The Heart of Service

Tags

awareness, duty, privilege, service

As best as I can surmise, today’s twenty minute stint was perhaps my shortest weekly walk on the trail in quite a while. The weather front was turning rain to sleet, which meant that it was cold, blustery, pellets were coming at me sideways from all directions and it was as grey and foreboding feeling as winter can be imagined.

And yet I wasn’t deterred because it is these weekly walks that have become my inspiration for the ideas that turn into the weekly blog post which I often write after the walk. The clarity, lightness and simplicity that flow from walking in solitude and observing the dynamics of flora and fauna creates a portal through which the thoughts flow into words on the page.

At the start of today’s walk, I set the intention to invite feelings and memories related to ‘service’ into the heart. Swami Vivekananda talked about the notion of ‘service as duty’ and how we often engage in service as a means to fulfill our sense of duty. In 12th grade, we actually had a ‘subject’ called SUPW — socially useful productive work — which was on the schedule for one hour a week. As a teenager, I used to often scoff at the idea that one could do any meaningful ‘service’ in one hour a week. As is often the case, I was wrong. It was during SUPW that I discovered the work of organizations like UNICEF, and gained some awareness of how privileged my life was as compared to millions of children around the world.

As I walked the trail around the pond on the soggy grass, skirting temporary lakelets created by yesterday’s heavy rains, I remembered my ‘service’ projects in engineering school. The Saturday morning hours set aside to meet the requirements of volunteer hours for the National Service Scheme (NSS) brought familiarity with the Red Cross, learning about blood donations and such. However, the sense of ‘service as duty’ remained.

It wasn’t until my visit to a ‘nursing home for disabled children’ on an NSS Saturday that my heart towards service finally shifted. The hands-on and heart-filling experiences of seeing, listening, simply sitting and walking with those with life-long impairments, mostly children of my age and below, was transformational. The heart-shift meant that I couldn’t wait for Saturday mornings to arrive so that I could go visit the home and spend time with those that I had formed mini-friendships with. Service transformed from a sense of ‘duty’ to a sense of ‘doing good’ — over time, the one benefiting most from the ‘goodness’ was actually me.

At the halfway mark on the trail, where the wind had died down because the path was flanked by thickets of trees, I took a pause and reflected on my experiences with service through SUPW and the NSS. It is said that there are no small acts of kindness, and I am convinced that it was those small acts of giving that opened my heart and mind to the power of small acts of service. To paraphrase Swami Vivekananda, the world doesn’t need our help — we need the world in order to exercise our ability to serve. Our heart needs the world, so that it can feel the joy of serving and eventually arrive at a state where we feel that service becomes a privilege, not mere duty.

It is said that in the midst of our serving, when our heart is fully immersed, we become observers of the One who is truly serving and the One who is truly being served. Service thus becomes the unifier of people.

We realize that the day’s walk is over, the storm has becalmed us and it is time to return home to warm up with a cup of green tea and share our heart of service with the world.

Thank you for serving. Namaste.

Kumud

P.S. Join us for our weekly twitter chat with the #SpiritChat community on Sunday, Jan 15 at 9amET / 2pmGMT. We will pause to remember Martin Luther King, Jr and discuss the topic of ‘heart of service’. Namaste – @AjmaniK

The heart of the rose has a unique aptitude for service…

On Service and Healing

Tags

healing, purity, purpose, remembrance, service, walking

By the time I completed my one or so hour’s weekly Friday morning walk on the trail, the landscape had changed considerably. The sun had risen higher in the sky above the trees, the shadows were shorter, the trail was brighter.

Let me go back to the start of the walk. A flock of migrating geese had laid claim to part of the trail’s entrance, which made me navigate a longer path than usual. Fair enough. They were there first, and they needed to feast on the grass more than I needed to walk on it! They did yield a bit of ground when they saw me, but I could sense from some honking that they were none too happy about it.

A few minutes into circling the pond, I saw a blue heron fly over with silent, effortless grace. It must have seen me coming, and as usual, wanted nothing to do with any human this early in the morning. A short while later, I managed to stir a gaggle of mallard ducks off of the pond. I was now three of three in managing to disturb three different sets of birds in a span of a few minutes. I surely wasn’t serving or healing them in any way today!

And yet, I felt my engagement with them, wordless as it was, serving me on this day as I processed some of my memories and emotions from twenty years ago. The highest example of service set by the first responders, fire fighters, police, medical personnel and thousands of others on that day is part of American history. Never to be forgotten. They served because they were compelled to answer the calls, and many paid with their lives for it. A lot of them, their families and friends, are still suffering, processing their grief and healing from that day.

As I continue my walk, I feel a sense of gratitude sweep over me for the fact that I was a witness to their acts of service. A sense of healing followed from the awareness that every one who served someone on that day became part of that history. The good karma of their service, and the healing that it effected, is forever embedded in their hearts and the hearts of those they served. Such is the nature of all acts of kindness, of goodness, of service to others — they all purify the server’s heart in ways big and small. Healing follows for the server and the recipient.

And so, I continue to walk the path because I have been inspired by so many who have oriented my heart towards an awareness to serve, to heal, and be healed in the process. I may not be able to serve everyone that I may come across – and just like the three sets of birds, I may even annoy them, but never mind that. I know that opportunities to serve will keep unfolding. I know that if I keep waking, walking and seeking, then it shall be given.

The Bhagavad Gita and many other scriptures say — Purify the heart through service or Seva and all the treasuries of truth, awareness and bliss shall be opened to you. That’s my inspiration to serve. I hope you find yours.

Kumud

P.S. Join in for our weekly virtual walk and Twitter gathering in #SpiritChat – Sunday September 12 at 9am ET / 630pm India. We will serve tea and cookies, and heal together. Namaste – @AjmaniK

Serving and healing the community by planting new flowers…

The Spirit of Loyalty

Tags

heart matters, loyalty, poetry, service, spirituality

“I am loyal to the throne. Who are you loyal to?”

It is interesting that we can watch a two-plus hour movie (during a polar vortex shut-in) filled with action, and the one fragment that adheres to us, days later. In the movie “Black Panther”, the question above was asked by Okoye (the General) of Nakia (the future Queen), in the moments after there is upheaval in the country of Wakanda.

I thought about the question that evening, and it kept returning to my brain box for a few days. I am still thinking about it. Let us begin at the beginning. What is loyalty? One definition of loyalty is a strong feeling of support of allegiance. The other synonyms are faithfulness, obedience, adherence, devotion and the like. It would seem that loyalty would be a good quality or virtue to develop in our character, yes?

Before we answer the original question (who are we loyal to?), maybe we can reflect on some related questions. Where does our sense of loyalty come from? What qualities in others incite, grow and sustain loyalty within us? What makes our loyalties wax and wane over time? Have you experienced real-world examples of long-term, unwavering, even permanent loyalty in your life? If so, how did such examples of loyalty influence you, your life?

Now that we have put the questions out upfront, we can reflect on them and probe for the answers. If we choose not to probe, we can cast the questions out like seeds, and wait for the answers to bloom in their own time. Either way, if we remain loyal to the process of asking, and then provide space and time for the answers to be received by us, the process has a chance of working. In this increasingly hurried world, we can perhaps reflect on the question – how loyal are we to the process of receiving (answers)?

But I digress a bit. As I asked myself some of the questions about loyalty, one common answer that seemed to emerge was that a lot of our loyalties, allegiances, adherences, even devotions – are transitional and transient in nature. Time and space and relationships change as we transit through life, and so do our loyalties. Even the long-term loyalties of satellites (moons) to planets are constantly changing (albeit ever so slightly) over time. (Aside: what examples of ‘deep loyalty’ may Mother Nature reveal to us?) So what chance do we mere mortals, of finite life-spans, have of developing and honoring permanent loyalty?

Maybe we need to look beyond, if we are to experience a permanent sense of loyalty. Our physical frames of existence and our actions within them, bound as they are by time, space and causation, are bound by impermanence. Hence, the resulting loyalties are (mostly) impermanent. What if we were to go beyond the physical, and into the spiritual domain? If we were to become and be meditative, examine our heartspace and feel our heartsense, what deeper loyalties may be revealed in That light?

Before she asked that question of Nakia, Okoye actually said… “I am loyal to the throne, no matter who sits on it“. If we ask the same question of our heart, what will be the reply? Who sits on our heart’s throne? Who are we really loyal to? Does that relationship have a nature of permanence?

Kumud @AjmaniK

On behalf of the #SpiritChat community, I invite you to join us for a conversation on this topic – Sunday, February 3 at 9amET / 730pm India. We would love to know – who sits on your heart’s throne? Namaste.

Postscript: Fragments of a poem, that keep coming, as answers to the question… if you can think of additions, please share in the comments… Namaste…

There may be be love without cause,
Just because…
But what is the nature, of cause without love?

There may be clouds without rain,
With loud refrain…
But what is the worth, of rain without clouds?

There may be heat without light,
Warming the night…
But have we felt the love, of light without heat?

There can be sight without vision,
A heart’s decision…
But can there be vision without sight?

– A Traveler’s Loyalty

On Healing and Service

Tags

healing, mathematics, sacrifice, service, simplicity

The upcoming week will be the week of September 11th observances across the USA. The events of seventeen years ago, and the heroic acts of courage and service that transpired on that day, and in the weeks and months that followed, will be recounted and remembered. The countless stories of those who answered the call, chose to serve and respond in order to rescue those in need, will forever remain with us and inspire us.

The healing continues to this day. Some of the first-responders, volunteers and health personnel who served in the immediate vicinity of the towers suffer long-term health consequences. Many others who were witness to the events, in person or in cities across the USA, are perhaps still healing. The ones who personally lost friends and family and acquaintances – their need for healing is perhaps the greatest.

Regardless of the breadth and depth of healing required, it is perhaps our commitment to remembrance which has the greatest power to heal. Remembrance does not mean that we dig up old wounds with anger, hate and recrimination. That only serves to reverse our healing progress. Remembrance can mean a re-commitment and a re-affirmation to walk in loving action of the path of those who inspired us to serve.

One hundred and eight years to the day before September 11 2001, there was another event in Chicago, where a hitherto unknown monk representing India said:

As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee.

– Swami Vivekananda, September 11 1893

It is often that the mind tends to forget the stream of love and goodness that runs through the hearts of those who serve for the sake of purity of service. When the mind’s focus is on those who use arithmetic progression to increase evil, the heart tends to forget the embrace and sacrifice of those who employ service as a means of geometric progression to propagate healing goodness.

Geometric progression of healing begins with you and me. Progress is sustained by our orientation towards serving with an attitude of gratitude – gratitude for our ability and awareness to serve, and for being given opportunities to serve the greater good. It is through our loving attitude towards service that we can plant the seeds of healing in those we serve, and equally importantly, within ourselves.

I often wondered what my high-school motto of ‘Service before Self’ really meant. The history of two events, on September 11th, one hundred and eight years apart, have given me a better understanding. Service before self is an opportunity to heal. Service is a geometric progression whose common ratio is greater than one, and whose sum brings us closer to the infinity of Self with every action.

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. Join us for our weekly conversation with the #SpiritChat community – Sunday September 9th at 9amET / 630pm India on twitter. Share your thoughts on service, healing and (geometric) progression… Namaste.

Nature heals… through ‘service’

On Duty and Service

Tags

action, duty, service

In the first post of 2018, I had talked about the XYZ of spiritual actions. During the weekly Sunday conversation, the question asked by some of the community members was – “in some way, aren’t all actions spiritual in nature?”. Some posed the question a different way – “are there any actions that are not of a spiritual nature?”.

These beautiful questions led me to consider the ideas of service and duty, as related to our actions. I went back to re-read some portions of my dog-eared “Karma Yoga” book that contains several essays by Swami Vivekananda, describing “The Yoga of Action”. Some of the essays therein are titled “Each is great in his own place”, “The Secret of Work”, “What is Duty”, and more. You get the idea – it is my go-to companion when I have a question about “action” that needs some clarity.

The essay titled “what is duty” delves into how the definition of “duty” can vary, based upon our upbringing, the values we are imbued with, the role(s) that we may be playing in the society that we may currently live in, and so on. The nature of duty is that it is flexible, and that it varies in time and space, as we live our lives. Among all the varying hues of “what is our duty”, there seems to be universal agreement on one idea of duty:

“Do not injure any being – not injuring any being is virtue”. – Vivekananda

The notion of “duty” can also create internal friction. What is my duty as a brother? As a father? As a husband? As a son? As a volunteer? As a spiritual seeker? The answer that I give to each of these questions often determines the nature and the attitude with which I perform my daily actions. Some mornings, particularly when it is oh-so-cold outside, I would rather sleep in than face my duties of the day. So how do I overcome this internal friction? One answer is to remember the gift of pure love and joy for the work that a sense of duty has brought to me. When I learn to act with unselfishness, without motive, the coarse friction of duty can quickly dissolve into love – like the grains of brown sugar in a cup of warm tea…

Yet it is work done through the sense of duty that leads us to work without any idea of duty; when work will become worship – nay, something higher – then work will be done for its own sake” – Vivekananda

And so it is that a sense of duty can subtly transform into a sense of service. Heaviness (duty) transforms into lightness (service) when viewed through the lens of selflessness. A sense of service elevates us from a lower plane (of existence) to a higher plane, where the Self can shine through. How do we transform, rise? It is by doing the duty next to us, in whatever role that we find ourselves. We gain strength by doing so. And we go from strength to strength, to higher states, by doing our actions with as much love, joy and selflessness as we can imbue into them.

Our attitude of service (before self), even as we keep doing whatever happens to be our duty, can thus becomes the secret of work.

What are your thoughts on duty and service? What has been your experience with the two? Are they different or are they the same for you? When we develop an attitude of service (towards others), do we really help them or do we actually help our own selves?

Kumud @AjmaniK

P.S. We continue our ‘action-based’ theme for this New Year of 2018 with a conversation about ‘Duty and Service’ – Sunday, January 14th 2018 at 9amET/2pmUTC on twitter. Please join us! If you have ideas, questions or suggestions for the #SpiritChat community in 2018, please share in the comments. Namaste, and thank you! -Kumud.

In the middle of a heavy winter, a light spring broke through… as duty seemed to transform to service…

A Spirit of Service

Tags

freedom, sacrifice, service, spiritchat, spirituality

In lieu of the weekly post reflecting my views, I researched the views of some famous (and not so famous) servers in history on this week’s topic of “Service”. I share them with you, in the hope that they will inspire thought, reflection, and service through action.

I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve. – Albert Schweitzer

Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all other pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy. –
Mahatma Gandhi

When we help we do not really serve… . Serving is also different from fixing. One of the pioneers of the Human Potential Movement, Abraham Maslow, said, “If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.’ Seeing yourself as a fixer may cause you to see brokenness everywhere, to sit in judgment of life itself. When we fix others, we may not see their hidden wholeness or trust the integrity of the life in them. Fixers trust their own expertise. When we serve, we see the unborn wholeness in others; we collaborate with it and strengthen it. Others may then be able to see their wholeness for themselves for the first time. –
Rachel Naomi Remen

The highest excellence is like water. The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying, without striving, the low place which all men dislike.
– Laozi (Lao Tzu)

How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.
– Anne Frank

Joy can be real only if people look upon their life as a service, and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness.
– Leo Tolstoy

To the wrongs that need resistance,
To the right that needs assistance,
To the future in the distance, Give yourselves.
– Carrie Chapman

If I can stop one heart from breaking,
I shall not live in vain.
If I can ease one life the aching, Or cool one pain,
Or help one fainting robin Unto his nest again,
I shall not live in vain.
– Emily Dickinson

He who wishes to secure the good of others, has already secured his own.
– Confucius

Everybody can be great… because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.
– Martin Luther King, Jr.

Nobody made a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could do only a little.
– Edmund Burke

Let us remember that, as much has been given us, much will be expected from us, and that true homage comes from the heart as well as from the lips, and shows itself in deeds.
- Theodore Roosevelt

Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world. –
Ramana Maharshi

We will draw inspiration from the above quotes, and have a conversation dedicated to those who have served, and continue to serve the greater good, in whatever capacity they can. Please join us, Sunday, May 24th at 9amET (Memorial Day Sunday in the USA) on twitter in #SpiritChat.

Namaste,

Kumud

On Play, Service, the Mind and Inner Peace

Tags

mind, peace, play, service

The month of September started with our weekly Sunday conversation on twitter discussing the nature of play, and how playfulness influences our spiritual health. The consensus of the community seemed to be that we don’t nearly play enough as adults (as compared to children), and that if we incorporated more of this sense of play into our daily lives, we would be much better of in all areas of our lives.

The role of Service was our topic of discussion on the second Sunday of September. The concept of “service before self” was explored and we examined whether this is a realizable ideal or not in today’s fast-pace world. One theme that emerged during this chat was that we have to make service to others a priority in our lives – and that the lack of doing this can stunt our spiritual growth.

The third Sunday in September was a discussion on one of my favorite topics – the nature of the Mind. The mind can be our best friend and yet, when unrestrained (like the loose reins of a chariot), it can be lead us astray in response to the inputs from our senses. Several concepts like discretion, discrimination and intellect were brought forward during this particular chat, and will be explored in future discussions.

Inner Peace was our topic for the fourth Sunday of September – perhaps a natural follow-on to the discussion on the nature of the mind. Some questions that were explored during this chat were – where does inner peace come from? what disturbs it? what techniques can we use to maintain inner peace, and so on. A theme that emerged from this chat was that inner and outer peace are deeply interconnected, and that our inner peace impacts our families and communities deeply.

This brings us to the final Sunday of September. As has become tradition, we will try and find the common thread among the topics of the past month, and look forward to the next month of October. I invite you to join the #SpiritChat community on Sunday September 30th at 9am ET / 2pm UK / 6:30 India as we continue our journey on twitter.

I hope you will join us,

Kumud

Update: Here is the html Transcript for the chat. Here is the pdf version for download. Also see the questions asked during the live chat held Sep 30th 2012 at 9am ET. Feel free to answer in the comments or tweet with hashtag #spiritchat to share your answers with the community.

Q1. Let's begin with play. What are a few, NEW playful things you did in September? #SpiritChat

Q2. Spiritual growth is serious work. Not much room for play. Agree or disagree? Why?  #SpiritChat

Q3. What is it about trying NEW, creative play that lights up our spirit? #SpiritChat 

Q4. Service before Self. Who did you observe practice this recently? Please share. #SpiritChat 

Q5. What changes occur in our minds when we engage in service to others? #SpiritChat

Q6. What are some occasions when your mind feels most at rest? During play? During Service? #SpiritChat

Q7. How does the state of your mind affect you inner peace? #SpiritChat 

Q8. What three lessons will you take from September into October? #SpiritChat 

Service and the Spirit

Tags

self, service, spirit, spiritchat

The motto that we wore on our school crest said – “Service Before Self”. It wasn’t until I had graduated from high-school that I truly understood the meaning of those three words, even though we carried them close to our hearts for a long time. We all have read (and perhaps practiced) similar phrases like “the greatest leader is the greatest server” and “it is always better to give than to receive”. However, just like most habits that need regular practice and incorporation into our daily lives, the development of a mindset of service is an ongoing effort for me.

In our daily lives, with our tasks, our agendas, our goals and our missions, we may get so focused on accomplishing what we need in the now that we may lose sight of how our actions truly serve others. Some may posit that it isn’t possible for us to align our day-to-day actions with an attitude of service – unless, perhaps, we happen to be in a service-based industry as part of our jobs. Others may rationalize that as long as we do our own duty with integrity, all else will fall into place – and we need not concern ourselves with serving others.

According to Swami Vivekananda – we need to consider the ability to serve others, as a privilege, that is granted to us. It is an opportunity for us to get in touch with our higher selves as we give away our time, energy, resources, or even attention, to those who may need it. Service is a choice that we make to sacrifice our lower Self to reach the plateau of our higher Self.

The only way of getting our divine nature manifested is by helping others to do the same – Swami Vivekananda (collected works, Vol 6.319)

So, what do you think? Is “Service Before Self” practical in today’s busy world? Does an attitude and/or a choice to Serve without prejudice lead us forward on our spiritual path? Are you engaged in a service-oriented role outside of your profession? If so, how? Who, in your opinion, is an inspiration to you as a model of selfless service? 

I invite you to join the #SpiritChat community on Sunday September 9th at our regular time of 9am ET / 2pm UK / 6:30 India as we explore some of these questions and explore the nature and attitude of Service…

Kumud

Reference: The Spirit of Service – chat held September 11th 2011

Postscript: As we stand on the cusp of the 11th anniversary of September 11th, one would be remiss not to mention the service of those who served the country and gave their all on that day to save the lives of many. Some of them still suffer the long-term after-effects of their service. They cared not whether they lived or died in the cause of their duty. They truly did embody “Service Before Self”. Thank you. You are not forgotten.

Update: Here is the Transcript for chat on Service. Also see the questions asked during the live chat held Sep 9th 2012 at 9am ET. Feel free to answer in the comments or tweet with hashtag #spiritchat to share your answers with the community.

Q1. What does the phrase "spirit of service" mean to you? #SpiritChat 

Q2. What factors prevent us from serving at the levels we know we are capable of? #SpiritChat 

Q3. If service really benefits the server more than the served, is it selfish to serve? Why or why not? #SpiritChat

Q4. What qualities need to develop within us to render meaningful service to others? #SpiritChat

Q5. Service before Self. Is this a realizable ideal in today's world? How? #SpiritChat

Q6. How does engaging in selfless service impact our spirit? The spirit of others? #SpiritChat

Q7. Who are a few (living) role models (people, organizations) of selfless service for you? #SpiritChat

Final Q8. State your service philosophy in seven words. #SpiritChat 

The Spirit of Service ~ #SpiritChat Sun Sep 11

Tags

service, spirit, spiritchat

I have struggled for days with the timing of this chat, as it happens to fall on Sunday,  September 11th 2011. As we all know, it is the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the USA. My struggle was ~ should I be even hosting a chat at 9am EDT on Sep 11th  (which is awfully close to the timing of the first plane striking the twin towers in New York City)?

As I tossed this around in my head, in the midst of one of the busiest weeks in recent times (from a ‘work’ perspective), clarity came in the middle of a conversation with my daughter.

Yes. The chat should go on. It isn’t that the chat is more important than the memory of those who were victims of the attack. But, yes, the chat can be a vehicle for us to pay homage to them by gathering together via social media, and expressing what is on our hearts and minds.

There were many who had no choice ~ they were stuck in those buildings with no apparent escape ~ and then there were those ~ the policemen, the fire-fighters and the ordinary citizens, who voluntarily chose to go into those fiery buildings to serve and rescue those who needed help.

They all served. And some paid the ultimate price by dying for those they sought to rescue. And some are still suffering the health effects of serving those they rescued.

So, let us gather and talk about the ‘Spirit of Service’ ~ what motivates people to serve at such high levels? What can we learn from serving others? And more such questions.

I humbly invite you to come and share at 9am EDT on Sunday Sep 11th. In addition, I will be hosting a special edition at 7pm PST (10pm EDT on Sunday).

And if neither hour is convenient for you ~ because you are perhaps serving your family, your community or your country at that hour ~ please share some thoughts via the comments below with the #SpiritChat community. 

Thank You. And Namaste ~ the spirit of service in me acknowledges the spirit in you.

Kumud

P.S. And let us not forget our neighbor, Canada, whose towns and communities served and hosted hundreds of airplanes and their passengers for many days after 9/11 because US airspace was closed after the attacks. Thank you.