Seva reflections... and learning to come.... by Ramaa Reddy Raghavan
As I prepare to attend the first HASC Dharmic Seva conference on July 30th at Georgetown University, I am impressed by the variety of speakers who will be making presentations in the fields of religion, heath, well-being and the environment. My goal for this conference is that we each leave with practical, simple seva plans than can be instituted within our communities - be it in schools, places of worship or workspaces.
Seva, is a term I have greatly admired. In one of Vivekananda’s speeches ‘Secret of Work’ he speaks of Karma-Yoga: the practice to serve without asking questions, without expecting gratitude but rather to be grateful to them for giving you the opportunity to practice charity. Many great men like Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and more recently Anna Hazare have used these principles to improve the lives of the downtrodden.Using simple, cost effective methods Hazare transformed his drought ridden village, Ralegan Siddhi into one that today is self-sufficient and thriving. For his outstanding civic service, Hazare was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the government of India.
Selfless love given without any expectation of reward is the secret to making this country and world a better place. Let us set forth with this spirit and activate change.
Ramaa is a broadcast multimedia journalist and has just graduated from the Columbia School of Journalism. She covers lifestyles, especially areas relating to yoga and immigrant education. Her pieces have appeared on Huffington Post, Feet In Two Words and yogacitynyc.com
No comments:
Post a Comment