Lassya Alliance is a formulation aimed at bringing together professionals and individuals committed to humanitarian services, community development, poverty amelioration, capability building and nation building. Lassya Alliance is an Indian organization created for, by and comprising Indians the world over. This is a wholly indigenous Indian initiative comprising persons aware of the Indian dimension of social issues.
GUIDING PRINCIPLES
Lassya’s chosen path of professionals joining together to use their skills and passion to make a difference in their communities is one that fosters pride in Lassya Alliance Members.
In addition to our governance documents, Lassya Alliance and districts should be familiar with Lassya’s guiding principles and value statements in order to carry out the mission and understand its history of commitment to professionalism and service. The following is a selection of value statements and principles that Lassya Alliance Members and Alliances use to inspire their involvement and engagement in Lassya.
STATEMENT ON COMMUNITY SERVICE
A Statement of Purpose on Community Service has been adopted at the Inaugural Convention. It is included in the Manual of Procedures because of its holistic value.
In Lassya, Community Service is to encourage and foster the application of the ideal of service in each Lassya Alliance Member’s personal, business, and community life.
About the term Lassya: Lassya in the context of mythology, describes the dance performed by Goddess Parvati. It expresses happiness and is filled with grace and beauty. Goddess Parvati is said to have danced the Lassya in response to the male energy of the cosmic dance of Tandava performed by Lord Shiva. Female energy is the essence of human existence. Concern, care and compassion abound in the Divine Goddess. The feminine is also linked with healing: women are the healers of the world! It is Lassya Alliance’s endeavour to ensure that characteristics of the Divine Goddess are invoked into the society. Masculine power and feminine power are both essential for the creation of harmony in the world. The Chinese call this the Yin and the Yang!
The name, Lassya has, therefore been very carefully chosen to connote and be synonymous with concern, care and compassion.
“Building capabilities grassroots up”
Lassya Alliance resonates governmental initiative to “build capabilities grassroots up”.
The need of the hour for a sustainable model of economic growth is to drive employability and incubate entrepreneurship at the micro level. That is exactly what The Lassya Charitable Trust aims to achieve!
Employment potential of rural youth is abounding and a concerted effort to make these youth employable is the challenge that has spurred Lassya into action form the grassroots up. Helping young rural entrepreneurs turn their ideas into viable businesses opportunities under the tutelage of our mentors aims at generating the necessary social enterprise to create infrastructure for helping the farmers, at the micro level, to manage and market their produce effectively, efficiently and profitably. The overriding objective being to make the farmers economically stable and independent without any dependence on the trader community and their debilitating effect on them.
LA welcomes individuals to join the Lassya Family and be a part of the new social initiative to “build capabilities grassroots up”!
In carrying out this application of the ideal of service, Lassya Alliance may develop various community service activities as affording opportunities for service by their members. For the guidance of Lassya Alliance Members and to formulate a policy for Lassya Alliance toward community service activities, the following principles are recognized and accepted as sound and controlling:
1) Fundamentally, Lassya is a philosophy of life that undertakes to reconcile the ever-present conflict between the desire to profit for one’s self and the duty and consequent impulse to serve others. This philosophy is the philosophy of service – “Service Above Self” and is based on the practical ethical principle that “He That Serves Mankind Most, Serves God Best.” (Translated from the Sanskrit Quote: ‘Manava Sevay Madhava Seva’.
2) Primarily, a Lassya Alliance is a group of representative business and professional people who have accepted the Lassya philosophy of service and are seeking:
First, to study collectively the theory of service as the true basis of success and happiness in business and in life; and second, to give, collectively, practical demonstrations of it to themselves and their community; and third, each as an individual, to translate its theory into practice in business and in everyday life; and fourth, individually and collectively, by active precept and example, to stimulate its acceptance both in theory and practice by all non-Lassya Alliance Members as well as by all Lassya Alliance Members.
3) Lassya is an organization that exists:
- for the protection, development, and worldwide propagation of the Lassya ideal of service;
- for the establishment, encouragement, assistance, and administrative supervision of Lassya Alliance;
- as a clearing house for the study of their problems and, by helpful suggestion but not compulsion, for the standardization of their practices and of such community service activities, and only such community service activities, as have already been widely demonstrated by many clubs as worthwhile and as are within, and will not tend to obscure, the Object of Lassya Alliance as set out in the Lassya Alliance constitution.
4) Because they who serve must act, LA is not merely a state of mind, nor Lassya philosophy merely subjective, but must translate itself into objective activity; and the individual Lassya Alliance member and the Lassya Alliance must put the theory of service into practice. Accordingly, corporate action by Lassya Alliance is recommended under the safeguards provided herein. It is desirable that every Lassya Alliance sponsor, undertake a major community service activity each fiscal year, varied from year to year if possible, and to be completed if possible before the end of the fiscal year. This activity is to be based upon a real community need and should require the collective cooperation of all its members. This is to be in addition to the Alliance’s continuing its program for the stimulation of the club members to individual service within the community.
5) Each individual Lassya Alliance has absolute autonomy in the selection of such community service activities as appeal to it and as are suited to its community; but no alliance should allow any community service activity to obscure the Object of Lassya Alliance or jeopardize the primary purpose for which a Lassya Alliance is organized; and Lassya Alliance, although it may study, standardize, and develop such activities as are general and make helpful suggestions regarding them, should never prescribe nor proscribe any community service activity for any Alliance.