AT A special ceremony last Sunday to celebrate mothers on Mother’s Day and honour mothers who have contributed to society — among whom were Mrs. Philomena Sahoye-Shury, Ms. Parvati Persaud-Edwards and Ms. Rajkumarie Singh, Principal of the Hindu College, and Director on the Board of the Guyana Sevashram Sangha (Cove and John Ashram) — religious and administrative head of the ashram, Swami Shivashankaranandaji Maharaj, announced that the ashram would once again be engaging in community outreaches, whereby youths would be encouraged to donate their spare time to undertake voluntary community activities, which would include distribution of food hampers to vulnerable individuals and groups in society, besides providing care and counselling to them.

This activity would involve members and leaders of communities, who would identify the vulnerable parties in their respective communities, and the young people of those communities, who would be encouraged to focus on the needs of others, and to help those less fortunate than themselves, instead of engaging in time-wasting and possibly destructive actions and behaviours.

The three women at reference were singled out for having contributed to community care exercises throughout their lives, but are public figures, so their efforts have not gone unrecognised. However, in many little ways, ordinary individuals within communities have been helping to better the quality of life of the poor and needy members of societies.

Philanthropists such as Mr. and Mrs. Sattaur and Ameena Gafoor and the Gafsons Group; Mr. and Mrs. Bish and Ahilia Panday and the P&P Group; Ramsay Ali of Sterling Products Limited; Paul Chan-a-Sue, retired head of ANSA McAL; Dr. Bobby Ramroop and family, among others, have, with great generosity, contributed their time and resources to bettering the lives of mankind in a multiplicity of ways.

The programme of activities, as outlined by Swamiji, will be a resuscitation of the ashram’s community outreaches of yesteryear, especially in the area of education.
When Swami Purnandaji Maharaj established the Guyana branch of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha of India in response to a request by Guyana’s Hindu community, he did so with special focus on the behest of founding head of the organisation, Acharya Srimat Swami Pranavanandaji Maharaj (1896 – 1941), who was founder of the Bharat Sevashram Sangha.

Sevashram is a combination of two words: Seva and ashram, which means service and sanctuary.

From his early childhood, Acharya Srimat Swami Pranavanandaji Maharaj, then Binode, dedicated himself to meditation and service to the Lord; and he struggled to overcome hurdles and establish the Sangha, an organisation through which he hoped to serve humanity worldwide, primarily in the area of education and through inculcating spiritual and moral values in the young people of the world.

Oldest Hindu monk from the West, Guruji Vidyanandaji Maharaj, describes him thus: “In some ways, he stands most authentically for ancient Hindu values, which can easily be overlooked by modern commentators, scholars, and interpreters of religion.”

Those ancient Hindu values are being replicated by the adherents to the principles ordained by the Acharya, primarily to give service worldwide to people, especially youths, in the area of education.
And those principles were focal to the establishment of the Guyana Sevashram Sangha at Cove and John in the early 1950s. The Sanga was founded by Swami Purnanandaji Maharaji, in obedience to the supreme Acharya, on 20 acres of formerly undeveloped land, and was transformed into its current dynamic and dynamism by the “blood and sweat of the Swamis, Bramcharis, and selfless devotees” over the decades of its existence.

According to Guruji, His Holiness Vidyanandaji Maharaj, who himself worked unremittingly and untiringly in service to mankind all his adult years – for which he was awarded Guyana’s Medal of Service by former President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo — Guyana is the only country that has produced monks in the western hemisphere; among whom are Guruji himself, who became spiritual head and administrator of the Sangha after the departure of Swami Purnanandaji Maharaj, and who now leads the New York Sangha; Swami Bhajananandaji Maharaj of the Canadian Sangha; Swami Parameshanandaji Maharaj, the Sangha’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations; Swami Nirliptanandaji Maharaj of the London Sangha; Swami Shiveshranandaji Maharaji and Swami Amritanandaji Maharaj, both of the USA; and current spiritual and administrative head of the Guyana Sangha, former Bramchari Vidur, and current (after ordination in India in January of 2012) Swami Shivashankaranandaji Maharaj, who now heads the Guyana branch of the Sangha.

These Guyanese monks are serving humanity worldwide; and this adjuration of service to mankind was focal to the establishment of the Guyana Sevashram Sangha by Swami Purnanandaji Maharaji at Cove on John in the early 1950s.

In yesteryears, the pursuit of education was allowed only to students who converted to Christianity; so the leaders of the Sangha joined Mrs. Janet Jagan in the relentless struggle to change that status quo, which their combined efforts succeeded in doing.

Then, the members of the Sangha went from door to door in outreaches, to help members of society in various ways and persuade families to allow their children, especially females, to attend school. So Swami Shivashankaranandaji’s programme of outreach activities for community care and youth development is a continuation of the core principles and guiding precepts on which the Sangha was founded.

It is to be hoped that the donor community would recognize the imperative of sustaining such initiatives, and participate fully with donations of cash and kind, so that there can be a restoration of the value systems of yesteryear within communities, from which the general society would indubitably benefit in a multiplicity of ways.