Genesis of Sevalaya: realization of a childhood vision​

The thought process that later led to the formation of Sevalaya was born when V Muralidharan was 11 years old. While reading a poem by Mahakavi Bharathiyar, he came across an intense verse that said: “There’s nothing holier than providing education to the poor”. This mantra germinated as Sevalaya, which means “Temple of Service”. Around the same time, young Muralidharan used to visit Sri Ramakrishna Math and got inspired by the powerful quotes of Swami Vivekananda. “Even if a dog goes hungry in this world, what is the point in having so many Gods, so many religions, so many temples?”, Swami Vivekananda had asked persuasively. The mantra for feeding the hungry later took the shape of homes for the destitute, the poor and the orphans. Another lasting influence on young Muralidharan was Mahatma Gandhi’s autobiography, “The Story of My Experiments with Truth”, Gandhiji’s vision of villages becoming self supporting and self- dependent later shaped Sevalaya’s blueprint for rural development. Sevalaya came into being in May 1988. By then, Muralidharan had gained the confidence to do so, having finished his Engineering degree from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and spent 4 years in the IT industry. Muralidharan gave up his lucrative and flourishing career with Tata Consultancy Services in 2009, after completing 25 years in the IT industry, to devote full time to Sevalaya.

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