Community group ‘Swadhyaya’ to donate blood as a gift to whanau this Christmas
More than 100 members of a community group, Swadhyaya, will come together in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch on Thursday, December 24 to donate blood at NZ Blood branches, a unique gift for the community this Christmas.
Swadhyaya is a non-sectarian, non-denominational spiritual family inspired by Revered Pandurang Shastri Athavale and is inspired to conduct a blood donation drive by the name of Twadartham (in Sanskrit and translated to ‘For the Divine) like its counterparts in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Hosted for the second time in New Zealand, this drive is one of many activities organised by Swadhyaya with the goal of expressing love and gratitude towards the Divine.
“With Christmas right around the corner, many will be scrambling to find the perfect gift to give, and for one global family, this perfect gift is something that is common to us all,” Mayur Patel, the spokesperson from the organisation said.
The Swadhyaya movement was founded by the late Revered Pandurang Shastri Athavale from Mumbai, India, also renowned as Dadaji, and has extended worldwide since its inception in the 1950s and its activities been carried out by its followers in New Zealand since the early 2000s.
Revered Dadaji has been recognised in the East and the West with Ramon Magsaysay Award (1996) for Community Leadership and Templeton Prize (1997) for Progress in Religion.
“Regardless of differences in wealth or status, every single person is linked through a common blood maker. We’re all a divine family, connected through the same divinity, and striving to foster this feeling was what today is about,” Mayur added.
One of the members of the Swadhyaya group said “When a person “donates” he feels superior to the one who receives. But today, our attitude is not of giving blood to an unknown person, but instead, respectfully offering it as an expression of gratitude to the divinity within and in turn to our divine brothers/sisters.”
Mayur further reiterates a text from the religious book, the Bhagavad Geeta that says, “Yad Yad Vibhuti Mat Sattvam”, meaning wherever we see beautiful and powerful splendour, consider it the spark of the Almighty.
“Jesus Christ ignited goodness in people and unified communities, and when we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ, we celebrate unity among people of different cultures. Thus, we do Twadartham on Christmas,” Mayur said.