Building on the success of YogaSeva, Hindu American Seva Charities is launching UtsavSeva (FestivalSeva), an initiative to conduct theme based community service throughout the year, highlighting the spiritual value of the major festival of that month.
The strength of the Dharmic culture (Hindu and other eastern faiths) is the multitude ways in which the Puranic, (ancient traditional stories and epics are brought to life through festivals. These festivals play an important role in expressing the spiritual significance in a celebratory, joyous ways while bringing people together. And, during this time, our traditions encourage seva in diverse ways.
In October, Navaratri honors the many aspects of Devi; symbolically of women’s strength. ShaktiSeva - “Listen, Learn and Inspire” each other.
In Diwali, removal of ignorance with the light of knowledge and triumph of goodness over evil is celebrated. The theme is DhanaSeva – resources empowerment (serve as resources of wealth of knowledge, goodness and economic empowerment) to do seva projects to promote education, economic help, awareness of the festival, job fairs, canned/boxed food to replenish local food banks for Thanksgiving, etc. within and outside our community.
During December HASC suggests SarvaDharmaSeva – Interfaith service – in which people from all faiths, including non-believers, can continue to foster respect and understanding. And, in the spirit of inter-faith cooperation: working on the holy days, (Christmas, Chanukah, Muharram, Kwanza) of other faiths.
No comments:
Post a Comment