Stewardship is when one manages another's property, finances, or other affairs. Hinduism teaches one to respect another’s property, and never to vandalise it. A person, who is acting as a steward managing someone else’s finances, has to observe honesty and integrity. You are expected to work without any desire for their wealth.
Hindus are expected to give away the wealth they do not need. Distributing wealth means that a person is doing good karma and thereby securing a better next life. As a person grows older, and moves beyond the householder period, they need their wealth less and less. Charity is often given through temples in very needy areas or through such organisations as the Swaminarayan Hindu Mission in the UK.
Hinduism is not only a religion but ‘a way of life’. Two of the most widely read scriptures namely ‘The Ramayana’ &‘The Mahabharata’ vividly describes the acts of compassion and justice. Hindu’s are expected to live according to the values enshrined in the scriptures and practice compassion and justice in the course of their lives.
The main abode of the Hindu’s is India, a country whose population is predominately poor but with an increasing middle class pool. During the many festivals celebrated in the Hindu calendar, the rich tend to give generously to the poor. However in a society so large there are many incidences where the rich exploit the poor and often take advantage of the situation.
The Need for World Development
The gap between the rich and the poor is widening as poorer nations are trapped in heavy debts. These countries owe vast sums of money to the richer countries and the debts keep growing because of the high rates of interest being charged. The debts owed by the poorest countries of the world are the main reasons for their poverty.
As the disparity between the rich and the poor grows, this often leads to frustration and apathy amongst the poor. This situation breeds hostility and aggressive behaviour resulting in criminal activities. There is also a big rise in the numbers of people in the poorer countries seeking to enter richer countries to better themselves economically.
There is an urgent need to develop the deprived parts of the world and one way of helping poorer countries is by cancelling their debts. This will mean that those nations will spend more of their resources in building schools and hospitals. Another major reason why some of the countries of the third world are poor and getting poorer is the level of corruption amongst their rulers. Many countries are being ruled by autocratic regimes where power is gained through coup détente and the country is milked dry by the ruling class. Money that should be spent on the betterment of the country is being siphoned off.
Hindu agency working for world development
A Hindu organisation that is working towards world development is the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha. The Sanstha was inspired by the present leader of the Swaminarayan faith. BAPS stands for Bochasanwasi Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha.
BAPS is a growing organisation, and has achieved a lot. There are many activities it conducts and these are all aimed towards world development. Activities that take place are;
- Moral & cultural care,
- Medical care,
- Educational care,
- Environmental care,
- Women’s wings,
- Social care,
- Relief work,
- Tribal care,
- Spiritual care.
Moral & cultural care aim to inspire a peaceful life, free from crime, aggression and addictions. They have international cultural festivals in which, over 33.5 million people have participated and marvelled at these large-scale festivals held in India, Africa, UK and USA, since 1981.
The Sanstha runs 7 modern and sophisticated hospitals in India, including ICU, plastic surgery, gynecology, orthopedics, urology, ENT, ophthalmology skin and general diseases, psychiatry, dentistry, eye hospital etc. From the date of inauguration to March 2002 a total of 1,087,461 outdoors patients, 86,822 indoors patients and 63,200 patients have been operated at the various Health Care Centers or Hospitals.
BAPS run many clinics and dispensaries that serve the general public with all types of medical services. Everyday, an average of 15-20 patients are treated at its various dispensaries. BAPS regularly organizes blood-donation camps in India and all its centers from Australia, to Los Angeles. Wherever blood requirements are high, blood camps are held more frequently.
During times of natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, cyclones and droughts, BAPS rushes help to the victims. Providing immediate relief, the Sanstha also provides a variety of medical aid. In natural calamities BAPS volunteers are the first to arrive and the last to leave.
To uplift the poor tribal people of India BAPS has started its dedicated services in the form of Mobile Medical Vans in tribal areas. Besides curative treatment for tribal patients dedicated volunteer also educate these poor people to quit addiction and disbeliefs about diseases, food and sanitation.
Another way BAPS try to make the world a better place especially for children, is through their educational institutes. They have 29 educational institutes which annually educate over 8,000 students, including primary and secondary schools. At the moment they run 10 schools, of which 9 are in India and 1 in the UK. The Swaminarayan School in the UK started in 1981 with a mere 73 students. The school has now expanded tremendously, and has a whopping 400 students. It is now ranked amongst the top schools in London.
From water management to waste recycling, BAPS has succeeded in many projects including; Plant-a-tree campaign, Paper recycling, Aluminium recycling, Using Bio-gas, Trickle/Drip irrigation etc.
“There should be no rich people as long as there is poverty in the world”
I tend to agree with the Hindu belief that everyone is born on earth according to their past karmas or deeds. ‘As we sow, so shall we reap’. Hindus believe in Samsara as they do not accept that the almighty would be cruel enough to create the great inequalities that exist in the world. He would not create one child beloved of happy parents, another who is handicapped or blind and a third who is unwanted, born to impoverished parents and left hungry. The inequalities of life are understandable only when we realize that they are of Man’s own karma or actions and not of God’s creation. Each one of us at birth is the result of our past life. Our birth in this life is determined by the good and bad thoughts, words and deeds of a previous birth. This doctrine of samsara or rebirth is also called the theory of reincarnation and is a basic tenet of Hinduism.
The argument against the above premise is the sheer injustice and inequality of the world that we are living in today. Whilst millions of people are impoverished, the rich lead a life cocooned from this reality. Although there are measures in place to ensure that the rich make larger contributions towards the welfare of the poor, society is largely geared towards capitalistic sentiments and this disparity shall remain with us however repugnant it may be.
