Baba Amte

“Where there is fear, there is no love.Where there is no love, there is no God.”

-Baba Amte

Murlidhar Devidas Amte Born : 26 December 1914

Hinganghat, Maharastra, British India

Died:9 February 2008 (aged 93) Anandwan, Maharastra, India

Nationality:Indian

Murlidhar Devidas Amte, popularly known as Baba Amte (Marathi: बा�बा� आमटे�) was an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for his work for the rehabilitation and empowerment of poor people suffering from leprosy

Early life Amte was born to Devidas and

Laxmibai Amte in the town of Hinganghat in Wardha District of Maharashtra. The family was a wealthy jagirdar Brahmin family. His father was also a British official with responsibilities for district administration and revenue collection.Amte had acquired his nickname Baba in his childhood

Devidas and Laxmi Bai Amte

Dedicated work Trained in law, Amte developed a

successful legal practice at Wardha. He soon got involved in the Indian struggle for freedom from the British Raj, and started acting as a defense lawyer for leaders of the Indian freedom movement whom the British authorities had imprisoned in the 1942 Quit India movement.He spent some time at Sevagram ashram of Mahatma Gandhi, and became a follower of Gandhism for the rest of his life.

• Amte founded three ashrams for treatment and rehabilitation of leprosy patients, disabled people, and people from marginalized sections of the society in Maharashtra, India.In 1973, Amte founded the LPOKALLLR to work among the Madia Gond tribal people of Gadchiroli District.Amte devoted his life to many other social causes, the most notable among which were generating public awareness of importance of ecological balance, wildlife preservation, and the Narmada Bachao Andolan.

The Philosophy“I sought my soul, my soul I could not see;

I sought my God, my God eluded me;

I sought my brother and found all three.”

This realization of a poet found its fullest expression in the life and work of Baba Amte. He sought not God in the sanctum sanctorum of a temple but found him even in the heart of a

disfigured and decomposed leper. He worshipped not by the chanting of mantras, by the offering of flowers, but by the

worship of work, by lighting lamps of hope in hearts grown with despair, by serving wounded souls with love and care.

AnandwanHis Anandwan (forest of joy) is not a rehabilitation center where

thousands of lepers and other disabled men find food and shelter but it is a school from where they learn lessons of self-help, self respect and selfless service. It is a school from where they learn lessons of co-operation and peaceful co existence. "Work Builds;

Charity Destroys" is his sublime philosophy. His is a philosophy in action. He would say, "Give them a Chance not Charity."He

created for the leprosy-stricken and the disabled ample opportunities to let them stand on their own feet. His motivating approach towards leprosy has ever been,"You can live without

fingers but not without self-respect." His Anandwan is a self-made, self-sustaining, modern, model village. It is a miniature India where

unity and harmony, joy and love reign supreme.

Anandwan

GandhismAmte followed Gandhi's way of living, and led a spartan life. He wore khadi clothes made from the looms at Anandwan. He believed in Gandhi's concept of a self-sufficient village industry that empowers seemingly helpless people, and successfully brought his ideas into practice at Anandwan.Amte also used Gandhian principles to fight against corruption, mismanagement, and poor, shortsighted planning in the government. Thus, he used non-violent means to fight the Indian government in the fight of independence.

Gandhism

Baba envisaged and worked towards a harmonious relationship between man and nature. He said, "No one has the right to arrange the funeral of the future." He decried lopsided and myopic developmental strategies and priorities and in a true Gandhian spirit teaches us that there should be "sufficiency for all before there is superfluity for some."

In 1990, Amte left Anandwan for a while to live along the Narmada River and join Medha Patkar's Narmada Bachao Andolan ("Save Narmada" Movement), which fought against both unjust displacement of local inhabitants and damage to the environment on account of the construction of the Sardar Sarovar dam on the Narmada river.

As an Environmentalist

As a Social Activist

With a life dedicated to the service of the poor and the suffering, with a life dedicated to the mitigation of social

conflict and abuse, environmental plunder, communal strikes and like issues, with a life dedicated to the

furtherance of unity and peace, Baba has unfolded before us a life, our social workers, developmental activists and even politicians may do well to learn from. He said:"The 3Ds and 4Cs I believe to form the essential ingredients to success in the development of a social undertaking are Determination,

Dedication, Devotion, Concern, Care, Compassion and Conviction."

The battle against himself

Quite early in life, he fell victim to a progressive spinal degeneration - a self earned reward for the years of untiring manual labour that he had put in for the welfare of his suffering fellowmen. But this disability which left him in severe pain and with the choice of either standing or lying down but never sitting up was not enough to deter his indomitable spirit. So, as years went on, as a person who recognizes that "Responsibility is not transferable" he kept embarking upon newer and newer goals, one after the other. Even from deathbed he exhorted everybody to come up with constructive and creative works. He would say: "Unless you are inspired you cannot inspire others. Unless you are moved you cannot move others."

The Goodbye

On 9 February 2008 Baba bid us the final farewell after accomplishing much, after paving a new path, after entrusting us with a lot of duties and social responsibilities. As always, Maharogi Sewa Samiti will be carrying forward these duties and responsibilities with dedication and determination. For us, through his work and wisdom, through his ideas and ideals, Baba will remain ever alive.