Thank you Dr Joshi for your kinds words about Vrikshamandir. I had written a blog in 2020 titled “Why Vrikshamandir”? I quote below the last paragraph of that blog.
One can read the full text by clicking this link “Why Vrikshamandir”
“I decided to launch this website and post blogs documenting life experiences, incidents, and insights observed and reflected upon from time to time by me as well as by those whom I came in contact with, who profoundly impacted the course of my life journey. I am deeply indebted to each them. There will be pages on this website and blogs dedicated to their life stories written by me or contributed by others.”
~ Shailendra
Vrikshamandir -a magic instrument to keep people in a confident, lively and buyont mood!
If we describe a vriksha (tree) in the real sense, it is the lifeline of all living beings on earth; human beings derive oxygen for sustaining life, and in turn, vriksha takes in carbon dioxide, so it is natural symbiosis! At the same time, vriksha provides shelter to birds generously giving space for their nest that In turn make the vriksha vibrant with activities. Travellers get a canopy, protection from the scorching sun and even an umbrella while raining; thus, in a real sense, vriksha is a temple, a throne of God which sustains life over the earth! There are multiple benefits of a vriksha, but in this context, these are enough to count!
Navigating through the beautiful blogs on Vrikhsamandir, lovingly nurtured by Shri Shailendraji, benefits all of the NDDBians who are retired and are away from active life. It serves as a beautiful platform for sharing their thoughts!
You would agree with me when a person gets superannuated suddenly, he becomes inactive, and that transition is challenging to bear. Some of us continue to work even after retirement but more often than not their to ability to perform gets restricted due to old age and slowing down of reflexes!
दश कूप समा वापी, दशवापी समोह्नद्रः।
Source: Vrksayurvedah-6
दशह्नद समः पुत्रों, दशपुत्रो समो द्रमुः।
दस कुओं के बराबर एक बावड़ी होती है, दस बावड़ियों के बराबर एक तालाब, दस तालाबों के बराबर एक पुत्र और दस पुत्रों के बराबर एक वृक्ष होता है ।
Without active life, there are all possibilities of setting devious depression as there is no vent to let the steam off!
In this context, vrikshamandir plays a pivotal role in linking retired people with each other and maintaining communication. It happens many times retired person gets frequent moods off due to lower endocrine levels!
I feel Vrikshamamdir provides the perfect and sure-shot remedy! The modus of operandi is to recollect all your past constructive and creative experiences, which are nowhere recorded and could be treasured in the Vrikshamandir wonderfully in story forms and serve as an energy booster when one’s mood is off. It provides an opportunity to recall one’s creative contributions to the organisation and society. It also helps depict objective lessons that one can learn from one’s own experiences and contributions.
Vrikshamandir is a beautiful instrument for exchanging experiences and learnings through anecdotes and parables. It helps develop skills for storytelling and writing, which in turn ignites the habit of reading and continuously updating knowledge and being aware of the world around us.
The present generation who have not seen Dr Kurien saheb and his leadership could become enlightened by going through all the practical lessons he preached to the people who came into his contacts while working! This could help in building up morale, and thus Vrikhshamandir is entirely instrumental in teaching the values and principles for achieving success by being a proactive person!
Everyone likes the past reminiscences when they see either pictures, photographs or listening audio outputs, which are undoubtedly excellent reference material preserved in Vrikshamandir and definitely when one looks at it, they slip back into past glory, certainly raising their oxytocin level and get a ‘feel good factor ‘out of it!
Vrikshamandir provides a social e-venue where all members can flock together, and some people who knew each other but have not met for long due to a change of location or other reasons could pick the thread together and enjoy life!
In my life, I have just come across the first time such an arrangement when a blog is actively linked with the retired members of the organisation, and even after retirement, they could share their experiences!
Last but not the least, I must mention the creative endeavour of our senior and mentor, Shri Shailendraji, to keep all the “birds” in a jovial mood by compiling and editing “contributed” material – reshaping only where required- and put them on the open and accessible to all treasure trove of vrikshamandir so that they chirp for ever in good air!
Comments are welcome