Restraint

Swami Sunisthanandaji was talking extensively about 'Self-restraint', an attribute that qualifies human beings. I was listening to him about a month back. He warned that we are increasingly allowing our animalistic instinct to take over our human nature. Pleasure motive, instant gratification and lack of self-respect are on the rise. 

Today I am shocked to see the following newspaper (TOI) article. The picture beside tells a shocking story. The 13 year old baby faced boy is holding a baby he fathered. 

Isn't it time to become more serious? I am not suggesting moral policing but reforming our education system to have the one that educates and empowers - forms character, enhances strength of body and mind, improves intellect, expands heart so that a person can stand on his/her own feet.

But then there are silver lines, too. Please, go through what 'Paras', 'Ekta', 'Sahayog' - NGOs doing in Surat, the other article in today's TOI. Can we make participation in social activity, awareness program a must in our education system? We need dedicated an trained teachers for that and it can come from such NGOs. Finally, Ravishankarji on Valentine Day.

13-yr-old fathers child, sparks outrage in UK

Critics Say Shocking Case Highlights Social Breakdown Of Britain

London: A baby-faced 13-yearold schoolboy has fathered a child with his 15-year-old girlfriend, it emerged on Friday, triggering debate about the country’s high level of teenage pregnancies. 
    Alfie Patten, whose voice has not yet broken, admitted he had not thought about how he and girlfriend Chantelle Steadman would support baby daughter Maisie Roxanne, who was born on Monday, but vowed to be a good father. 
    “I didn’t think about how we would afford it. I don’t really get pocket money. My dad sometimes gives me £10,” the fourfoot tall teenager from Eastbourne, told the Sun tabloid. “When my mum found out, I thought I was going to get in trouble... I didn’t know what it would be like to be a dad. I will be good, though, and care for it.” 
    The case has also drawn comment from Prime Minister Gordon Brown, while a former leader of the Conservative Party said it was an example of social breakdown in “broken Britain”. 

In diamond city, marriage brings sparkle to sex workers’ lives

A Volunteer Group In Surat Is Helping Women Shut The Door On Prostitution

Yagnesh Mehta | TNN 

Surat: A wedding is special for every woman but for Sulaxmi, it was more special than most. Ten years after she entered the sex trade in Surat, the 28-year-old was shutting the door on a profession she had been forced into and starting a new life. “It is every woman's dream but an impossible one for a sex worker. Many a man loves us but no one wants to get married,” says Sulaxmi. But the impossible became possible after a voluntary group’s efforts resulted in her marrying a young diamond worker. 
    Now after more than two years of marriage, Hitesh Patel, who hails from the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, says he couldn’t be happier. “I was in a relationship with Sulaxmi but the thought of marriage didn't cross my mind,” he admits. The credit for this important step, he says, goes to the encouragement and support provided by Paras, a volunteer group set up by the Preventive Social Medicine (PSM) department of Surat’s New Civil Hospital, which helps rehabilitate sex workers. 
    Sulaxmi was brought by a pimp from Hyderabad to Gujarat. He duped her parents into thinking he would get her a job. He did. As a sex worker. Forced into the sex trade at 14, Sulaxmi was resigned to her fate. Till she became one of Paras's first success stories when Hitesh came along. The most special day of her life — her wedding — was organised by Paras volunteers. “We arranged the vows and held a small wedding reception in our office. The two looked very happy,” says PSM assistant professor Jayesh Kosambiya. 
    Today, Sulaxmi and Hitesh have a son. “I am a full-time home-maker and I love this new role. It is a life of respect,” says Sulaxmi, who has taken it upon herself to counsel roughly 1,000 sex-workers, bringing them together as part of two community-based organisations, Ekta and Sahyog.

‘Love without wisdom brings trouble’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 

Kolkata: “Make God be your Valentine. We will never be ditched, deceived or deprived,” said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar at a Satsang in Kolkata on Saturday when the city was in the grip of the Valentine’s Day fever. The Art of Living founder said the world is so distraught because of the absence of love. 
    “Even if there is love, the problem exists. Because, there is wrong expression of it. Love without wisdom (gyan) can also bring trouble. If love comes with wisdom, there will be joy, satisfaction and benediction,” he said addressing a crowd at the Rabindra Sarovar stadium. 
    On the attacks on people celebrating Valentine’s Day, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar said: “The extreme reaction comes out of fear. Our culture, heritage is not so fragile that one celebration would destroy it. There should be due respect to decency and decorum. But if you apply force against the violators, they will only increase. Force is no solution. Let it happen, if something is bad, people will reject it automatically.” 
    The Art of Living Guru prescribed five steps to get out of sufferings. First, you have to understand the time you are in. Secondly, do some Yoga and Sadhana. Yoga will stop bad things from happening in your life. Thirdly, think that you have overcome many a problem in your life and will eventually also overcome the problem causing you suffering. Next, you must understand that there are people whose suffering is much worse than yours. Put yourself in the ‘seva’ of that person. Finally, have complete faith in nature’s law — no suffering is perpetual. Suffering will come and go.