Guyana Sevashram Sangha and the Zara Team

– voices of hope for the illiterate
“Go ye, from door to door, from one end of India to the other and bring all, young or old, man or woman, in holy contact with this Great Power. Go ye again through the world, from pole to pole, and preach to all the people of the earth the message of great emancipation of the Sangha.” – Jagad Guru Acharya Swami Pranavanandaji Maharaji, Founder-Member of the Cultural Mission of Bharat Sevashram Sangha.


Minister in the Ministry of Health Dr Bheri Ramsaran trying out one of the computers in the Zara Learning Resource Centre.

Many heeded the messageof the Swamiji, and currently there are branches of the Sangha located in diverse parts of the world.

His Holiness Swami Purnananandaji Maharaji, who had worked to establish a branch of the Sangha in Trinidad since 1950, arrived in Guyana at the invitation of the Hindu community, who implored the Sangha to help the largely illiterate Indian community of Guyana, because they could only have access to schools if they changed their religions, which most refused to do, choosing to rather remain illiterate, opting instead to learn the texts of their own cultures and religions, be it Islam or Hinduism.

The Sangha changed that equation, because it offered hope to everyone inclined to attend its classes at its Cove and John location, and its satellite organisations countrywide.

Pious “Big Maai”, owner of Resaul Maraj Estate of Cove & John donated twenty acres of virgin, almost forested land to the Sangha, and her son-in-law contributed towards building a school and students’ dormitory, while other enthusiasts started fund-raising activities to construct a temple and a monastery. With all land-preparation and construction done on a voluntary basis, the Sangha began functioning well within a year, with various annexes and other adjunctive buildings and activities added on to the original over the years.

The devotion of adherents of Hindu dharma – to serve humanity without expectation of reward, and the volunteers who have contributed in cash and kind to the overwhelming success of the Ashram in fulfilling its mandate is unprecedented in the history of Guyana; and it is the great, good human beings striding every strata of society, from every religious background, whose efforts keep the momentum of the activities at the Ashram from never faltering.


The computer section of the Zara Learning Resource Centre.

However, the strides have been colossal of recent times, and the organisation has assumed a character that has propelled the educational system of this wonderful learning facility to new levels – on par with the best on the international scenario.

Driving this dynamic restructuring of the teaching and learning methodologies and the implementation of modern technologies to imparting education and dissemination information in the Ashram is the Three Musketeers and Sylvia.

No less unconquerable and victory-oriented than the Dumas characters from the French Court of an earlier century, these four buddies began a journey that began with a gift barrel to the Ashram and evolved into a 7,000 sq. ft learning centre that houses a state-of-the-art public library, a computer graphic centre, a video/audio centre, a reprography centre, and an internet/research component of the Pranav Computer Training Centre, which was inaugurated last Saturday at the Guyana Sevashram Sangha at Cove and John.

Jay and Sylvia Sobraj, executives of the Zara conglomerate in the USA, had visited the Ashram to make a donation of a barrel of effects to Sylvia’s alma mater, as part of the normal charitable outreach programme of the Zara family, and encountered young Bramchari Vidur, who was then administrator of the Ashram, deputizing for Swami Vidyananandaji Maharaj. Bramchari Vidur, who does amazing things with scant resources, responded to Jay’s enquiry of pressing needs of the Ashram with a request for eight computers to avail the students of modern research facilities. Jay promised to send the computers to the Ashram on his return to the USA. A skeptical Bramchari Vidur humbly and simply informed a flabbergasted Jay that he had heard many such promises before, but they most often turned out to be empty. Jay said this simple but sincere reply by the young ascetic was humbling to his normally strong-willed persona, and, normally quick-witted, with instant repartee, he was struck silent and unsure how to respond to the humble celibate who had devoted his entire life to the service of others.

However, the Sobraj brothers are quintessentially idealistic and humanistic people who believe in honouring their given word, a trait they inherited from their father, so Jay immediately contacted IT whiz and long-standing buddy and business associate Nardeo Singh (Naresh), who travelled to Guyana to make a comprehensive survey of the needs of the Ashram. He subsequently reported to Jay that, for optimum effectiveness, thirty computers had to be provided, instead of eight. By this time Sravan Kumar Budhu was also fully on board the project.

Apart from being altruistic, the members of this quartet are also perfectionists, and they not only purchased the computers, they also did a complete overhaul of the infrastructural facilities, which included reconstruction and refurbishing of the entire wing, and provision
of a transformer to boost power to the facility, which was named the Pranav Computer Training Centre.

The quartet made several visits before the Centre was inaugurated, and they always hit the ground running, working indefatigably until mere minutes before departure time. None of them are afraid to get their hands dirty, and they earned the respect of the various categories of the workforce, who continued working diligently to specifications, even when none of the quartet is in the country. Of course Bramchari Vidur, young head of the Pranav Centre Shyam Sundar, Bhaiji Sonalall, head of the Hindu College Ms Rajkumarie Singh, and other hardworking volunteers also worked untiringly to concretize their collective dreams for the Ashram.

During their successive visits to the Ashram, the quartet noticed that the dormitory was in an abject state of disrepair, with huge holes in the floorboards, so that was their next project, and, subsequent to a complete overhaul and refurbishing of the dormitory, the boys are currently domiciled in quarters that are the envy of their day-school peers. While they were working on the dormitory Naresh, who also works hands-on in training the students during his several stints in Guyana, realised that many of the students were severely limited in their reading and writing skills, so he introduced a mentoring programme, where he prevailed on the secondary school students of the Hindu College to big brother/big sister the younger ones from the community. Among these volunteers the most outstanding and dedicated was Hindu College graduate and student of the Pranav Computer Training Centre, Melinda Thornhill. The library of the Ashram proved inadequate so the Zara quartet decided that they would construct a facility atop the feeding shed to house a reading and research centre.

Here again their propensity for excellence drove a dynamic that evolved into the Zara Learning Centre and the Shravan Budhu Public Library, a splendorous 7,000 sq ft facility that was inaugurated Saturday 30th January 2010, at which officiated a plethora of dignitaries, including several ministers of the Government, Swami Bhajananandaji Maharaj from Canada and Swami Shiveshwaranandaji Maharaj deputizing for Swami Vidyananandaji Maharaj of the USA, Bishop Juan Edghill of the ERC, among others. Master of Ceremonies was ex-student and subsequently teacher of the Ashram, former Finance Minister Saisenarine Kowlessar. Young Chris Ramlagan will head this component of the Hindu college of Technology, and Melinda Thornhill will continue to head the Reading and Research Centre.

During a tour of the Ashram recently, President Jagdeo, who taught at the Hindu College in his early years, expressed appreciation for the work being done at the Ashram, paying special interest in the IT component, and the building to house tech-voc classes, which is currently under construction.

There are many persons who are inherently predisposed to negativity, which circumscribes their approach to life, and the sad thing is that some of these persons appoint themselves to leadership positions in society and infect the masses with their negative outlook and approach to existence, telling their followers that the world owes them everything, and they should not strive to achieve anything by their own efforts.

Then there are the Jays, Shravans, Nareshs, Rajkumaries, Vidurs, and Sylvias, and all the volunteers at the Ashram, who are not afraid to get their hands dirty in order to produce golden stars in academia. They do so without expectation of reward, with full hearts, with absolute giving, with sincere commitment and dedication in pursuit of the goal of educating and empowering the vulnerable in society, without barriers of race, religion or politics, because theirs is the language of love, and the family of humanity.

When Bramchari Vidur first invited me to meet the quartet, I was struck by the selflessness of their commitment, because these are millionaires in US terms, living lives of absolute luxury in the USA, who return home in their every spare moment to work hard to better the lives of their fellow man. They do not only give of their resources, but they give of themselves and I, who have walked part of that journey in their wake, felt the tears well up in my eyes as Jay hugged me in exuberance last Saturday, because the measure of these people’s overflowing love for mankind was spilling over in full measure that day.

Appropriately, while the Centre of all their dreams was being inaugurated in Guyana, Bramchari Vidur was being ordained in India as a Hindu Monk; with his consecrated name now His Holiness Swami Shivsankar Anandaji Maharaj. His Holiness will be returning to Guyana in time for Shiv Ratri puja, which is normally celebrated by devotees who congregate at the Ashram by the thousands.

This year there will be much to thank Lord Shankar for, not least his appropriately named devotee, Swamiji Shivsankar Anandaji Maharaj.

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