Pujya Swamiji explaining 'Bharata Desha Hitaya'

Bhārata deśa hitāya, kuru sevām tvam, this is the theme of an all India movement for seva.
Every Indian should have this awareness of taking care of the people of this country, the people
who need help, who are isolated, alienated from the main stream society, and whose culture is
also in danger, whose livelihood etc. is not in a desirable state. So the people of the country
should take care of the people. Even though the government is trying, itself cannot do this.
People should help people.
So here is a theme song in simple Sanskrit which tells exactly what we need to do. Bhārata deśa
hitāya, for the good of Bhārata deśa, this country known as Bhārat, bharatādi mahāmati sevita
bhārata deśa hitāya. Bhārata, Rama’s brother was given the kingdom and he said no. Then
because of the insistence of Rama, he ruled the kingdom alright until Rama came back, but
purely as a seva to Rama. So bhārata stands for that seva. Then again, bharatādi [Bhārata etc.]
– not only Bhārata who was Rama’s brother Dasarati Bhārata, but then the Bhārata of nadi
śastra, Bhārata the king, Jadabharata, a great sage – all these people, besides Panini and others,
have served this country enriching its culture, its religion.
Bharatādi mahāmati sevita bhārata deśa hitāya, kuru sevām tvam – tvam ‘you’ do what you
can do. Kuru means ‘do’. Sevām kuru, please do seva, sevām tvam; āsetu himācala vana giri
jana samrakṣaņāya, for the protection of the people living in the mountains, in the forests,
vana giri jana samrakṣaņāya, the people living in all these places; āsetu himācala, from setu to
Himalayas, Rameswaram to the Himalayas, the entire country, people living in different remote
places, they need to be protected. Their culture is to be protected; their health everything is to
be protected. Samrakṣaņāya, for their wellbeing, kuru sevām tvam, do seva.
For the increase in their health and also in their longevity, āyū, their environment has to be
proper, āyūrārogya vivardhanāya. Dharma samsthāpanāya, for reestablishing the dharma, the
structure of dharma to which people conform, there should be social justice, which is also
dharma, there should be economic justice, and there should be law and order. People respect
law and order. So to bring about that kind of a society, dharma samsthāpanāya, you do what
you can do, kuru sevām tvam.
Kṣobha nivāraņāya – kṣobha is poverty in thinking, economic poverty. To remove this kind of
kṣobha do what you have to do kṣobha nivāraņāya. Subhikṣa pariprāpaņāya – subhikṣa is
generally translated as prosperity, but what is prosperity? Where is the limit? The person who
is a recipient of help should be able to contribute. The consumer is able to contribute, then that
is called subhikṣa. Everybody is a consumer. The consumer besides being just a consumer is
able to contribute more than what the person consumes, then there is subhikṣa and that is
sustainability. People should be able to sustain themselves and help others, subhikṣa
pariprāpaņāya.
Dinajana uddhāraņāya – there are people who are in a condition where they need help. And
the people who need help, let us not think only of people who are poor in money etc. There are
people who are poor in thinking, all of them are dinajanas, helpless people. Perhaps some
people require support emotionally, not economically. Therefore, wherever there is a necessity
to lend a helping hand to somebody, one has to do that. Dinajana uddhāraņāya – uddhāraņam
is pulling them up from the place they are in now. And once they are up on their own, then they
will be able to help others. So dinajana uddhāraņāya, wherever they are, urban areas or in the
rural areas, kuru sevām tvam, kuru sevām tvam, kuru sevām tvam.
Dinajanas are there all over the world. First we take care of our people here in this country. If
we achieve the subhikṣa, our own prosperity, then we can help others too. We have no
boundaries. For help there are no boundaries, for seva there is no boundary. But within the
boundaries of this country we would like to see that the people help each other. That
awareness is to be brought about. This is the theme song.
bhārata deśa hitāya
bharatādi mahāmati sevita
āsetu himācala vana giri jana samrakṣaņāya
kuru sevām tvam, kuru sevām

āyūrārogya vivardhanāya dharma samsthāpanāya

kṣobha nivāraņāya subhikṣa pariprāpaņāya
dinajana uddhāraņāya
kuru sevām tvam, kuru sevām

bhārata deśa hitāya

bharatādi mahāmati sevita
bhārata deśa hitāya
kuru sevām tvam, kuru sevām tvam, kuru sevām

Pujya Sri Swami Dayananda Saraswati