Philosophy of Pingalwara
A nations’ strength is not found in its treasury statement. It lies instead in the character of its people, in their willingness to sacrifice leisure, comfort and a share of their talents for the welfare of their nation.
The family is the basic unit of our society, it is there that the responsibility begins. Today with the materialistic outlook which our society has acquired, the family ties are under a lot of stress and strain.
The family as a cohesive unit is breaking up. A family is no longer a group whose members depend upon each other for companionship, support, love and affection. The urge of each individual to pamper his own wants has placed emphasis on selfishness.
Every society has its share of its unfortunate individuals who are sick, disabled, forlorn, suffering and deserted by mankind. There are old people and new born babies no one wants to look after. There are disabled who are not admitted into any of the hospitals and are left to die on the roadside. There are
diseased persons no one wants to touch. They all are the burden of our society but who is to look after them ?
95 years ago, a messiah named Ramji Das who later became Bhagat Puran Singh, came into this world. He started a movement which was totally new in conception. This was no easy task. For fourteen long years he carried a spastic child on his shoulders as they had no place to stay. This was a period of his baptism. He achieved godliness through his love for the human beings.
The journey was arduous and painful. But single handed, toiling day and night, in scorching heat and biting cold, in rains and thunderstorms, undeterred by adversaries, undaunted by criticism, he continued to pick up these wretched, dying, dirty, infectious creations of God from wherever they could be found.
Pingalwara is not an institution, it is a dynamic movement. Bhagat Ji did not lay down a number of pre-determined tasks: he propounded a philosophy which is the foundation of Pingalwara and covers the entire spectrum of social problems of our society.
Task of Pingalwara has been clearly laid down by Bhagat Puran Singh Ji. He had studied the problems of the society at close hand and lived very close to them. This resulted in a dynamic movement in the form of Pingalwara.
Medico Social Problems
Moral Responsibility. Every sick person who is physically unfit to earn his livelihood has the divine right to be looked after through men and organisations working in the field of social service and charity.
Lack of Indoor facilities.
In our society there are a large number of poor, helpless and sick people who cannot obtain admission into any of the hospitals.
At best the hospitals can diagnose the disease and in a few cases provide medical treatment in their outdoor. Therefore, we need institutions where the patients can be looked after and for treatment can be taken to various hospitals in the city.
Non Availability of medicines.
Most of the poor patients who can get their disease diagnosed from the hospitals are unable to purchase the required medicines.
Incurable Diseases.
No hospital admits persons with incurable diseases. They are left on the road side to die a slow, painful and lingering death. In this state they are a big blotch on the face of our society.
Mental Patients.
There is acute shortage of beds in Mental Hospitals. Against 50 lac mental patients, there are only 22,000 beds available in the whole country.These patients have specific problems because of the nature of the disease and are given below :-
They need close attention, especially the violent patients.
They need escorts which some of the families cannot provide.
This has resulted in many patients to be chained to a post for many years.Their recovery time can be very long, many poor families can not afford it.
Women mental patients are specially vulnerable to venereal diseases if not looked after properly and thus one source alone can transmit the disease to hundreds of people. Already India is having the largest number of HIV cases in the world.Mental patients and lunatics beside being an economic burden on the society can also endanger people’s life and property.
Pingalwara aims at overcoming these shortcomings and help in the formation of a healthy and humane society.
All India Pingalwara Charitable Society
Tehsilpura GT Road, Amritsar 143 001
