Sevá means “selfless service”. Service is there where there is no desire to get anything in return. When there is a desire to take while giving, it is not service, but business. Any kind of business is attached to give-and-take. In many newspapers one comes across many advertisements of business establishments – “In your service since such-and-such year.” No, it is not service, it is business, because the person does not give anything without taking something. So in service there is only giving and no question of taking. Even if somebody gives in return, the mental attitude should be not to take anything – this alone is service.
“It is an action that makes a person great. Be great by your sadhana (spiritual practice), by your service, and by your sacrifice.”
— Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
ERAWS (Education Relief and Welfare Section of Ananda Marga)
Self-realization and service to humanity are the twin objectives of Ananda Márga. The Education, Relief, and Welfare Section of Ananda Márga (ERAWS in brief) shoulders the main responsibility for social service. The range of services that ERAWS organizes and conducts is suggested by its different branches-Education sections to establish and run children’s homes and retiring homes, Ananda Márga Universal Relief Team (registered as a United Nations NGO in its own right) to carry out disaster relief, Medical section to conduct Medical camps and build hospitals, and Tribal and Backward People’s Welfare Section. There are ladies’ wings also of each of these branches. Education is the most potent medium to bring about a progressive revolution in society. Education in the view of Ananda Márga is not mere imparting of alphabetical knowledge or mundane knowledge; it is a powerful instrument to effect the trifarious development of the human personality-physical, mental and spiritual. Sá vidyá ya vimuktaye- “Education is that which brings the total liberation of human beings.” This is the motto of ERAWS, and with this end in view, ERAWS runs & organizes schools at the Pre-primary, primary, high school, and university levels. It is presently running thousands of schools in India, and other continents of the world. Similarly, it has been running a large network of children’s homes, retiring homes, students’ homes, rural development centers, charitable dispensaries, medical clinics, hospitals, cheap kitchens, etc.
Ananda Marga runs service projects around the world. Visit our social service pages to learn more: