All posts tagged: art of giving

HARVESTING PEACE AND BLESSEDNESS

HARVESTING PEACE AND BLESSEDNESS

Art of Giving essentially propounds the idea that in order to have a bountiful harvest of peace and prosperity one has to sow peace and prosperity just in the same way as a farmer does to grow crops. A farmer scatters all his seeds upon the land and then leaves it to the elements. If he did the contrary, that is, hoarded his seed, he would lose both the seed and his produce, for his seed would perish. One may argue seeds do perish when sown. Yes, they do but in such perishing, they bring forth a great abundance.

The Young Achyuta Samanta sowed the seeds of love and care as a child despite having been pushed to the mire of abject poverty due to the untimely demise of his father. Throughout his childhood, starting from the age of 5, he lent his hand to support his grieving mother and helped her raise succor for all the siblings. He offered the comfort of his lap for his younger sister to sleep. He even shared his hard-earned wage with the hungry village urchins. He has sown love all his life and begotten love from one and all.

Achyuta Samanta’s life illustrates that in life, we get by giving; we grow rich by broadcasting our good seeds. The man who says he is in possession of knowledge yet he cannot share because the world is incapable of receiving it or for some other reason, then he either does not possess such knowledge, or, if he does, he will soon be deprived of it, if he is not already deprived. To hoard is to lose; to exclusively retain is to be dispossessed.

Achyuta Samanta was bestowed with good education by God’s Grace and his hard labor. He could have used his education for earning enough and prospering in life like any ordinary person. This would have amounted to hoarding. However, he thought differently. He used his education and the values he learned from the experiences in his life and plunged to share the wisdom of knowledge for helping the growth and prosperity of the society in which he lives.

Even the man who would like to increase his material wealth must be willing to part with (invest) what little capital he has, and then wait for the increase. So long as he retains his hold on his precious money, he will not only remain poor, but also will be growing poorer every day.  He will, after all, lose the things he loves, and will lose it without increase. But if he wisely lets it go; if, like the farmer, he scatters his seeds of gold, then he can faithfully wait for, and reasonably expect the increase. That is what has happened in the life of Achyuta Samanta.

He had a vision to serve the society and work towards relieving people from the pangs of poverty. So he began investing even every penny of his meager earning as soon as he started his professional career. He invested all that he had harvested from his enterprises for the human community to receive larger and larger harvests year after year. His mission in life to bring smiles on peoples’ faces, be them rich or poor and creating an equitable society paves the way for peace and prosperity the entire humanity. His life is true personification of the art of giving.

HARVESTING PEACE AND BLESSEDNESS
GENUINE COMPLIMENTS

GENUINE COMPLIMENTS

Abraham Lincoln had once stated that “Everybody likes a compliment.” And how true was he! We all just love being told we are the best! Moreover even though we always ‘pay’ compliments we never exhaust a single dime yet make the other person happy!

Masters of the art (yes, paying compliments is an art form!) equivocally opine that with the onset of civilized human society paying compliments has become a norm. History is full of stories about kings who hired professionals whose only job was to compose pieces filled with praises of their kings. Of course, needless to say, words of praise are the constant companions of the men of power, men of position and celebrities.

There is a marked difference between flattery and compliment, the former is not genuine and has a personal interest vested in it while the later is a genuine expression of admiration. Though the first one is more commonplace it is the second one that actually dwells in our hearts. Giving compliments always makes the receiver feel happy, grateful, optimistic and valued. But apart from the receiver, even the person who showers compliments nurtures a lot of positive attitudes.

Offering compliments indeed boost one’s self-esteem. It takes genuine understanding to note something positive in someone else and at the same time showing confidence to walk up to the person and appreciate them. And by doing something good as this, even our mind receives a genial feeling. And when the mind is at peace one tends to display a happier temperament and disposition. In fact, genuine positive remarks about others also speak volumes about our own personality and that carves a niche for us in the society.

Leo Buscaglia had once said that “Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” And this, more or less, sums up the secret of a happy life, and being kindness always have the potentiality to turn things positive.

 

 

GENUINE COMPLIMENTS
OFFERINGS OF SUMMER: WATER AND THE “ART OF GIVING”

OFFERINGS OF SUMMER: WATER AND THE “ART OF GIVING”

The Sun is always very harsh in the summer months in the Indian subcontinent. The part of the earth coming in the tropical region with all its diverse life forms including human beings is parched in the summer months. The water bodies dry bringing untold miseries to the thirsty mouths. But life does not come to an end. People still continue with their daily chores, birds still fly and the flora and the fauna discharge their respective duties despite the thirst and the sweat.

Indian folklore is full of stories about samaritans and good souls who always were concerned about the well-being of their fellow human beings. No sooner summer sets in they come forward to serve the heat-ravaged pedestrians and travellers with water and thinned rice gruel. In India, this practice continues to be followed. Moreover, in every Indian household, it is customary to offer a guest clean drinking water to a guest no sooner he arrives.

It is very difficult to pinpoint a specific period of time when this custom started in India. However, the fact remains that this tradition speaks how Indians practised the art of giving. A guest is treated as God’s incarnation and the host does his best to make the guest comfortable, sometimes even starving themselves. The host feels grateful to the guest for considering to visit them.

To this day, we see people opening temporary kiosks to serve safe drinking water and thin rice gruel drink for the thirsty and the poor, on the streets. As the temperatures in the summer months continue to be rising beyond the normal by several degrees, the government organizations have pitched in providing safe drinking water to travellers by putting up such kiosks on the streets. Indian households put large vases filled with water for the thirsty birds and street dogs during summer months and derive great bliss in doing so.

Thus, we find that it is in our culture to be practising the art of giving for community welfare and serving the humanity.

OFFERINGS OF SUMMER: WATER AND THE “ART OF GIVING”
STUDENTS TURNED INTO ECO-ACTIVISTS

STUDENTS TURNED INTO ECO-ACTIVISTS

The 1850 feet tall Mahaparbat Hills (located 50 Kms away from the city of Bhubaneswar in the state of Odisha in India), a detached segment of Eastern Ghats mountain range in India had been lying barren for several years due to unbridled deforestation. Due to the denudation of the hill slopes, numerous streamlets were formed which carried the eroded surface soil of the hill slopes and caused siltation in the flat valleys at the foot of the hill. The siltation affected agriculture in the valleys.

The hilly terrain, however, got a fresh lease of life when in 2007, an educated bachelor in his forties from the nearby Dhansar village, Mr Brajendra Pradhan, took a vow to revive forest growth on the hill slopes of Mahaparbat Hills. A post-graduate in economics and an environmentalist by choice, Brajendra, sought collective efforts from some dedicated youths to make it possible. The mission was not only daunting but also very demanding.

However, Brajendra’s spirits had already been ignited and he quickly organized a team of 20 enthusiastic college students of his village (most in their early twenties by then) and went ahead with his work. The team counselled the youth of the affected villages to lend their supporting hand for this noble cause. As usual, there were many skeptics who taunted the volunteers often. The scenics would hurl offensive remarks and find many faults with the volunteers.

The young activists started with planting environmentally conducive banyan saplings.  Later, they planted miscellaneous other saplings. Small check dams across the streamlets were built by the volunteers to arrest soil erosion using locally available stones. This helped them arrest rainwater for watering the young plants. They also planted enough bush and shrub saplings along the short-spaced contour lines and on the banks the streamlets.

The volunteers also regularly organized various literary competitions among students, seminars and street-plays on environment-related themes to generate awareness among the village folks. Slowly more and more villagers who sat on the fence till date began taking an interest in the work. Brajendra’s indomitable spirit, patience, hard work and strong leadership ultimately helped win the hearts of even the most impenetrable cynic in the village.

The persistent endeavour of Brajendra and his team made the hill slopes of Mahaparbat Hills change its colors in a matter of four years. There were smiles visible in every soul as they heaved a sigh of great relief. Once a barren landscape, the terrain around Mahaparbat hills, now has been covered with nearly 2000 well-grown banyan trees along with 3000 trees of other varieties and they are growing bigger and bigger.

Neither Brajendra nor his teammates were affluent people. But Brajendra’s knowledge and leadership helped in changing the condition of the Mahaparbat Hills. The work, done by Brajendra is an eloquent depiction of what differences the art of giving can do to the human society.

 

 

STUDENTS TURNED INTO ECO-ACTIVISTS
“ART OF GIVING” AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

“ART OF GIVING” AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

One can continue to live a normal life and do all that seems necessary in every situation and yet be spiritual by imbibing the art of giving.

Seeking peace, love and happiness are deep-rooted innate nature at the core of all human beings.  Nothing connects to this core like giving does. The art of giving is synonymous with the art of sharing happiness. The art of giving is all about ego-less giving and giving that leads to the release of strong vibes of happiness between the giver and the receiver.

We can grow our spiritual development through the practice of the art of giving- helping or giving to others, donating to charity, or even volunteering a service. It can also be developed by offering our skills with utmost sincerity and dedication to those who need them. Being more generous in our actions, behaviours and personality will help in growing our personal spiritual development.

“ART OF GIVING” AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE
KHWAAB

KHWAAB

In service to humanity is a society solely dedicated to help people. The innovative grass root approach is to transform citizens into agents of change who will rejuvenate the spaces disinvested, into new generation of helping, loving and inspiring destinations.

KHWAAB
KRITARTHA

KRITARTHA

It is a social empowerment event that brings together all spheres of talent from KISS and across the Globe to promote the message of Art of Giving. Bounded by the grace of compassion, intertwined by the benevolence of Art of Giving and resurrected by the fire to push our India against Negativity, KRITARTHA is the legacy that has strived to reestablish the meaning of Perfection and Creativity.

KRITARTHA

AOG Philosophy

Art of Giving is all about creating an unconditional and sustainable abundance of love, peace and happiness and contentment for others through gestures of kindness and generosity. It was founded by Shri Achyuta Samanta on 17 May 2013. The key to peace and happiness lies in unlocking the Art of Giving in each individual. It is a not-for-profit initiative for spreading, supporting and promoting the practice of the art of giving around the world. 

VISION:

To bring together the sense of peace and happiness among people of all ages, especially children and youth through genuine acts of giving back to the society by the practice of empathy and compassion to the distressed without any discrimination.

MISSION:

To make people aware and spread the philosophy of the Art of Giving across all sections of human society worldwide through activities of sharing love, care, compassion, wisdom, knowledge, skills and talents.

AOG Philosophy
Arunachalam Muruganantham

Arunachalam Muruganantham

Arunachalam Muruganantham or PADMAN (played by Akshay Kumar) like you know him now is the inventor of the low-cost sanitary pad-making machine and is involved for finding grassroots mechanisms for generating awareness about traditional unhygienic practices around menstruation in rural India.

Only 12% of India’s 355 million menstruating women use sanitary napkins (SNs). Over 88% of women resort to shocking alternatives like non-sanitised cloth, ashes and husk sand. Husk sand! That is what women have to go through. Muruganantham instead of igniting riots for political benefits started a revolution. That is the thing about heroes, they work in ways others don’t.

Muruganantham used to supply beverages to factory workers and took up various jobs as machine tool operator, farm labourer, welder, etc. to support his family in Coimbatore. When Murugananthan discovered his wife collecting filthy rags and newspapers to use during her menstrual cycle, as sanitary napkins made by MNCs were expensive, he started designing experimental pads.

When he finally cracked a way out to make cheap sanitary pads, in 2006, he visited IIT Madras to show his idea and received suggestions. His invention was registered for the National Innovation Foundation’s Grassroots Technological Innovations Award and his idea won the award.

Today Muruganantham’s machine has given jobs and income for numerous women. Affordable pads enable many more women to earn their livelihood during menstruation. Acceptance and empowerment is the key to development.

In 2016, he was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India.

BREAKING THE TABOO:

Mensturation isn’t an epidemic, our mentality is. Why isn’t science (biological mensturation) accepted by us when every parent wants their kid to be a doctor or engineer? Why are we going back to something we have fought so hard to come out of?

 

 

Arunachalam Muruganantham
KOMPASSIONS: THE GARMENT BANK

KOMPASSIONS: THE GARMENT BANK

The garment bank is an Art of Giving the initiative to collect the unused/ old and obsolete clothing from the households and make it available for the poor free of cost after reprocessing. The processed clothes are then taken by the needy public according to their choice. We give them the experience of not being getting by chance but by their choice.

KOMPASSIONS: THE GARMENT BANK