In a world that is so embroiled with greed and corruption simple living and high thinking has become a virtue of the past. In this materialistic world, we all aspire for more- better and bigger houses, comforts and luxury- that only money can buy. But most of us never ever think about the person on the street who is dying of hunger, because we have preferred to live by denying others the material prosperity that we would like to have for us. Art of Giving is indispensable in such circumstances and materialistic living. Unlocking Art of Giving in all can create waves of happiness for self and for the society.
Art of Giving is all about creating unconditional and sustainable abundance of love, peace, happiness and contentment for others through gestures of kindness and generosity. This epiphany inspired me to form a not-for-profit initiative for spreading, supporting and promoting practice of the art of giving around the world from 17th May 2013.
The journey of Art of Giving in my life started back from a young age when I sowed the seeds of love and care as a child, despite having been pushed to the mire of abject poverty due to the untimely demise of my father. Throughout my childhood, starting from the age of 5, I lent support to my mother and gave her solace. I even shared my hard-earned wage with the hungry and the needy village urchins.
With a vision of a poverty-free, hunger free and illiteracy free world and the mission to serve the society, I began investing every penny of my meager earning as soon as I started my professional career. I invested all that I had harvested from my enterprises for the human community to receive larger and larger harvests year after year.
I founded the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology University (KIIT) and Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), a venture that has the distinction of being the worlds largest residential institute for the tribal children and educates more than 40,000 poor tribal children stands to testify my vision of life and the art of giving. All my achievements are due to the habit of Art of Giving. Sharing everything that I own has become my passion. It is not connected with material wealth.
One must be poor to know the luxury of giving. For me, compassion is a two-way street. For all the sorrow poverty and distress in this world, there are unlimited ways of helping- for making a positive difference. Every religion has been a teacher that upholds the art of giving and spreading happiness and peace, the things that have inspired me somewhere during my struggles of life to work on. Religion disseminating material goods is just one form of generosity. One can always extend an attitude of generosity into ones behavior. I had always wanted to work for the people and god has blessed me with that power and intention to do so.
Needless to say, charity is an important tenet of every religion, because compassion is essential for spiritual life. In Indian scriptures, daan or charity occupies a very prominent place. Every religion preaches the same ideology of philanthropy, be it the Qurans sadaqa or “zakat” , Buddhisms charity to the needy; Jainism’s charity of offering food, saving lives of others in danger, distributing medicine and spreading knowledge; Judaisms Tzedakah meaning justice or righteousness to denote charity; Christianitys expression of charity as an essential component of faith and Zoroastrianism that considers poverty and suffering as an affliction of evil; hence it is the duty of every individual to fight this evil.
I thought to share the magnanimity of a simple concept like Art of Giving with the people to spread peace and happiness in the society since 2013. I join the league of people like Ben Carson when he advocates, Happiness does not result from what we get, but from what we give. Let the Art of Giving as a value be inculcated in very heart because We make living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
For the last four years, Art of Giving community consisting of our well wishers and those inspired by it, celebrate 17 May as International Day of Art of Giving. This year, the theme is “PyaarBhara Pack” with the motto people’s participation, Peoples Contribution. It will be celebrated across 20,000 centers consisting of more than 200 cities in India, 80 countries abroad and all the districts of Odisha. Join hands to celebrate it with “PyaarBhara Pack” and feed with love. Let’s create a sea change by spreading message of peace and happiness transcending borders, Castes, Creed, nationality and become a string of pearls strengthened by the bonds of humanity.
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