Lord Baden Powell in his wisdom & foresight

LORD BADEN POWELL

(1857-1941)

Lord Baden Powell in his wisdom & foresight wanted the Boy Scouts to be true to themselves & to God. Is it any wonder then that the Scout Promise has as its driving motivation, the words “On my honour, I will do my duty to God” as its starting phrase? Perhaps, the Chief Scout understood the value of our actions stemming from our attitude to God.

God is love & if we understand this concept then perhaps it is easier to gauge the immense visionary foresight of Lord Baden Powell in his wisdom to place emphasis on God. God is love & every action oriented towards our fellow-beings, our brothers & sisters is an outpouring of our love of God. The working of the ‘divine’ in each of our lives is evident through our personal experiences.

If having understood well that God is indeed love, we will experience the working of God

in our own lives & the consequent actions that we perform daily to emphasize the fact that all our

actions are born out of love. When we understand that God or the Divine is at work in us, then all our thoughts, words, deeds are an outpouring of that love from within our hearts. In such a scenario, each person that we encounter in our daily lives reminds us to relate or interact with them as an image of God. The workings of God in our own lives & in the lives of those around us, invite us all to be holy. This holiness then is part & part of our character formation. It is a reminder that though each of us is unique in our own way, together all of us can be heralds of a society that is morally upright, virtuous & holy in our being & doing. Holiness is then, in the Chief Scout’s understanding not just for the sake of an individual. It has to pay dividends for the transformation of society as a whole. Though we may be belonging to different faith persuasions – Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Jain, Buddhist, Christian, etc. we are all members of one

body, the human family. 

Scouting inspires selfless service, yet this spirit of service & self-sacrifice arises out of our

deep conviction & belief in the Divine Being or God who loves us & invites each of us to share this love with others. “Selfishness is almost a universal evil. However, in & through Scouting, it is transformed into selflessness, being based upon the development of service for others, and the Daily Good Turn is an important factor in the development of a habit of service and attitude of mind which offset a tendency to selfishness.”

Scouting’s focus on doing a good turn fits so well

with the ideals of service taught by so many religions. Service truly is the gateway to happiness

and friendship. Cheerful service associated with the Scout & Guide movement is a sure sign of

the call to holiness that each of us has to respond to!