The "I" in Team......

There is no "I" in Team....well except for Team India

First things First. Let's deal with the green, White and orange coloured elephant that's sitting in the room. Whilst it wasn't a great game in the technical sense it certainly was in every other sense. Hats off to both sets of players and fans. Played, watched and supported in the right spirit. Both countries ground to a halt to watch their heroes in action. Such is the importance of this wonderfully gripping sport. Political tensions, deep history, legendary rivalry. Congratulations to India and to Pakistan for providing excellent entertainment during the tournament.  A truly talented team. But all eyes now are firmly in Mumbai. The Bollywood capital that will stage what will probably be a Bollywood match. Action,  drama, romance, suspense, thrills, even singing and dancing. And I suspect 1.5 billion people will be glued to their TV sets come Saturday.

It's quite amazing what a group of individuals can achieve. The skill, intelligence, experience, mental strength, togetherness and hard work were all on show. But this is not limited to sport. There are groups of individuals all over the world that will dazzle and amaze the viewing public. There are groups that will do their all to achieve their goal. Their are groups that will give everything to make a difference.

Our Sampraday is not immune to this. I mentioned that the Museum utsav could not have been the spectacle it was if it wasn't for the divine team of volunteers. Team. A group of individuals pooling together to make a difference.

When preservation plus was first introduced to us, we realised it was more than just preserving prasadi items and the environment. Baapji explained it was about total preservation. A message that struck deep with everyone. Having seen some video clips of a project carried out by the youth members of Shree Swaminarayan Temple, Willesden - Baapji was immediately drawn into hard work and skill gone into them and  the message that can be conveyed in 5 short minutes. His Holiness requested the yuvak mandal to make videos promoting the Preservation Plus campaign. To promote the message of how importance to preserve our environment, our values, our ethics, our culture, our heritage and our humanity.  These videos would go onto be displayed in the exhibition hall of the Museum. Some may wonder why? Why so much effort into getting some youngsters to produce some videos? Fellow YouTubers will know how influential even a 1 min clip can be. For those few minutes you are drawn in and you get thinking. For some, that proverbial light bulb placed above our heads is triggered and glows brightly. Moving images can bring about a change in a person.

With a deadline of 2 weeks, added responsibilities of work, school, university, family, watching Eastenders and Saathiya - you could say it was a big ask for guys and girls aged from young as 8 to 35 to squeeze in the filming, editing and presenting of a video clip. But it was done. The teamwork that has prevailed for MS Dhoni's men and other world cup squads prevailed for these humble sevaks of the Sampraday. The work ethic that shone through for Yuvraj Singh when he was so woefully out of form was evident in abundance for these yuvaks. That skill that makes a cover drive look so elegant was multiplied by 1000 here.  Late nights, re-shoots, script re-writes - you'd be forgiven for thinking they were trying to make a Bollywood film of their own.

Preserving Nature. Preserving Humanity. Preserving Culture. Preserving Knowledge. Preserving Values. Preserving Wealth. Legacy, Eternity, Prosperity. The results were amazing. Peter Jackson would be impressed. But they weren't trying to impress him. This was His Holiness' wish. This was to impress Him, to impress Mota Baapji, impress santos and haribhaktos. It was to impress the Almighty Himself. To show how dedicated His followers are in helping protect the Earth and the Sampraday He has been so kind enough to provide. The youth of today strongly believe in Preservation Plus. Do you?


You can view all the videos, photos and transcripts here....


http://www.shreeswaminarayan.org.uk/youth-academy/preservation-plus


http://www.swaminarayan.info/