Nate Natesan-The Swacch Devalaya’s
Relentless One- Man Army

By Mahadev Desai
Each year CNN receives thousands of nominations for CNN Heroes out of which
it honors ten “Everyday individuals doing extraordinary things to change the
world”. This year Atlanta resident Nate Natesan is nominated by over 700
families for this prestigious honor. People consider Nate as “our Atlanta
hero”, doing what no one wants to do. Nate, is living Mahatma Gandhi's words
"Be the change you want to see in the world". Nate has been putting our
sandals in racks and promoting awareness to keep temples clean. He believes
purity of soul begins with self-discipline.
Nate Natesan is the pioneer of world-wide Swacch Devalaya reform movement,
started in 2006 initially at various sathsangh events, later extended to
temples and social media.
Facebook: Swacch Devalaya and Nate Natesan
Nate’s Vision - Swacch Devalaya and Swacch Manasalaya – Swacch Bharat. (Swacch
Manasalaya – Self-Introspection prayer to evolve overcoming our vasanas,
failings and temptation. (See Facebook cover)


Success Stories:
1) Launched swacch devalaya in Facebook and various temples in June 2014 (Nate
visits nearby temples regularly at peak hours and temples far away for
festivals. Nate also attends various social events in the community to
promote awareness for discipline.)
2) The movement to promote discipline and self esteem is gaining momentum
with heartening change and awareness among children too for 5S (sort,
straighten, shine, standardize, sustain) which is ingrained in the Japanese
and western culture.
3) Over 1000 families expressed eagerness to nominate Nate as CNN hero
4) Major temples in Atlanta have embraced swacch devalaya in concept and
honored Swacch Devalaya https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmud9GiQbYE
5) Nate introduced Numbered Bag System to augment capacity.
6) TV Asia USA/Canada, covered the story in Dec. 2014, shot at Shirdi Sai
mandir. Please see TV Asia Video in fb page swacch devalaya (Apr 3, 2016)
7) Please visit Nate’s interview on www.theinnerview.org by Viju Chilluveru
a free-lance journalist
8) NRI Pulse a local newspaper covered the story in Aug. 2014 -http://www.nripulse.com/swacch-devalaya-lets-keep-our-temples-clean/
9) Nate is blessed by his guru Swamini Svatmavidyananda, (disciple of Pujya
Swami Dayanand Saraswati) for his role in promoting Swacch Devalaya and
Swacch Manasalaya.

When asked what inspired him to start Swacch Devalaya movement he says it
was at the Sunday Bal Vihar class of Chinamaya Mission where he was struck
by the mess of sandals thrown carelessly on the floor without any concern
for cleanliness, or order. He started arranging sandals neatly on the floor.
Thus Swacch Devalaya was launched, the name coined from Swacch Bharat in
2014. Until 2014 Nate has been arranging the sandals himself which enables
him to stand tall at temples and manage a large throng of devotees and
ensure all sandals are kept in racks or numbered bags. He still does arrange
sandals neatly when necessary and offers to help people who may need help.
Nate says we teach yoga to the world. But we lack internal discipline.
Patanjali’s yoga sutra prescribes yama and Niyama for internal discipline as
the first two steps followed by good postures, correct breathing, control of
senses, meditation, control over mind and finally Moksha.
Nate’s love for community inspires him to do what no one even thought of. He
fearlessly drives the movement to raise awareness to civic sense, to
inculcate cleanliness at all places including leaving sandals neatly lined
at social parties, parking cars in an orderly way, adhering to a single line
for aarti and Prasad, respecting rules of temple and public property. “There
is organic change” say people, “children are better organized at home and
Swacch Devalaya comes to mind wherever the question of cleanliness arises”.
Nate says we are proud of our Hindu heritage and the highest values depicted
in scriptures, but forget Hinduism is a way of life to be practiced.

Nate from Mumbai has a degree in Maths from Bombay University and MBA in
Fiance from Rutgers University NJ, and has worked in several major
International companies in Mumbai, Pune, New Jersey and Atlanta, USA. “I am
a financial, business analyst and daring to think out of the box is my
nature”. Nate has conceived several ideas including DVR, a unique twelve
page brochure on concepts of tennis, Self-introspection prayer which is
swacch manasalaya that seeks the grace of the higher power to evolve. He
shares Self-Introspection leaf-let with people of all faiths and also
,strangers at public places which is extremely well received and considered
as a universal message of peace with oneness,at the haert of all faiths.
Nate conveys his good wishes to his friends of diverse faiths on their
birthdays with the well-known sloka or hymn from our Upanishads (Asato maa
sad gamaya) explaining that essence. Nate’s spiritual awakening was
triggered by messages from Upanishads, Bhagwad Gita and discourses of
acharyas from various institutions. He says there is something to learn from
even a common person.

As a member of the Sathya Sai Group, he rendered many services including
volunteering in soup kitchens. Nate’s vision is “An army of volunteers to
tutor children who get no help at home towards learning. Eevn fifty (50)
hours in a year can go a long way. This is one way to fight poverty and
bridge inequities”.
Every NRI knows about Swacch Bharat. Nate wants the same awareness in every
NRI for swacch devalaya. He is looking for support in promoting awareness in
social media from people, community leaders, Mahatmas and world-wide leaders
of spiritual and Seva based institutions. With awareness people take pride
in putting sandals in a rack. If we cannot promote cleanliness among
educated people at temples in the western world where there is a system in
place and high civic sense, Swacch Bharat will remain a pipe dream.
Unfortunately people hesitate promoting the message to others ,though so
many came forward to tell the story to CNN. Nate continues to be a one man
army, not affiliated to any social or cultural Association. He is cheered on
from the sidelines by devotees, temple management and the priests. Nate is a
familiar figure wearing a swacch devalaya vest at various temples and events
in Atlanta including several events in the Telugu community. Recently Nate
experienced heartwarming success at the Maharashta Mandal Ganesh Utsav and
garbha events at Ambhaji Shakti mandir and at the Gujarati Samaj of Atlanta.
As Winston Churchill said, tasks that seem ordinary, can turn everyday
people into heroes. Nate says “We have to come out of the box. We put
everyone in a box and thus end up in a box. We need to grow out of apathy
and inhibitions and not blindly follow the crowd. There are plenty of social
causes to be addressed. Money does not solve all problems.”
Nate believes in “Just Do it” and “Leaving the lights on for all. He opens
the heavy doors for devotees at the temples to open his heart to one and
all. He says he has many failings to overcome and he has a long way to go
towards evolving. When asked about his spiritual sadhanas he said I don’t
want to just keep dribbling the basket-ball, I want to share and pass the
ball to play in God’s team.