True help is spiritual help
In recent years there has been a push to acknowledge and incorporate Spirituality and Religion in the field of social work. This means taking into account both the spiritual beliefs and religiosity of the social workers as well as their clients. What is the relationship between Spirituality and social work ? Is social work an efficient medium to progress spiritually ? Mr. Krishna Mandava of Maharshi Adhyatma Vishwavidyalay put forth his thoughts on this topic in his research paper titled ‘Does social service result in spiritual growth ?’ He categorically stated that, ”True help is spiritual help !” Mr. Mandava was speaking on the 9th of September in the 7th international conference on Knowledge, Culture and Society held in South Carolina, USA held between 8th and 10th September 2018. His Holiness Dr. Jayant Athavale is the author of this research paper; Mr. Krishna Mandava and Mr. Sean Clarke being the co-authors. The research paper bagged the first prize in this international conference. The conference was organised by theInternational Economics Development and Research Center (IEDRC), Hong Kong.
Mr. Mandava further explained that for many social workers undertaking social service is also a means to express themselves spiritually. However, for most people the meaning of Spirituality is highly arbitrary. Spirituality put simply is the quest of an individual to experience the Divine. This is done through some form of spiritual practice under an evolved spiritual guide that is as per universal principles. It basically means transcending one’s five senses, mind and intellect, and experiencing the highest level of consciousness which is the Soul or the God principle within each of us.
In today’s world, most people think only about themselves and their own families. Not many of us put others before ourselves. So for one to get the thought of serving others, it is a noble one and it is a reflection of a person’s humanity. This is especially so when the social worker does it selflessly and as a volunteer without being paid for it. Thinking of others over ourselves helps in spiritual growth.How can a social worker spiritualise these events so that both he and his clients can grow spiritually? Firstly for a social worker it is important to understand that there are often spiritual factors behind why their clients are facing problems such as Destiny, Negative energies, problems due to departed ancestors. When the problem of a client has a spiritual root cause, it is best to provide spiritual help or employ a spiritual solution to help. What this means for a social worker is that regardless of the situation he should always try to employ spiritual measures along with physical or psychological help.
On a personal front, a social worker needs to monitor his attitude and behaviour towards the client and the situation because spiritually inappropriate thoughts and actions can nullify all the good work he is doing. For example, pride can lead to spiritual stagnation or regression, high emotional involvement leads to attachment, expectations leads to unhappiness and doership (that is see how much I have done) can lead to a give-and-take account.
Our research has shown that chanting the Name of God as per the religion of one’s birth is a simple yet powerful spiritual practice that is free and helps in both the prevention and cure of problems which are due to spiritual causes. We recommend that this spiritual practice be done both by social workers and their clients. True help is spiritual help – as it enables people to become independent and not victims of their adverse destiny.
