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Shramadana is literally
translated into 'gift or labour. However, it is also sharing your
resources for the benefit of the community. It is an excellent means
to help people to realize respect for all life, engage in
compassionate actions, learn to discover the joy of service to
fellow beings and develop an attitude of mind where gains and losses
are faced with considerate behavior.
According to Dr. A.T.
Ariyaratne, "Shramadana is primarily an attempt to give an
opportunity to as many persons as possible both rural and urban to
free their personalities from slavish dependence by becoming truly
conscious of the causes that have given rise to the problems they
are faced with."
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A Shramadana Camp, as
different from a religious activity or a work-camp designed
purely for religio-moral or socio-economic purposes, is a place
where the individual is given full scope to identify himself
with society ('lose himself' to society and 'discover himself'),
thus becoming an effective instrument for a social revolution.
The main purpose of
Shramadana Camps is to build a psychological oneness among all
concerned. Thinking of problems together, trying to find
solutions together and working together to apply the solutions
and solve the proble- |
| ms, bring
about a mental cohesion which the Movement considers to be the
foundation on which further programs to build man and society
have to be developed. |
The Shramadana camp with
its song, dance, work, meditation, and study is expected to render
three major benefits:
1) The provision of a first hand opportunity for rural and urban
groups to meet in a beneficial manner, thus bringing about mutual
understanding and confidence in the achievements of common goals;
2) After generations of inaction and dependence, the rural
communities are stimulated into a new life of self-reliance and self
help to improve their conditions;
3) The emergence of a new rural leadership which is not split by
caste, race, religion or political commitment but which has been
trained for a new development.
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