Report of Activities 1996

1996

In 1996 Sivananda Math undertook the full six to nine month treatment of eighty tuberculosis patients. Medicines, in addition to food supplements such as milk, ghee and grains, were given to patients on a weekly basis. This task was monitored by volunteer medical personnel from around India. At the end of the treatment twenty-eight patients were discharged upon being found fully cured.

An ambulance was presented to Sivananda Math making it possible to reach out to patients in Rikhia Panchayat who are unable to walk to the dispensary due to prolonged and advanced illness.

Weaving and knitting skills were imparted to ladies of Rikhia Panchayat by Yugoslavian devotees. Several hundred trendy woollens for distribution to children and aged were prepared by students and devotees. On completion of their training, wooden frames were presented to the ladies in order to start a small enterprise at home. Wool was provided by devotees from Delhi, Yugoslavia and Sweden.

In the same year several ladies of Rikhia Panchayat were trained in patchwork and embroidery, and learnt to make beautiful patchwork cushions, table cloths and other linens.

As a step to making Rikhia green and abundant, high quality seeds, fertilizers and insecticides were offered to over 2000 farmers. Expertise on how to improve crops through simple methods was also provided.

Crops were inspected by agricultural experts periodically and farmers advised of their findings. Following scientific examination of the resulting crops, prizes were awarded to farmers which were presented by Sivananda Math on the occasion of Ram Naam Aradhana in the presence of Sri Swamiji.

During the auspicious month of Marga Seersha (26th November to 24th December 1996) devotees from all corners of the world came with their offerings to participate in the Ram Naam Aradhana, a unique event devoted to the worship of Sri Rama.

The plot adjacent to the Akhara, destined to be the venue of this rare and massive spiritual campaign, was a pond six months before. Hundreds of truck loads of mother earth went to fill in the pond and a road roller worked day in and day out to level the ground. A boundary wall and main entrance gate gave it the finishing touches.

The 15th December was a very important date as it was the day of Lord Rama and Sitaji's wedding. The ceremony was solemnized symbollically as per Indian tradition, with all the reverence due to a royal wedding. At Paramahamsaji's invitation, people presented generous wedding gifts for Sitaji. All these were ultimately offered to Paramahamsaji's more humble, neighbouring Sitajis by Sivananda Math or the Alakh Bara.

True to his slogan for the year: 'Hara Rikhia Bhara Rikhia' (green Rikhia, prosperous Rikhia) Paramahamsaji, in addition to providing the farmers of Rikhia Panchayat with high quality seeds and agricultural implements, gave school children prasad of books, note books, pens, pencils, rubbers, geometry boxes and scales, as well as Ramacharitamanas for the senior students. Teachers too were duly given shawls, Ramacharitamanas, etc. as Sita Ram prasad. Sewing machines, cycle rickshaws and thelas were given, as well as cows and calves to those who had received full training at the goshala (shelter for cows) on the premises of Sukhman Marhi. These were some of the things offered daily to Paramahamsaji's humble neighbours often with an equally handsome amount of bohni (first income) from the purses of those who presented the items on behalf of Sivananda Math.

Sivananda Math introduced a training program for the recipients of cows which was conducted daily at the ashram goshala. When the recipient was found proficient he received the animal and one year's cattle feed.

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