.H. Jagadguru Shankaracharya Shri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati Paramacharya Swamigal (1894–1994) or the Sage of Kanchi is considered to be one of the greatest saints of India (or Bharatavarsha). He is usually referred to as Shri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati.

Early Life:

Swaminathan was born at Villupuram, a small town in Tamil Nadu, on Sunday 20 May 1894.Swaminathan started his early education under his father’s own tutelage until he was seven. In 1905, the parents performed his Upanayanam, a vedic ceremony for empowering a brahmin boy to begin his vedic studies under a guru.

In 1906, the 66th Acharya of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham performed the annual Chaturmasyam (a forty-day annual ritual performed by the Hindu ascetics remaining at one place (normally the ascetics are supposed to roam at large and not stay put at any place for long)in a village near Tindivanam in Tamil Nadu. This was Swaminathan’s first exposure to the Math and the Acharya then. Swaminathan accompanied his father whenever he visited the Math, and the Acharya was deeply impressed by the young boy.

At the beginning of 1907, the 66th Acharya attained siddhi ('attainment' of godhead), and Swaminathan's maternal cousin was anointed as the 67th Acharya. On hearing, the news Swaminathan's family travelled to Kalavai to console his aunt. The family reached Kanchipuram en route to Kalavai. In the meantime, the 67th Acharya died too, after a brief seven days as the head of the Math.

Thirteen-year-old Swaminathan was inducted into the ascetic order on February 13, 1907, as the 68th Acharya of Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham, as Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati. After performing the various ceremonies for the two previous Acharyas, he left on a tour to Kumbakonam. The young Acharya spent several years in the study of the scriptures and dharma shastras, and acquainted himself with his role as the Head of the Math.

He soon gained the reverence and respect of the devotees and people around him. To millions of devotees he was simply "Periyava" — the revered one or Maha-Periyava. "Periyava" in Tamil means a great person, and conveys endearment, reverence, and devotion. "Mahaswami" and "Paramacharya" are his other well-known appellations.

To be contd...

PLS SAVE A LIFE...

Father of R.Karthick (III E&I - SASTRA) , Shri.S.Ramamurthy has to undergo a heart surgery(Vijaya Heart Foundation). They cannot manage the expenses due to financial constraints. Please be generous by donating as much as you can. Students of SASTRA can give their donations to Muthuram ( IV MECH - SASTRA) mob:9894765282. Please contribute before 11.10.2007 (thursday).

Donations can also be sent to account no:10124, Indian Overseas Bank.

Please forward this message to your near and dear...

Thanks to muthu and JS for their efforts...

The young boy - A Paradigm of self-confidence...

Last Sunday, Me and my mom were passing by Nilgiris (trichy) at about 7 o clock in the evening . I stopped the car for gettin corn for us, at that time, a young boy approached us with a bag of phenyl(toilet cleaning liquid) bottles and requested us to buy some. On speaking further with him, we understood that his family situation is worse and he doesnt want to burden his parents . So, he is managing his school fees by selling such items. We were moved by his nature of 'being on his own' at this young age & we bought some bottles for home. Later ,we confirmed with his school ( we got his schools name from him) that, his family is financially weak and this boy is a deserving one.

We also got to know that our respected Mayor ( Trichy) and our District collector are also helping for the boy's education. kudos to the boy and all those who help him...

You can see that boy in front of Nilgiris in the evenings (particularly weekends)...

Thank you...

There are no words to express my thanks to ambi anna and dhanasekar for contributing generously to the organisation- HELPTOLIVE. Kudos to both of you...

Good job ITC...

The company(ITC ltd) which gives us Bingo chips(yummy!) ,Mint-o-fresh etc also mfgs note books. What is so special about those notebooks is that , for every classmate notebook we buy, ITC contributes Re 1 to its rural development scheme.

About ITC:

ITC ranks among India's top 10 'Most Valuable (Company) Brands', in a study conducted by Brand Finance and published by the Economic Times.

ITC has a diversified presence in Hotels, Paperboards & Specialty Papers, Packaging, Agri-Business, Packaged Foods & Confectionery, Information Technology, Branded Apparel, Greeting Cards, Safety Matches and other FMCG products.

Their Chairman calls this source of inspiration "a commitment beyond the market".

Some of their popular products are John Players, Sunfeast biscuts, Aashirvaad etc.

About various service schemes of ITC:

• Empowering Farmers
  
• Greening wasteland
  
• Creating Women entrepreneurs
  
• Educating Rural children
  
• Irrigating dry lands
  

Though we may not be able to do all the above said services directly, we are given an oppurtunity to serve (indirectly), by buying ITC notebooks . ( The paper quality is good and there are lot of interesting facts too).

PERSONALITY OF THIS MONTH - PART I

Mother Teresa
"The other day I dreamed that I was at the gates of heaven....And St. Peter said, 'Go back to Earth, there are no slums up here."

These words, once spoken by Mother Teresa, vividly recall the life of the late Roman Catholic nun and missionary known as "the Saint of the Gutters." For Mother Teresa, who devoted her life to the succor of the sick and the outcast, earthly sufferers were nothing less than Christ in "distressing disguise."


EARLY LIFE

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born on 26 August 1910, in Skopje, which today is capital of the Republic of Macedonia. She was the youngest of the children of an Albanian family from Shkodër, born to Nikola and Drane Bojaxhiu. Nikola was involved in the politics of the day and devoted to the Albanian Cause. After a political meeting he fell ill and died. Agnes at the time was about eight years old. After her father's death she was raised as a Roman Catholic by her mother. According to a biography by Joan Graff Clucas, during her early years, Agnes was fascinated by stories of the lives of missionaries and their service, and by the time she was twelve, she was convinced that she should commit herself to a religious life. She left her home at age 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary. Agnes would never again set eyes on her mother or sister.

Agnes initially went to the

Loreto Abbey in Rathfarnham, Ireland in order to learn English, which was the language the Sisters of Loreto used when instructing school children in India. Arriving in India in 1929, she began her novitiate in Darjeeling, near the Himalayan mountains. She took her first vows as a nun on 24 May 1931. At that time she chose the name Teresa after the patron saint of missionaries. She took her solemn vows on 14 May 1937, while serving as a teacher at the Loreto convent school in eastern Calcutta.

Although Teresa enjoyed teaching at the school she was increasingly disturbed by the poverty surrounding her in Calcutta A famine in 1943 brought misery and death to the city; and the outbreak of Hindu/Muslim violence in August 1946 plunged the city into despair and horror

MISSIONARIES OF CHARITY

On September 10, 1946, Teresa experienced what she later described as "the call within the call" while traveling to the Loreto convent in Darjeeling for her annual retreat. "I was to leave the convent and help the poor while living among them. It was an order. To fail would have been to break the faith." She began her missionary work with the poor in 1948, replacing her traditional Loreto habit with a simple white cotton chira decorated with a blue border and then venturing out into the slums." Initially she started a school in Motijhil; shortly thereafter, she started tending to the needs of the destitute and starving. Her efforts quickly caught the attention of Indian officials, including the Prime Minister, who expressed his appreciation.

Teresa wrote in her diary that her first year was fraught with difficulties. She had no income and had to resort to begging for food and supplies. Teresa experienced doubt, loneliness and the temptation to return to the comfort of convent life during these early months. She recorded in her diary:
“
Our Lord wants me to be a free nun covered with the poverty of the cross. Today I learned a good lesson. The poverty of the poor must be so hard for them. While looking for a home I walked and walked till my arms and legs ached. I thought how much they must ache in body and soul, looking for a home, food and health. Then the comfort of Loreto [her former order] came to tempt me. 'You have only to say the word and all that will be yours again,' the Tempter kept on saying ... Of free choice, my God, and out of love for you, I desire to remain and do whatever be your Holy will in my regard. I did not let a single tear come.
”

Teresa received Vatican permission on October 7, 1950 to start the diocesan congregation that would become the Missionaries of Charity.Its mission was to care for, in her own words, "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone." It began as a small order with 13 members in Calcutta; today it has more than 4,000 nuns running orphanages, AIDS hospices, and charity centers worldwide, and caring for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless, and victims of floods, epidemics, and famine.

In 1952 Mother Teresa opened the first Home for the Dying in space made available by the City of

Calcutta. With the help of Indian officials she converted an abandoned Hindu temple into the Kalighat Home for the Dying, a free hospice for the poor. She renamed it Kalighat, the Home of the Pure Heart (Nirmal Hriday). Those brought to the home received medical attention and were afforded the opportunity to die with dignity, according to the rituals of their faith; Muslims were read the Quran, Hindus received water from the Ganges, and Catholics received the Last Rites. "A beautiful death," she said, "is for people who lived like animals to die like angels — loved and wanted."


NOBEL LECTURE

TO LISTEN TO THE NOBEL LECTURE BY MOTHER VISIT http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1979/teresa-lecture.html

"As we have gathered here together to thank God for the Nobel Peace Prize I think it will be beautiful that we pray the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi which always surprises me very much - we pray this prayer every day after Holy Communion, because it is very fitting for each one of us, and I always wonder that 4-500 years ago as St. Francis of Assisi composed this prayer that they had the same difficulties that we have today, as we compose this prayer that fits very nicely for us also. I think some of you already have got it - so we will pray together..."

Through the years, Mother Teresa's fame grew, as did the magnitude of her deeds ...

· In 1950, the community she founded, the Missionaries of Charity, was officially recognized by the Archdiocese of Calcutta. The Vatican recognized the organization as a pontifical congregation the same year. What began as an order with 12 members has grown to more than 4,000 nuns running orphanages, AIDS hospices and other charity centers worldwide.

· In 1952, she established a home for the dying poor -- the Nirmal Hriday (or "Pure Heart") Home for Dying Destitutes. There, homeless people -- uncared for and unacceptable at other institutions -- were washed, fed and allowed to die with dignity.

· In 1979, she won the Nobel Peace Prize. Accepting the award in the name of the "unwanted, unloved and uncared for," Mother Teresa wore the same $1 white sari she had adopted when she founded her order. It was to identify herself with the poor.

· When Pope Paul VI gave her a white Lincoln Continental, she auctioned the car, using the money to establish a leper colony in West Bengal.

· In 1982, during the siege of Beirut, she convinced the Israeli army and Palestinian guerillas to stop shooting long enough for her to rescue 37 children trapped in a front-line hospital.

· When the walls of Eastern Europe collapsed, she expanded her efforts to communist countries that had shunned her, embarking on dozens of projects.

"There are many people to do big things. But there are very few people who will do the small things. These very humble work, that is where you and I must be."- Mother Teresa.

References:

www.wikipedia.org
www.nobelprize.org
www.cnn.com
www.pbs.org

SEVA IN OUR DAILY LIFE... - PART I

Hi all, these are certain points which we may follow in our daily life...

• We may allot a part of our income/pocket money for service.
• We may act as a volunteer and help various organisations in organising their activities.
• We may spend our family functions in any such organisations(thereby spending our time and other resources) , which would give us immense satisfaction.
• We may spend a part of money (which we spend for non-fruitful activities) for the welfare of children.
• We may create awareness for SEVA among our near and dear(which would benefit both the doer and receiver).

As Swami Rama said "We should do atleast one act of kindness daily"

DONATE WHILE YOU SURF... - PART I-CONTD...

In addition to the details given in the previous post, I would like to furnish it with some additional details...

Name of the Organisation : HELPTOLIVE

To donate:
Donations can be made by sending a crossed cheque in favour of "HELPTOLIVE". A direct transfer can be done to ICICI Bank, Velachery, Helptolive acc. No. 0385 0100 0388. For online transfer, please give your username in transaction comments. eg: ramesh@gmail.com .

In addition to contributing money/material, we can spend our time by volunteering ( we can offer to teach those children whenever we can...) To know more about volunteering requirements, check this link : http://www.helptolive.org/volunteering.asp.

To know more about (and to become a member of)this organisation, visit www.helptolive.org .

DONATE WHILE YOU SURF... - PART I

It was really fantastic to know(THANKS TO "NEEYA NAANA"-VIJAY TV) that a group of software engineers are running an organisation(for the past 8 years) to serve the needy, especially CHILDREN who are deprived of EDUCATION. Their group grew over a period of time and there are about 300 members from different parts of our country. Their ideas are worth appreciating, as they are for a noble cause. It requires a great deal of enthusiasm and dedication for doing this, amidst all their commitments .

To know in detail about them , to JOIN THEIR ORGANISATION & TO DONATE pls visit http://www.helptolive.org/ .

To contact them,

HELPTOLIVE

C4, Sai Ayush Ramesha Apts, Golden AvenueDevi Karumari Amman NagarVelachery, Chennai - 42 Tamil nadu - India.

E - mail : helptolive@yahoo.com


In addition to providing education, they are doing a lot of activities like :

• Vocational Training Centre for Deprived Women
• Resource Centre for the Physically Handicapped
• Tuition Center at Corporation Schools for the deprived children
• Sponsoring medicines for Destitute home
• Helping Individuals for employment / Medical expenses and so on...

I found their website and projects really interesting. I hope you would also become a member of the organisation and help the society( http://www.helptolive.org/ ).

LIVES OF GREAT PEOPLE - AN AWARENESS

Hi all,

Before starting to give details of various organisations, I felt that it is essential to create an awareness of various eminent personalities , who dedicated their lives for Seva(Service). From now, I would like to post details on ONE PERSONALITY A MONTH.



The first personality would be MOTHER TERESA...

Welcome to SEVA - The Purpose of Life

hi ,
this blog is about SEVA(SERVICE) for the upliftment of needy. This is a place where we can share details of (and help) various organisations such as orphanages, old age homes, home for physically and mentally challenged etc.In the words of sri sri ravishankarji - "our first and foremost commitment in this world is to do seva (service).when you make service your sole purpose in life, it eliminates fear, focuses your mind and gives you meaning"

Chandrasekharan,K