A Saint Who Cleans Rivers

[Guest guest]

My humbal PraNaama

 

Dr. Yadu

 

=====================================

 

 

http://www.outlookindia.com/mad.asp?odname=20031201&fname=Making&sid=1

 

Once Upon The River Love

 

At a time when godmen come dime a dozen in rural Punjab, Sant Balbir

Singh

Seechewal stands out for doing things differently. Cleanliness, his

teachers had taught him at the village school, is next to godliness.

Today

he's teaching his followers the path to salvation—by cleaning and

mending

the sewage-ridden, weed-choked rivulet Kali Bein. Today Kali Bein,

sacred

to the Sikhs for its association with Guru Nanak Dev, flows clean and

proud.

 

But it was not like this a couple of years ago. The stream emerges

from a

spring near Hoshiarpur, flows through Kapurthala and Sultanpur Lodi,

to

meet the Sutlej near Harike Pattan. On the way, it gathers industrial

waste

and sewage from all the towns it meanders through. The Bein was

choked with

weeds, particularly water hyacinth, to such an extent that at

Sultanpur

Lodi the water wasn't even visible.

Balbir Singh, a college dropout from Sultanpur Lodi, became a

self-proclaimed godman after he took charge of his guru's dwellings

in his

native village Seechewal. From the beginning, his preachings stressed

on

the tenets of the holy Guru Granth Sahib. "What Sikhism are we talking

about if our holy rivers are full of sewage today?" asks the

Sant. "Can God

survive amidst such filth and dirt?"

 

Stopping the massive flow of sewage into the Bein was not an easy

task. The

first to face the Sant's ire was a pwd rest house in Sultanpur Lodi.

His

followers blocked its drain with a block of wood. He employed the same

modus operandi on many village houses which were dumping their sewage

into

the river. He braved the inevitable opposition through counselling and

managed to coopt several villages into his plans.

 

Next on the Sant's agenda was to clear the weeds. Balbir Singh and his

followers first began pulling them out manually, even as sceptical

villagers watched from a distance. Gradually the number of his

followers

grew. Soon villagers joined in the cleaning operation with tractors

and

mechanical equipment. "Politicians, even officials on whose toes I was

stepping, tried to cow me down. Experience has shown me that it is

easier

to convince simple villagers about what is good for them than these

so-called educated ones," says Balbir Singh.

 

Seeing the crowds which turned up for the Sant's `kar sewa' (community

service) and their determination to clear the river, the authorities

had no

choice but ensure that the inflow of sewage into the Bein stopped.

Singh

began with his own Sultanpur Lodi town. The entire open sewage system

here,

which was the source of many diseases, is today underground and does

not

empty into the river. Once the weeds were cleared, the Sant began

desilting

the riverbed. The kilos of sediment dug up thus were continuously

piled up

along the banks and came in handy to construct ghats on the river

banks.

 

It is almost three years now since work on the Bein began. Besides a

relatively free-flowing course now, the Sant's followers have

transformed

the 1.5 km-stretch near Sultanpur Lodi into a picnic spot with

permanent

all-weather roads on both sides.

 

As the Sant goes about cleaning the river, he is also ensuring that

some

age-old Punjabi traditions are restored. Like the `Nanakshahi bricks'

(ancient bricks used in old havelis and forts in Punjab), which he

collects

from crumbling old buildings across the state and uses them to

construct

`jhalars', the traditional way of drawing water from a river with the

help

of bullocks or camels.

 

Before the Kali Bein operation, the Sant was better known as

the `sadkan

wale baba' (road-making baba), for he is also credited with making

about

500 km of kutcha link roads in the Lohian, Nakodar and Sultanpur Lodi

area.Sant Balbir Singh be contacted at Village Seechewal, Sultanpur

Lodi,

District Kapurthala, Punjab—144626; Phone: 01821-270263

 

—Chander Suta Dogra

[Guest guest]

Thank you Dr. Yadu for this news article.

 

It affirms Swami Vivekananda ji focus on survival needs, food,

clothing, living and livelihood .. karma yoga before any other form

of practice.

 

It also coincides with Maslow's heirarchy of needs.

 

(http://web.utk.edu/~gwynne/maslow.HTM For those who are not

familiar with this)

 

Higher order spiritual practice is not possible on any empty,

growling stomach. Swamini Seelananda compared Spiritual Practice to

Surgery. Spiritual practice is like conducting surgery on oneself.

First one diagnoses the (diseased parts) obstacles to one's (health)

spiritual growth and Self realization. After careful diagnosis of

the patient, the surgeon (individual) uses appropriate tools to

carefully "cut" out those aspects of one's personality that

are "diseased". Even before this surgery can be actually conducted,

the environment has to be prepared. Surgery can be performed only

under strict conditions including clean calm atmosphere,

specialized and sterilized tools, clean sterilized clothing etc.

Unless such preparations are made, the surgery can not be

successful, and in fact may lead to infections and other

complications.

 

Such mental and physical, environmental preparations which are

imbedded in the different Yoga paths, are imperative pre-requisites

to spiritual practice.

 

_/\_ Tat twam asi

 

Uma

 

 

, "ymoharir" <ymoharir> wrote:

 

> Once Upon The River Love