by Davy James, Staff Writer
Religious lines can often divide people, leading to war and intolerance. But for a spiritual organization called Swadhyay Parivar, the belief in one common creator, regardless of religion, is one that unites and brings the community together.
On Aug. 23, hundreds of residents from around the area gathered at Indian Fields Elementary School for a blood drive intended to unite the community, according to Swadhyay Parivar member Ramesh Bhimani, who holds a doctorate in microbiology.
”We conducted a blood drive during Christmas, but we had trouble securing the necessary facilities so we had to limit it to 100 donors,” Dr. Bhimani said. “This time we planned the drive for Lord Krishna’s birthday. More than 1,700 people gave blood nationwide through Swadhyay Parivar.”
Locally, donation centers were established at Indian Fields, Kean University and Johnson and Johnson Plaza in New Brunswick. Dr. Bhimani said more than 375 viles of blood were donated in New Jersey. The blood offering holds a special spiritual meaning for the organization.
”People might call a creator by a different name, but we are all brothers and sisters related by blood through one common creator,” Dr. Bhimani said. “We call the blood drive Twardartham, which means ‘for you’ in Sanskrit. The blood is for God, because God is within all of us, regardless of what we call God. This is our way of giving something back to the community and to God.”
The drive started at 9 a.m. and went through 4 p.m. The blood was donated to the American Red Cross and to the Community Blood Services of New Jersey. Throughout the day more than 1,000 people in New Jersey joined at one of the three locations and prayed to God, according to Dr. Bhimani.
The organization meets weekly from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at Indian Fields to instill culture and a sense of oneness among its members, who come from South Brunswick, Monroe and Cranbury, according to Dr. Bhimani.
”We group the children together and teach them good moral stories like the teachings of Martin Luther King and Mahatma (Mohandas) Gandhi,” Dr. Bhimani said. “For the adults we have videotaped discourses from the late Rev. Pandurang Shastri Athavale.”
Dr. Bhimani said the discourses are aimed at cultivating the message of God being within to alleviate numerous social ills.
”Most discourses are based on humanity and the idea that God is within us,” Dr. Bhimani said. “If I believe that then I will never be afraid because God is with me and every other person. If I hurt another person I’m hurting God, so then I never hurt another person.”
Dr. Bhimani said that all are welcome to attend their weekly meetings at Indian Fields on Sundays, from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.