A
nations' strength is not found in its treasury statement. It lies
instead in the character of its people, in their willingness to
sacrifice leisure, comfort and a share of their talents for the
welfare of their nation.
The family is the basic unit of our society,
it is there that the responsibility begins. Today with the materialistic
outlook which our society has acquired, the family ties are under
a lot of stress and strain. The family as a cohesive unit is breaking
up. A family is no longer a group whose members depend upon each
other for companionship, support, love and affection. The urge of
each individual to pamper his own wants has placed emphasis on selfishness.
Every society has its share of its unfortunate
individuals who are sick, disabled, forlorn, suffering and deserted
by mankind. There are old people and new born babies no one wants
to look after. There are disabled who are not admitted into any
of the hospitals and are left to die on the roadside. There are
diseased persons no one wants to touch. They all are the burden
of our society but who is to look after them ?
95 years ago, a messiah named Ramji Das who
later became Bhagat Puran Singh, came into this world. He started
a movement which was totally new in conception. This was no easy
task. For fourteen long years he carried a spastic child on his
shoulders as they had no place to stay. This was a period of his
baptism. He achieved godliness through his love for the human beings.
The journey was arduous and painful. But single
handed, toiling day and night, in scorching heat and biting cold,
in rains and thunderstorms, undeterred by adversaries, undaunted
by criticism, he continued to pick up these wretched, dying, dirty,
infectious creations of God from wherever they could be found.
Pingalwara is not an institution, it
is a dynamic movement. Bhagat Ji did not lay down a number of pre-determined
tasks: he propounded a philosophy which is the foundation of Pingalwara
and covers the entire spectrum of social problems of our society.
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