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Elder brother of love and peace

By Hwa Mei Shen

We call God by many names and the paths to Him are many but we are all children of the one God. Why should we quarrel about the paths that we choose? You move on the one that suits you and I on the one that suits me. We will meet when we meet God.

_ Dada Jashan P. Vaswani

PHILOSOPHER and educationist Dada Jashan P. Vaswani is a picture of serenity personified. Throw him any question and he will field it with unflappable calm.

The easy ones, he usually answers immediately in an even tone while the tougher questions--and there aren't too many of those as far as the man is concerned--are followed by moments of silence as he sits head bowed to gather his thoughts before responding.

This characteristic is of course most befitting of the man for Dada (elder brother in Hindi), as he is affectionately called, is no less than the spiritual head of the Sadhu Vaswani Mission in Pune, India, which has numerous centres worldwide. The mission, which he has headed since 1966, serves the poor, the sick and the aged.

The 80-year-old chief was in Penang earlier this year for the Malaysian leg of a five-month world tour to spread the message of the mission.

That quiet, smiling exterior he poses, however, belies the grim views he has of the human condition.

"Values have gone mad today. People are running after petty things, the transient, the ephemeral, which are very much like bubbles floating on the surface of a stream.

"But they've forgotten the great things and don't care about the abiding, eternal values of life like truth, love, purity and compassion, which have all gone into the background," he says.

The 1998 U Thant Peace Award recipient believes that humanity is passing through a period of great crisis, noting that mankind ruled by "passion for power and greed for gold" is bent on manufacturing weapons of death and destruction.

"Today humanity stands on the brink of a precipice. We've reached a stage where man and nations must learn to love one another or perish. There's no other choice."

You won't get a pat definition from Dada as love, according to him, is so vast it cannot be encompassed in words.

"Love can be expressed in many ways; of particular importance are acts of selfless sacrifice for which you don't expect any returns, not even a word of thanks.

"Love is saving on your expenses and sending money to some distant part of the world to help some unknown children. Love is missing a meal and sending food to some distant country to feed the hungry," says Dada.

In his opinion, love is the greatest and, perhaps, the most unused force in the world because we are essentially selfish beings and selfishness precludes the expression of true love.

So how can we become less preoccupied with ourselves and make that important move towards selfless sacrifice?

The answer, Dada says, lies in widening our spheres of love.

"A mother, for example, is selfish in so far as her dealings with the neighbours are concerned, but she will make sacrifices for her children because she loves them.

"If her sphere of love can grow from the family to the neighbours, and from the neighbours to the community, society, nation, humanity and, finally, to all creation, then the spirit of sacrifice will automatically come to the fore."

And the ability to negate the self and consider the needs of others is also a characteristic of those who are seekers of godly virtues.

A group listening in rapt attention as Dada expounds on the human condition during his visit to Penang. Picture by Chin Cheng Yeang

The first mark of the God-seeker is an emphasis on fulfilling his duty, observes Dada, noting that people today are most vocal in demanding their rights while giving little thought to their duty.

"Men and women tell me they must have their rights, and I ask them: 'Yes, but what about your duty?' "

In addition to being true to his duty, the God-seeker will also walk the extra mile.

Notes Dada: "Every day he'll go out, forget his pleasures and serve some people. He'll try to bring joy to the joyless and comfort to those in need of comfort. The day he does not help a brother, a sister, a bird or an animal, he regards as a lost day indeed."

The third important mark of the God-seeker is the practice of daily silence.

"Every day the God-seeker will withdraw from this noisome world and sit in a quiet corner, preferably in the same place and at the same time."

According to Dada, these periods of silence, which he calls "our daily appointment with God", are vital.

"Today people run after noise, and particles of noise cling to our minds and souls. We need, therefore, to wash in the waters of silence, which is very much like a flowing river.

"There's much we can do when we sit in silence--meditate, do our spiritual thinking, have an intimate conversation with God."

There is undeniably a vast gap between the ideals that Dada speaks of and what we see around us today, and he believes that the answer to bridging it rests in education.

However, the type of education he advocates goes well beyond mere book learning.

"What is given in schools only develops the brain but the problems before civilisation today cannot be solved by the developed brain alone.

"Training of the hands is needed, and more importantly, training of the heart."

Elaborating on this, Dada points out that advances in science have not taught people to live in peace and amity with their fellowmen.

The problems of science, he says, lie in its misuse because "the hearts of man have not been awakened."

"In fact, science is a tool in the hands of man and can do wonderful things. If the tremendous energy that has been released is harnessed, there'll be no more poverty.

"If you can educate the hearts of man, there'll be no problems on the face of the Earth," observes Dada, who holds a Master's degree in physics and was a Fellow at the D.J. Sind College in Karachi before giving it all up to follow his guru and uncle, Sadhu T.L. Vaswani. He has since dedicated his life to serving mankind.

Educational approach

How does the mission touch the hearts of children? To get an idea, let's take a look at one of the schools run by it in India.

Every day before studies begin, students go out in groups, taking food to lepers, beggars and the blind. They also feed grains to birds twice a day.

Occasionally, they spend time in orphanages and homes for the aged and the disabled. At other times they visit slum areas to distribute clothing and other items or food that they themselves have cooked.

The purpose of all this, says Dada, is to evoke sympathy in them, noting that selfishness departs when sympathy moves in.

Incidentally, the mission and its seven educational institutions--one college, four schools and two kindergartens--in India do not have any religious affiliation.

The organisation also runs four clinics and two hospitals.

Observes Dada: "We don't use the word religion. We use the word spirituality. You may be a Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Parsi, Buddhist, or Jain, but the spirit is the same. It is the one universal spirit.

"We call God by many names and the paths to Him are many but we are all children of the one God. Why should we quarrel about the paths that we choose? You move on the one that suits you and I on the one that suits me. We will meet when we meet God."

Consequently, the mission's schools comprise students from various religious backgrounds. They learn of the great figures in world religions and their teachings, and are encouraged to not only listen to the ideals of the various religions but to translate them into action.

"But the emphasis is on service. Through service, the best things will come out."

Apart from educating the human heart, Dada sees a great urgency to rid it of anger. Therein, he says, lies the answer to achieving world peace.

Citing his spiritual master Sadhu Vaswani, he notes: "How can there be peace in the world when the hearts of man are a volcano, burning and seething? If you want peace in the world, you must first bring peace to the hearts of man."

In seeking world peace, the mission has adopted a rather interesting tack by launching a campaign to observe Nov 25 as International Meatless Day in 1986.

Dada points out that there can be no peace on Earth until we put an end to all killing, and this logically brings to focus the sanctity of animal life.

"If you kill an animal today for food, then you won't hesitate to kill a man whom you view as an enemy tomorrow. But if life is seen as sacred, a gift from God, then there will be no killing at all."

Going a step further, the mission expanded the concept in 1996 and declared Nov 25 as International Meatless and Animal Rights Day.

"The first right of every animal is the right to live. We should not take away what we cannot give. Since we cannot give life, we have no right to take it," Dada maintains.

Changing the heart of people and achieving world peace are daunting goals for most people who want to see positive results.

But this is not so for Dada who looks at things differently. Responding to a question on whether he has achieved what he wants, he says with a gentle smile: "I'm not looking for anything. I'm like a small candle that just keeps on burning.

"Does a candle have any thoughts of achievement? It just keeps on burning. Likewise, I try to bear witness to the light of the ideals given to me by my master."

And in those words, perhaps, lie the explanation for his amazing air of serenity.

About the mission

By Hwa Mei Shen

A NON-PROFIT organisation, the Sadhu Vaswani Mission serves the poor, the sick and the aged, irrespective of creed or colour, by way of education, healthcare, social welfare, humanitarian aid and spiritual upliftment.

Set up in Hyderabad-Sind, now a part of Pakistan, in 1931, the organisation's base was moved to Pune in India in 1950 following the partition of India.

It now has 18 centres all over India and 21 centresin 15 other countries, including the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Spain, Hong Kong, Japan, the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Each centre seeks to spread the teachings of the mission's founder, Sadhu T.L. Vaswani, in its own way with its own programme.

According to Dada Jashan P. Vaswani, the present spiritual head of the mission, Sadhu Vaswani's teachings can be summed up as follows:

* The noblest work is to cultivate the soul.

* The poor are like the picture of God. To serve them is truly to worship God.

* If you want to be happy, make others happy.

* The child is the life and light of the nation. Take care of your children.

In keeping with the above, the mission emphasises education, particularly education for girls, believing that "if you educate a girl, you educate a family, but if you educate a boy, you educate only an individual."

Among the mission's many activities is its Meatless Day campaign launched in 1986. Last year when the International Meatless Day was observed on Nov 25, 6.8mil people pledged to abstain from meat on that day and 1,000 became vegetarians for life.

Meanwhile, a group in Penang, which has been conducting informal activities relating to the mission's ideals for the past few years, is in the process of applying for registration.

Apart from promoting the Meatless Day campaign, it has initiated a number of humanitarian and social programmes. In addition, the group screens Dada's talks monthly.