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next morning he confirmed this. In the town of Koyna, south of Bombay, an earthquake had surprised the inhabitants and many many lives and homes were swallowed up. Again, Shree Chitrabhanuji raised funds to rehabilitate the villagers. The Jains of Kamatipura placed fifteen thousand rupees at his feet. Bhor Industries supplied clothing. Gurudev sent a team of helpers under Shri K. K. Modi to distribute the necessary items, to open dispensaries, and to organize the rebuilding of broken roads, homes, and schools. It was a joint effort in which the state government of Maharashtra, Gurudev's students, and the people put their energies together.
In 1968, the people of Gujarat and nearby Surat suffered from a torrential downpour of rain and overflooded rivers. Many homes were washed out. The village of Kavas was drowned completely in a flood of the river next to their homes. Under Shree Ravishankar Maharaj's guidance, the money donated to The Divine Knowledge Society was used to rebuild the entire village on a hillside so that the river water would not be able to reach it again. The state contributed the building materials freely, while The Divine Knowledge Society hired laborers to help the people rebuild homes, schools, and water pipes. Grateful for all this loving assistance, the people renamed their village Suvās, meaning fragrance.
Opening to the West
The message enshrined in Gurudev's books was beginning to reach out to other parts of the world, in particular Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. His recent book The Beacon was being used as a textbook in courses of philosophy and religion. From M. I. T., Professor Huston Smith wrote to Gurudev, “I appreciate the gesture at cross-cultural understanding which The Beacon represents and I am sharing it with my students.” The Divine Knowledge Society became a place where
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