Baba Amte - My superhero

In a post about my visit to Snehalaya and other similar institutions during my last India trip, I briefly mentioned Baba Amte. These institutions are doing some great humanitarian work in various areas and they all consider Baba Amte as their inspiration. He is one of the people who always impressed me and inspired me since my college days. Unfortunately, his name is not very popular outside Maharashtra and I don't know why. I am still trying to figure out how such a great personality can not be known to the entire India, his work is so inspiring that each and every Indian can take immense pride and inspiration from it. I have read about many people who were inspired to do some social work for religious or political purposes but this was the man who dedicated all his life just to humanitarian purposes, not to get any salvation or place in heaven or any sainthood or any government award or any election victory. He served people because he felt their pain and really loved them as just humans irrespective of their age, caste, religion, or nationality. His project Anandwan (which means garden of happiness) is an ideal example of his vision and dedication towards humanitarian work. Amazingly not only did he and his wife dedicate their lives to this work, but he was lucky enough to have kids who carried forward his work with equal sincerity and dedication. Dr. Prakash Amte, his younger son's work at Hemalkasa (Lok Biradari Prakalp) is well known. Dr. Vikas Amte, his elder son, takes care of Anandwan. It is really amazing to see how this whole family is involved in helping people in need and distress.

I am not going to go into details about the work done by these people, I request readers to read more about them on the internet or from books published about them and read more about Anandwan and other projects to know about their work. The best way to know about their work is to visit these places and interact with the people who are living there and working there. I also understand that it may not be possible for everyone to find time and resources to visit many of these places which is why the internet is a great place to know as much as possible and then if possible grab any opportunity that allows you to visit these places. I feel extremely lucky and privileged to know a few people who are very closely involved in helping these projects, they keep me aware of what is going on and I am really thankful to them for all their efforts to educate me about the work done by such amazing people. 

But for some reason, the work of Baba Amte and his sons didn't get much recognition in India. People know about their work but they don't know like they know about the work of Mother Teresa or the work of some political organizations like RSS or the work of some cult movements like ISKON or Art of Living. Maybe because Baba Amte never sided with any particular religion or political party, rather at times he stood against the state government like in the case of Narmada Bachao Andolan. I think all this might have made him a not-so-attractive option for any political party and media as they can not use his name to attract any vote bank. He did not even get Bharat Ratna, actually, people like Baba Amte don't need that award but I think that award needs people like him so that its dignity and honor are elevated. But I am glad that he is not on that list of Bharat Ratna awardees, even Mahatma Gandhi is not on that list so I think it's fair that even they didn't consider Baba for this award.

He didn't even claim to be a superhuman or incarnation of some god or messenger of some god who landed on this earth or was sent by God to serve his people. Many so-called babas or gurus use these tactics to get money and power. He stayed away from all these gimmicks that many political and religious groups use to popularize themselves, he just did his work silently with dedication and selflessness. I respect him for this. He showed me the path that you don't need any religious, political, or any other affiliation or support to do any good work. I may not believe in any god or religion, and I may not also subscribe to any political ideology or cult but still can help my fellow humans as I really don't need any affiliations to feel compassion and love for my fellow humans. I can feel their pain and help them just because I love them and respect them as humans. We all know this but very few dare to set an example for others as it is not an easy thing to do. Baba Amte was one such person who proved it with an example of his own work. Baba Amte is my real-life superhero he did something that was considered impossible for normal humans. Thank you sir for showing us the path. Sadly he is no more but his work and legacy will live forever and keep on inspiring many people to carry out selfless service to humans in distress.

Thanks for reading and please share your views on this topic.

[Copyright: Vinay Thakur. Please contact the author for re-posting or publishing]