Sindhutai Sapkal - Mother of Orphans (Karma Yoga)

Dadi: "Guddu, what would you do if everyone abandoned you - your family, your friends, your whole world?"

Guddu: "I... I don't know, Dadi. I think I'd be very sad."

Dadi: "Tonight I'll tell you about a woman who was abandoned by everyone - and her response was to adopt everyone. Her name is Sindhutai Sapkal, and people call her 'Mai' - Mother."

Guddu: "What happened to her?"

Dadi: "In 1973, when she was just twenty years old and nine months pregnant, her husband threw her out of their home. He had been told lies about her, and without even checking if they were true, he abandoned her."

Guddu: "But she was about to have a baby!"

Dadi: "That very night, alone in a cowshed, with no one to help her, Sindhutai gave birth to a baby girl. She had to cut the umbilical cord herself - with a sharp stone."

Guddu: "*voice small* That's horrible."

Dadi: "She had no money, no shelter, no family. In rural Maharashtra in those days, a woman accused was a woman condemned. No one would help her. Most people would have given up."

Guddu: "What did she do?"

Dadi: "She made a decision that changed everything. She thought, 'If the world has abandoned me, I will adopt the world.'"

Guddu: "Adopt the world? What does that mean?"

Dadi: "She began begging on the streets to feed herself and her baby daughter. Then one day, she found her first orphan - a child abandoned at a railway station. She took the child in."

Guddu: "But she could barely feed herself!"

Dadi: "People told her exactly that. 'You can't even feed yourself. How will you feed another?' But she said, 'I'll find a way. My concern is that this child is hungry NOW and I can help NOW.'"

Guddu: "Did she find more orphans?"

Dadi: "More and more. Ten. Fifty. A hundred. Five hundred. Each abandoned child she encountered, she couldn't walk past. She knew exactly what it felt like to be alone and unwanted."

Guddu: "That's amazing! But how did she feed them all?"

Dadi: "She begged, she worked, she asked for help. Slowly, people began to notice this woman who was collecting children like precious gems. Some donated food. Some gave shelter. But Sindhutai never stopped, never gave up."

Guddu: "What about her own daughter?"

Dadi: "*voice soft* Here's the hardest part of the story. Sindhutai gave her biological daughter away for adoption."

Guddu: "WHAT?! Why?!"

Dadi: "She said, 'My daughter has one mother. These orphans have none. If I focus on my daughter, I can't give the others what they need.' It was the most painful decision of her life."

Guddu: "That's... I don't know if I understand."

Dadi: "It's hard to understand, beta. She loved her daughter. But she saw a greater need. She became 'Mai' to children who had no one else in the world."

Guddu: "How many children did she end up helping?"

Dadi: "Over 1,400 children. She has established multiple orphanages. Children who had nothing now have education, love, homes, futures."

Guddu: "1,400 children! That's incredible!"

Dadi: "And here's what's special about Sindhutai. She never learned to read or write. She has no degrees, no fancy knowledge. All she has is the decision she made in that cowshed: to transform her pain into love."

Guddu: "What does she say about her achievements?"

Dadi: "*smiling* When people call them 'achievements,' she waves them away. 'Achievements? I raised children. That's not an achievement - that's love. That's duty. That's what mothers do.'"

Guddu: "Is she still alive?"

Dadi: "She passed away in 2022, but her legacy continues. Her adopted children now run the orphanages, helping new generations of abandoned children. She used to say, 'When I'm gone, the chain doesn't break - it grows stronger.'"

Guddu: "Dadi, what can I learn from her?"

Dadi: "So many things, beta. That your wounds can become your wisdom. That instead of asking 'why me?' you can ask 'what can I do?' That one person with determination can change the world for thousands."

Guddu: "She turned her worst experience into her greatest purpose."

Dadi: "Exactly. The woman abandoned by the world became the mother of the abandoned. The woman with nothing gave everything. That's what they call Karma Yoga - the yoga of selfless action."

Guddu: "I want to help someone like that someday."

Dadi: "Then start small, beta. Share your lunch with a lonely classmate. Be kind to someone having a bad day. Each small act of caring is a seed. Who knows what tree it might become?"

Guddu: "*yawning* Goodnight, Dadi. May I be even a little bit like Sindhutai."

Dadi: "You already are, my kind boy. Every time you help without being asked, you're her child. Sleep well, little light."