(born Murlidhar Devidas Amte)
Linked with Love in the time of want, and with Take Heart India THI.
Baba Amte passed away at the age of 94 on February 9th, 2008. Baba never regretted anything in life and he faced death as usual with bravery and he passed away peacefully. He led series of lives in one life. He always cherished fulfillment in life and he will ever remain in our thoughts, actions and spirits. (baba.niya.org).
He said: « I believe in leading series of Lives in one life ». (take heart India).
Baba Amte (Marathi) (December 26, 1914 – February 9, 2008), born Murlidhar Devidas Amte, was a respected Indian social activist. He was the founder of several ashrams and communities for the service of leprosy patients and other marginalized people that were shunned by society. Anandwan (literally, « Forest of Joy »), located in the remote and economically less privileged district of Chandrapur, Maharashtra, is the most well-known amongst them and was his home … (full long text).
Baba Amte dedicated his life to various other social causes, the most notable of which were environmental awareness, wildlife preservation and the Narmada Bachao Andolan.
His blog ‘walking with you‘.
.
.
Baba Amte (born Murlidhar Devidas Amte) – India (1914 – 2008)
Lok Sabha condoles death of MPs, Hillary, Baba Amte.
At first he let his hair and fingernails grow long, a holy man’s guise that looked odd in a lawyer. After that, when the scavengers came to him with grievances one week, he decided to try their work, scraping out latrines for nine hours a day. His family, landowner Brahmins who had given him a costly education and a sports car, were scandalised; and the more so when, in 1946, he married a Brahmin girl, Sadhna, who thought nothing of leaving her own sister’s wedding to help a servant-woman do the washing … (full text, Feb 25, 2008).
Baba Amte, 93; Champion of Lepers and Outcasts.
As became known on Saturday, 9 February 2008, the 1991 Right Livelihood Award Laureate Baba Amte from India died at the age of 94. Murlidhar Devidas Amte, popularly known as Baba Amte, received the Right Livelihood Award together with Medha Patkar and the Narmada Bachao Andolan ”…for their inspired opposition to the disastrous Narmada Valley dams project and their promotion of alternatives designed to benefit the poor and the environment.” Apart from his fight against the Narmada Valley dams project Baba Amte devoted his life to the care and non-discrimination of leprosy patients. India is in grief about the passing away of this popular Gandhian leader. (right livelihood).
Wisdom Song, the life of Baba Amte.
Find him on Google Video-search; on Google Book-search; on Google Scholar-search; on Google Group-search; on Google Blog-search.
… For more than half-a-century, Murlidhar Devidas Amte has fought for forgotten causes, given voice to the voiceless, and brought hope to those abandoned by society. Lepers eaten by maggots, tribals alien to civilisation, orphans dying of malnutrition , the uncared for aged, the neglected handicapped… he’s taken them all and given them a way of life in a singular message: ‘Charity destroys, work builds.’ The motto on which was built Anandwan, the sprawling home for leprosy patients near Chandrapur in Maharashtra. « Compassion has no utopia, party or ideology, » says Baba Amte whose humanitarian work have won him scores of awards. The Padma Shri, 1971; the Rashtra Bhushan, 1978; the Damien Dutton International Award, 1983; the Padma Vibhushan,1986; the Magsaysay Award, 1988… He doesn’t count them anymore, neither can he accept them in person anymore … (full text).
He said also: « I always pledged to have more concern for others than control of others ». (take heart India).
Seva Ratna – Shri Baba Amte and the cause of the downtrodden are almost synonymous in India today. Baba is a living legend of our time and a shining example of the Gandhian spirit and approach to current and compelling social problems of the country. By crusading for human dignity and sustainable development he has sought to arouse the inner vitality of our society and invest it with sanity, peace and compassion. Anandwan, which he set up for leprosy patients, provides, through a creative combination of medical intervention, rehabilitation and economic regeneration, self-esteem and self-reliance to leprosy affected people thus translating the ideal of Mahatma Gandhi to make the victims of leprosy « as much a part of society as the tallest among us ». Starting with leprosy-affected people, Amte’s work covered education in health and hygiene, village sanitation, village industries, communal unity and removal of untouchability and work among tribals and the youth of the country. He has introduced at Anandwan and other tribal areas rain-harvesting experiments for augmenting agricultural production. How he organized the youth of India in the « Knit India Movement » across the East and the West, the North and the South of the country, is a saga of our times. He has been awarded the Gandhi Peace Prize, 1999, among several other awards. (Indian TV).
It is said: Baba never regretted anything in life and he faced death as usual with bravery and he passed away peacefully. He led series of lives in one life. He always cherished fulfillment in life and he will ever remain in our thoughts, actions and spirits. (baba.niya.org).
See the Amte Family (Baba Amte & Sadhnatai Amte).
Murlidhar Devidas Amte — later known by the honorific “baba” — was born on Dec. 24, 1914, in Hingaighat in Maharashtra, the eldest son of an affluent Brahmin landlord. His life was privileged, but even in his youth, Mr. Amte rebelled against injustice and discrimination on the basis of birth, caste and creed. Despite his parents’ disapproval, he often ate with servants and played with lower-caste children. After earning a bachelor’s degree, Mr. Amte went to law school at the request of his father, who gave him a sports car with panther-skin seat covers. He graduated in 1936. Mr. Amte was inspired by the ideas of Marx and Mao, John Ruskin and the anarchist Pyotr Kropotkin. Drawn to the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore because of his poetry and music, Mr. Amte visited Mr. Tagore at his ashram in Calcutta … (full text).
… Many books have been written about Baba, films made about his activism, and accolades and awards bestowed on him. His steadfast support for the disadvantaged people and his commitment to social justice has defined his work for more than five decades. Now 89 years old, Baba’s public events are limited by physical constraints. But his mind, always abreast of current events, is always thinking of new ideas for creating change in the world. (full text).
MaharashtraBhushan – BABA AMTE.
And he said: « Charity destroys, work builds« .
links:
Maharogi Sewa Samiti, by Niya;
Beautiful are the hands that create, more beautiful are the ones that appreciate.