Dear Editor,
The recent reports about the successful massive blood donation drives conducted by the Saraswati Vidya Niketan (SVN) High School at Cornelia Ida, West Demerara under the direction of the revered Swami Aksharananda Ji must not go unnoticed; it is deserving of our utmost praise and encouragement as a true model of selfless service to humanity and more so, for an educational institution, as an example of practical teaching/learning of civic responsibilities for the students involved.
This is not a flash-in-the pan, one-off exercise by the school; it has been an annual event going back several years and has now grown into a semi-annual activity thereby ‘infecting’ and effectuating repeated batches of students, coming to and graduating from the school for many years past and hopefully for many, many years to come.
There can be no doubt that the recipients of this magnanimous and vital effort are eternally grateful, but as Swami Ji has explained, it is one of those unusually selfless forms of giving that does not directly identify the donor nor the recipient. This unique anonymity does raise its character to a ‘holy act’ which among Hindus is called ‘Daan’ for which blessings flow from the Almighty God.
I take this opportunity to congratulate the students, teachers, Swami Ji and above all the self-less donors for their great efforts and to beg God to continue to bless their very special efforts.
Yours faithfully,
Nowrang Persaud
