One Meal A Day Programme (OMAD)
The world is living through unprecedented times. Along with physical sickness, COVID-19 has brought with it mental illness in the form of anxiety and fear. The fear of food shortage is prompting consumers to panic and hoard large supplies, resulting in depleted supermarket shelves, growing stockpiles and food wastage at home. During these difficult times, one has to remember that the only way forward is to help one another. The quote by Mahatma Gandhi rightly goes “The world has enough for everyone's needs, but not for everyone's greed." With many parts of the Middle East region in partial or complete lock down, shortage of work, money and access to food has been an issue to many of the low-income and daily wage workers. At this juncture, the instruments of Sai have come forward to feed the people around, for as quoted by Martin Luther King Jr, “We cannot walk alone.” As Sathya Sai says, “The way from I to He is through We”. So, despite the closing down of schools and offices, self-isolation and partial lockdowns, 46 individuals have served 704 meals to those in need, with a large majority of participation from the youth. With safety and hygiene in mind, this month saw distribution of more packaged food with longer shelf life.
While observing the safety measures and exercising protective measures, what else can one do at this stage? The answer has been aptly put by Swami, “Heads in the Forest, Hands in the Society.” So, the volunteers had a group chant of the welfare prayer at their respective homes for twelve hours, praying for the safety and good health of all. So, during this epidemic, let good deeds become contagious and let everyone remember that F-E-A-R is just a False Evidence Appearing Real.
March signals the end of the first quarter and the start of spring. It is a great time to take stock of goals and plans for one’s well-being and to check on what kind of progress one has made so far and to improve where necessary. If one is looking for some advice to reinvigorate and put that spring back into one’ life, one can read and follow the message as given by Sadguru Sri Madhusudan Sai: “Don’t fear, don’t panic. Have faith and surrender. Keep mind positive. Keep your habits clean and pure. Depend on God more than everything else. Use your time to turn your gaze inward and do not run behind the external. Learn more about yourself than the world outside and find out where you are weak, where you are wrong and learn to correct and improve yourself. That would definitely change the world, one person at a time, one country at a time. Definitely, future will be better. We have to thank calamities and difficulties because they bring about the best in all of us. They teach us how to become better humans. With that feeling, chant the Mrityunjaya Mantra”.
So, let all “Follow the Master, Face the Devil, Fight Till the End and Finish the Game”.
March-ing ahead towards a better future!
