Chairman and Management Trustee (AIM FOR SEVA)
Inspired by her Guru, Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Ms. Sheela Balaji, Chairperson and Managing Trustee of AIM for Seva and Swami Dayananda Educational Trust (SDET) has directed her efforts towards educating rural India. Under her stewardship, AIM for Seva now has a K2K presence, Karnaprayag to Kanyakumari, spanning 190 projects, touching the lives of over 20 million individuals.
At Manjakkudi village in Tiruvarur district, Tamil Nadu, the birthplace of Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati, Ms. Balaji directly oversees the functioning of three educational institutions and related projects. These include a Vedapatashala and a Vedanta study centre. As part of sustainable living initiatives, she has been the driving force behind the revival, cultivation and re-introduction of over 272 heritage rice varieties from across India under the label, Spirit of the Earth (SOTE). This initiative includes maintaining a gaushala for indigenous breeds of cattle at Manjakkudi.
To facilitate the dissemination of the spiritual wisdom received from her teacher, Ms. Balaji also established the Arsha Vidya Research & Publications Trust (AVRPT), of which she is the Chairperson and Managing Trustee. AVRPT is the single-source centre for editing and publishing the teachings of Pujya Swami Dayananda Saraswati. She has authored a biography on her Guru as well as books on Vedanta.
Ms. Balaji received the ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar 2017’ award from the Ministry of Women & Child Development. This award is one of the highest civilian honours bestowed exclusively upon inspirational women. Recently, she was made a non officio member of the Council of the National Culture Fund, Ministry of Culture, Government of India for a three year period till March 2025.