CLEANLINESS IS GODLINESS
SAI SEVA IN WEST BENGAL
West
Bengal is a state in the eastern part of India, adjoining
Bangladesh. The famous city of Calcutta is the capital of this state
which produced three Nobel laureates for India! And now the state
is once more setting an ideal in following the Lord's command: Love
all; Serve all!
People are quite
careful about the way they use toilets at home but when it comes to
public toilets, it is different story in most parts of the World.
No one seems to bother and rather quickly these toilets became unusable,
there is intense stench making everyone complain but that is where
the matter usually ends. But in places where there are people driven
by pure idealism and a concern for public health, as Sai Youth are,
it is a different matter. No false sense of dignity comes in the way;
instead, it is an urgent desire to clean up the mess and improve the
sanitary conditions. They talk of unsung heroes; one can see them
here. The task may appear menial but that precisely is what transforms
zeros into Heroes.
In the picture alongside, we see small railway station, and Sai Volunteers
cleaning the urinal in the station. This is supposedly menial work
and anyway, sanitation is the railway’s problem is it not? Maybe, but real life does not often workout that way. True, the railways
are formally responsible but they too have their difficulties including
financial crunch. So does one just talk endlessly about the problem?
That is what usually happens but not here. Alive to the dangers of
unsanitary conditions, these volunteers are essentially saying: “This
is OUR station, and well, if no one is going to keep it clean, we
will.” Today, most people act as if they are not connected
with Society and that they owe nothing to it. That is wrong. As Swami
often tells His students, “You are what you are because of Society.”
Every year in the month of January there is a festival called the
Ganga Sagar 
Mela during which nearly half a million people converge on the spot
where the Ganges enters the Bay of Bengal. On the ocean front, there are
no toilet facilities that can handle such massive crowds. Sanitation
becomes a huge problem but for the last fifteen years, nearly two
hundred Sai Volunteers camp there just to remove night soil and keep
the beaches clean. All this noble and selfless work has not escaped
the eyes of senior administration in the State. Deeply appreciative
of the spirit of service shown by the members of the Organisation,
they have now slowly begun to make specific requests of their own.
For example, in 2004, the District magistrate of Bankura contacted
the Sai Organisation with a request; the Gandheshwari River flowing
through Bankura town was dry most of the year. During that period
thick vegetation grew covering a large part of the river. The area
was then promptly converted into a garbage dump. Would the Organisation
please clear the riverbed? The Organisation’s answer is there
for all to see in the picture alongside.
