Lets hear Banu Didi – “You can serve selflessly once you consider the world as your family. Like many others, I was caught in the rut of my own responsibilities, but I realised that’s just an iota of my duty to society.”
Being awarded the Seventh Sadguru Gnananada National Award for 25 years of work towards women’s empowerment, she insists it’s just an added drop in the ocean of goals she wishes to accomplish. From setting up a free rural school in Bangalore for over 2,500 children to educating 2,000 women from the remotest villages of Karnataka, her words give off a sense of self-satisfaction. When I met these rural women who despite living in extreme poverty greeted us with a smile, I realised there was much to learn from them. Irrespective of their economic instability, there is a deep sense of self-respect they live with, which is worth appreciating,she says.
“Being the younger sibling, I idolised my brother and wanted to do whatever he did. In the process he made me realise that spirituality gives you the strength to be happy with yourself, and in the process spread the joy around” she laughs.
‘Guruji’ made her acknowledge how criticism can make one happy and how the world can be a family. People often ask me whether I feel I have lost my brother to the world, but I say that he has given me so many brothers and sisters in return.
At times I am more like a mother to him, asking him to pay attention when he forgets basic things like eating and sleeping,she smiles
source : u_divya@dnaindia.net
Jai Gurudev!!!!