Not all good deeds you do is really good as you think

Sairam friends,

Doing a good deed in society and getting name for it, advertising through Corporate Social Responsibility etc has become a fashion now a days. I myself think that I am doing good. I never know if it has benefited people or hurt them. One good example is people who call themselves as doing ‘Service” in any Shirdi Saibaba temple. They do good. Accepted. But gradually, it gets into their head and they start to speak harshly to innocent devotees. I am not blaming people who serve Sai but we must maintain our cool even when its crowded.

Mean while, a Saibaba Photo contributed by Shanthi

Few days back I participated in an event to plant trees by road side in Coimbatore. It was a good experience. Couple of days back some people have planted saplings near our house. There’s a open space which doesn’t belong to us but they had planted 4 plants there. My Mom who reached home yesterday after 4 days was upset about it. She said, house will become dark and there will be mosquitoes if there are so many trees around house. We also recently faced some problem in this area. Some guys regularly drink and make all shorts of nonsense in this open space. Every 2 month, My Father and Myself clean this place and we even see broken pieces of bottle dropped by these guys. A NGO can think that they are doing good by planting lots of trees but they must consider people who are living in the specific area.

Secondly, Who is sponsoring all these tree planting projects. Lets say, its a real estate developer or a Manufacturer or even an IT organization. Is this organization planting at least 20 trees in the flat they built or office they occupy?

If there are 190 flats in a gated community, I am not asking for 190 trees. I just wanted to know if there are 19 trees? No. It won’t be. 30 years back, My uncle moved into a flat which had 10 pine trees in front and at least 3 Neem trees behind it. Now a days, things have changed. This answers why CSR is self centered. You won’t even think of this Vision Green India in the flats you build but you want all the good name and fame across the city by sponsoring an NGO, planting saplings around the city, covering it with some net so that goats won’t eat it and proudly showing off your brand name in a small board.

So your flats must have good light ! Your flats must have no problems because its a gated community with a security but you will think you are doing good by planting trees across the whole city. Vow.

My articles and my messages are at times contradictory. At times, I spread the value of planting trees and I also write about the issues people face due to such ‘Good” deeds. Anyway, It isn’t an easy task to do good and run an NGO. So in a way, we must support people planting trees. The problem is they misunderstand what public participation is. Its not the volunteers who come to serve you. Its the real people in the place who actually implement. I always see if people living in the area are happy with the tree growing near their house because they are the one who are going to take care of it. This is public participation.

I write about being true to Saibaba but at times, I get angry with people who show off saying they are Sai devotees. Its honestly not necessary to be a Sai devotee. The first step towards being a devotee is to be a good human being. I myself lack some good qualities Saibaba expects from me. Can I be proud of good deeds I do in StarSai?

I must keep checking my emotions. My anger. My ego and try to make myself a good human being.

Simply singing Aarti, going to temple, chanting Sai’s name is not going to help. Real transformation must happen practically.

Not all good deeds you do is really good as you think

Saibaba expects real good deeds from you.

Saibaba is for something ‘TRUE”

I am not. I am just trying to be “True”.

Om Sai Ram

Venkat

Declaimer – The article is not written to hurt or defame any NGO or an organization in specific. Its basically something we all must learn. Some people are looking for affordable houses and its important for a cities economy to grow. You can create 100 companies but for Employees to come to a city and live there peacefully, you need to provide good flats for them.

Everyone contributes to the society in through their work. Just that, I want them to understand CSR starts with one’s own “Space and Place” which belongs to them.

There are companies in India which steals the natural resources but sponsors hospitals and schools. This is how the world works. This is how India works and I am an ordinary Indian accepting both sides of the world.