Sri Rama Seva Mandali is a well-known religious centre situated in Rajajinagar, Bangalore. The temple has been conducting daily pujas and other programmes for residential deities like, Lord Rama, Lords Shiva, Lord Dattatreya, Lord Ganesh and Navagraha.
The nation-wide lockdown, announced by the Central Government to fight the spread of Corona Virus pandemic, forced the temples to close shutters, until further orders, thereby denying the devotees of daily darshana and having sumptuous prasada given by the temple.
More than 400 devotees used to partake prasada daily. The closure affected the entire country and many people were hit, by not having recourse to daily breakfast and food since all restaurants were closed.
The Directors then decided to prepare breakfast to the needy and distribute it to the areas in and around the temple. The necessary permission was obtained from Police personnel for staff and volunteers and the program was started from 29th March 2020.
The Directors had decided to prepare breakfast for around 300 persons everyday from their own funds and on 29th food packets were prepared for 307 needy persons
After this information was posted on social media, the Mandali received donation in torrents from its members and devotees taking the Directors by surprise. Small children broke open their piggy banks and contributed money for the Seva.
When people were having existential crisis, they still had the intent to help lesser privileged people than them. That is the beauty of Sanatana Hindu Dharma, where the fundamental principle is universal good.
On seeing such a wonderful response, the DIRECTORS DECIDED TO SCALE UP THE FOOD PACKETS AND FROM 29TH March to 3rd May on an average more than 1000 packets were distributed to the needy without any fanfare.
The Mandali, also received donations by way of kind like rice, oil, sugar etc for the Dasoha programme, which was aptly named as “SRI RAMA ANNA DASOHA PROGRAMME”. In addition to donating, many of the donors also became volunteers and were actively involved in distribution of food risking their lives for the sake of good of others.
The food packets were distributed to Patients, Doctors, Watch and Ward staff, Ambulance Drivers and other staff of ESI Hospital in Rajajinagar, to patients in Pandith Deen Dayal Hospital for dialysis, pourakarmikas, Old age homes and orphanages, pavement dwellers and construction workers and the destitute.
The areas where the food packets were distributed were, in and around the temple in Rajajinagar, Shivanahalli, Manjunatha Nagar, K.H.B.Colony, Nagarabhavi, Gayatri Devi Park, Srirampura, Dayananda nagara, Gottige palya and others thus making it a sweep of more than 15 kms radius.
More than 40 volunteers were involved in the distribution of food packets. The enormity of the task was such that ,the vegetables used to be cut overnight, the stove would be lit at 4 AM in the morning and the preparations would be ready by 7.30 AM and the packing would be completed by 8.15 AM and the food would reach the needy by 9 AM.
The journey was arduous but it was worthwhile to see the look of gratitude and satisfaction on the face of the recipient which is more worth than any strain we might have faced. During the lockdown many memes were posted on the media ridiculing the closure of all places of worship, more so temples and asking the question where was your god, what is he doing, inferring that the God was powerless since he was locked in place of worship.
In all this, God, was smarter. He became the donor, he became the cook in the temple kitchen preparing the food, he took the role of volunteers by distributing the food, he became the police who maintained order and he also became the Doctors who treated the ill. He multiplied himself in many roles to help the needy.
He took many roles to reassure the faith ,his devotes had in him and shut the mouth of Cynics and critics, whose only role was criticising and poking fun at others. Well, he ultimately had the last laugh.
What was gratifying was that majority of the contributions was received form middle class and lower middle-class persons, which reinforced the principle of Hinduism “Vasudaivah Kutumbakam -The whole world is a family. Throughout the country many places of worship like temples, Gurudwaras and Jain Mandirs have joined hands to help the needy and provide some succor. The journey was made easy by Lord Sri Rama, who willed it that the poor and the needy be given a helping hand.
Great regards for Head Cook Gopinath and his assistants who made it possible by preparing quality and hygienic food on time every time and to the Archaks who also joined the Seva and the temple staff and all those unnamed volunteers and donors without whose help this would have only remained a wish. More than 30,000 food packets were distributed during the period 29th March to 3RD May 2020 which was the first time in the history of the temple.
Though it felt bad to end the program on 3rd May after 36 days, it was a cause for joy for having done Seva for the society. It is always better to exit when things are good rather than to be forced to do so. Though, there is pain in closing, there is a smile of satisfaction of having done a job to the best of our ability under the Guidance and Leadership of Lord Rama who blessed all through.
Let his blessings be always with us and the society and the Country not forgetting the universe.
JAI HIND
JAI BHARAT
JAI SHREE RAMA
Sri Rama Seva Mandali 