Bringing smile on the face of needy is also a service: Governor

Hyderabad: "Understanding the pain of the other person and how you can bring smile on his face is the real service we can do", said Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan while speaking as Chief Guest at the Celebration of Mahasamadhi Centenary Year of Shri Shirdi Sai Baba organised by Shirdi Sai Global Foundation at Hyderabad on Friday.

"We all do service in our daily lives such as holding the hand of a disabled person cross a busy intersection on a road, is the simplest form of service, but it is also a service", said the Governor. He said "For him that is a great service and we do not realise the amount of gratitude that person has towards you". He said that a poor man comes to you for a help, all you need to do is pat him on his back and tell him that you will take care of his need and bring a smile on his face and that is also a service.

The Governor further said, "I always tell bureaucrats that power is of two kinds - one is positive power and the other is negative power. Mostly we try to display negative power of saying 'No'. We feel saying 'No' is an exhibition of power. But saying 'Yes' and bringing smile is also an exhibition of positive power, which is also a service. Service with smile is all it is about. Service is not only about making large donations and preaching in large congregations."

Narasimhan said that many of us cannot do what Dr. Satpathy is doing but there are much simpler ways of doing it. "How do we promote education in the society and how do we provide good health care to the society? Ultimately health is what brings happiness in a man's life. One may have all the wealth in the world but it will not get you wealth. Wealth is not health but health is wealth and that is the concept we all need to understand," said the Governor.

"Unfortunately, many of us do not understand this concept that is why healthcare has really suffered. It is time we take steps to revitalise healthcare in a big way particularly for those who are suffering. Make healthcare affordable and bring a smile, because if it is not affordable it will bring tears instead of smile on the face of a needy person," said the Governor.

As small as a relief in case of a disaster, we can go around and help the people, said the Governor. To illustrate his point, the Governor cited the example of how his house in Chennai could provide relief to people whose houses were submerged in water. He said it was not a great service but provided some shelter and solace. Ultimately service is providing solace to the heart to the person who is looking for it.

As Dr. Satpathy said in very simple words it is not required for people to dedicate themselves, devote yourself, make promises for yourself, give assurance for yourself it is not required at all. Service can be done in much simpler ways in our own fashion, said the Governor. Everyone of us will not be able to match what is being done by Dr. Satpathy. Whatever we do, for society it should be relevant. Your relevance in life should be relevant to society, said the Governor.

There is nothing great about the chair we occupy. The moment we vacate it people will start abusing us. Whether we are in chair or out of it we should all remember to help our brethren in whatever form we can, said the Governor. The first service we can do is to get into the positive mode of saying yes. Positivity is the most important service we can do the society today, said the Governor.

Unfortunately, negativism is dominating the society today. We should all move from negativism to positivism and try to bring smile on the faces of the people and hoped that Shirdi Sai Baba will give us strength to be of more service to the humanity, said the Governor.

Whatever Shirdi Sai Baba said 100 years ago, is stuck in the hearts of people and that is why he is remembered so fondly by all His devotees even though none of us have heard Him or seen Him, said the Governor. The Governor appreciated the efforts of Dr. Satpathy in taking forward the teachings Shirdi Saibaba forward, by his service to the society.

Earlier, Governor released the book titled 'Sai Sakham', written by Dr. C.B. Satpathy and translated into Telugu.