What made Dada (PaandurangShastri Athavale the person he was?

Year 4 unit for RE

What makes me the person I am?

PandurangAthavale[Dadaji]

Pandurang Shastri Athavale: A man who listened to God and

changed India for the better

Pandurang Shastri Athavale

Born 19 October 1920Roha, Maharashtra, India

Died 25 October 2003 (aged 83)Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Other names Dadaji[1]

Occupation Philosopher,Spiritual Teacher, Spiritual Leader

Spouse(s) Nirmala Tai

Pandurang Athavale[Dada]

Dada’s message

• He had a formal Indian upbringing and spent a lot of time studying Hindu holy books (Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita)

• After his studies he spoke about philosophy and how to live well in a community

• He taught that God dwells within each person and wants each person to demonstrate God's love for all, transcending caste, social, and economic barriers.

• Rev. Athavale personally visited tens of thousands of villages (on foot and rented bicycle), and his followers have followed suit to roughly 100,000 villages across India. Today his followers still take the message of the Bhagavad Gita to every corner of the globe.

• They create a ‘God work’ in each place for the common good…

• God’s boats: In fishing villages, Dada's followers set aside some money regularly to buy a 'floating house of God', a fishing boat for the community. Anyone can use the boat to fish. All the fish caught from this boat are given to those in need. These fish are never sold.

• God’s Fields. Farm land is set aside, not to be owned by one person, but shared by all people. The farmland is worked by Swadhyayees, who believe work is worship. The crop is freely given to anyone who needs it. It’s never sold

• Open temples. Village temples, open to all with no barriers of wealth, caste or religion, are built: people worship together, and talk together, deciding how to build the life of the community. The common worship enables a common conversation. People who never used to talk to each other may become friends.

• Millions of people have chosen to avoid smoking, alcohol and gambling, following Dada's call. Instead they devote themselves, their time, money and care, to God and to the human family. If you spent £4 a week on cigarettes and £4 a week on booze, that is £??? Per year.

• God’s trees. Trees are a sign of God to Swadhyayees: their life shows that divine life is everywhere. So groups of villagers have taken on barren desert land, and planted orchards there freely. Long before the ‘green movement’ in the West, Dada’s followers were keen tree-planters. Volunteers care for the orchards as devotion to God, and the environment is preserved for the future. The fruit is freely distributed to anyone who needs it.

• Dada Athavale has been honoured widely, for example by the UN, and the Pope. He accepted the Gandhi Prize in 1988, but declined to take the money that went with it. In 1997 he was awarded to Templeton Prize for Progress in Religion. But he doesn't bother much about awards: 'the work will succeed if it pleases God' he says.

What makes Dada Athavale a great Hindu?

Weighing up six factors

100 000 villages!

That’s a lotta villages

• 100 000 village temples, open to all with no barriers of wealth, caste or religion? (The challenge of caste is an India-wide issue)

• Millions of people have chosen to avoid smoking, alcohol and gambling, following Dada's call. Instead they give the money and time they save to God and to serve the human family.

• Setting up God’s Farmlands where volunteers work and the crop is freely given to anyone who needs it.

• God’s trees: providing free fruit to all needy people Volunteers care for the orchards as devotion to God, and the environment is preserved for the future. The fruit is freely distributed to anyone who needs it.

• God’s fishing boats: In fishing villages, Dada's followers set aside some money regularly to buy a 'floating house of God’. Anyone can use the boat, and all the catch is free to those in need.

• Dada Athavale has been honoured widely, for example by the UN, and the Pope, the Gandhi Prize, the Templeton Prize

• Which achievements of Dada Athavale do you think make him great? Slice up the pie, and give reasons in the speech bubbles for the size of slice you give to each.

Could you write a poem about the world?