As this time again I almost make it to my voyage to home, thoughts, hopes and wishes assail my mind. There is also a shade of fear and apprehensions that lurk behind. As you cannot separate light from its eternal twin, the shadow, so the possibility of an unfulfilled desire, or disappointment from an audacious hope, from the courage to dream.
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Hopes and apprehensions
Images and Reflections
Glittering in myriad waves, kissed by the gentle breeze-
The stars aglow, witness to the divine union:
The dark canopy, solemnizing, breathing life in silence.
His soft hair, confused, hesitates on his forehead
The dimple on his cheek and the light in his eyes
Tells you the story is not new, another chapter has just begun…
As the dusk turns from red to purple
The chirping birds become lazy and tired,
The woman and the candle wait for his return…
It is dawn somewhere else, afternoon at another…it is not the end.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Seva : Boon or Bane?
There was this interesting exchange of emails on the efficacy of Seva or service on one hand, and its shortcomings elitist nature on the other, by two of my friends. Both had a very valid and rational reasoning behind their argument. I will quote from their emails and then will put forward my own ideas :
Service humanizes :
"For instance, in my recent visit to India, me and my mamaji decided to clean our street with our own hands. I wanted to see what it takes to do the 'dirty work' which we all educated people scoff at or expected 'somebody else' do it. We cleared the garbage and also cleaned the area where people normally urinate. While we did it for half-an-hour lots of passers by were curious to know what was going on. The town is small and lot of people know us personally and I felt happy that atleast people noticed and understood the importance. Well! that was not the end. Once we were done, our neighbour (who were watching us since begenning) came out with 4-5 guys and tools (spade and brooms) and did much better than we did. I did the same thing when I visited a very famous village temple in our area. While I was cleaning the garbage I was happy to see that somebody else from crowd joined me and did a better job. It is easy to replicate.
Moral: Everybody loves to live in clean place. If you want something to happen, GO DO IT.
Service is elitist:
"Doing something when you have options and doing the same thing when you don't have options, are totally different things.
We did this experiment of cleaning Juhu beach at Mumbai for quite some days, feeling that people would come and join hands with us and we'll change the world. That did not happen. We gained satisfaction though. Satisfaction, that I've done a worldly job. Being a software engineer, I've shown the world that I can do cleaning work also !
Today I know how foolish, arrogant and immatured that was.
Keeping our own neighborhood clean is good. That should be done by everyone, no doubts. However imposing that on the caste-structure and trying to show that when people without choice are doing it , they are gaining spiritual experience, is arrogance, inhuman and parades upper-caste mentality. The same thinking which has kept these people there.
Spirituality is a very personal thing. It is one of the extreme stages of individualism. That exists only for the privileged few, with some sort of a "status". Asking a hungry person to become spiritual is inhuman. Imposing it on the socially-humiliated is brutality.
Secondly, when you are doing that job, you are actually replacing the person who was doing that for (however meagre) an earning. Did you have any plan for them, do you have it now? Will you marry your daughters/sons to their kids so that atleast they break social structure of caste? Unless, you tackle these questions, doing this kind of work is just eliteness exemplified. Asking people to "eat cake, if they don't have bread".
"Serving others is required only when others are in a situation that they "need" it, while "you" don't. The question is why should that situation arise? When one person is serving another in the form of " dayaa" it invariably means that the serving person is in some superior state compared to the one being served. Then we must question why did that situation arise. Suppose someone does not have eyes/vision, and needs aid to see things, then we have a reason to understand that need. But if someone does not have food, when the whole world produces food enough for double the population, the question of why they don't get food must be asked, instead of giving food in charity. "
My Views:
According to my understanding both ...ji and ...ji has mentioned some very important issues and points regarding the subject of "Seva". In that perspective I would like to share some of my thoughts.
... ji has been very correct when he mentions that it is far more important to change the situation which gives rise to the necessity of "Service" rather than indulging in "charity". It is indeed very true and a very noble thought. But if we ponder deeply over the issue, why does such a situation arise, when some are well off while another significant section has to survive on the "altruism" shown by the well-offs?
As any social issue, it is the result of multiple social and economic causes. But what I think the most important ones are :
a. Greed and limitless desire on part of the better offs and powerful.
b. Laziness on part of some. ( in slums of India we get to know many able men who are drunkards and spends days fruitlessly, because of them their wives and children faces a lot of hardship)
c. Ineffectiveness and inherent inequality in the system.
I think to face this issue of social inequality and injustice we have to face these attitudes of mind ( the third point is result of collective thinking). As someone said, Battles are first formed in mind, so I think the root causes of these problems arise in our mind, in the way we think collectively and individually, in our attitudes to one another and to the society. Once we agree on this, we will understand the importance of Service.
Service is not doing charity, or doing "good" things in slums and villages alone. Service is an attitude of mind, when one feels a kind of oneness and kinship with the other ( rich or poor, villager or urbanite, children or elderly, men or women) and this motivates him to do something which will alleviate the situation of the other. The parable of the good Samaritan, who goes out of his way to help the injured passenger, is a beautiful example.
When we will have this understanding of Service and expand it in our consciousness, we will see it is the best way to tackle the root causes of social inequality. By doing acts of service, we will become more aware of the pain and difficulty of others, of which many times, knowingly or unknowingly, we ourselves are the cause, we will start reforming ourselves, and it will be one of the quickest and most effective way to transform our thinking process and attitude.
As ...ji have mentioned, when we share in the service of our scavenger brothers, we will though not completely, but surely, will catch a glimpse of the work they do. Myself having participated in such acts, I can tell, that though it might seem a bit elitist, it is a great humbling experience, and through that i have started greatly appreciating the work. It won't change the situation for them in a fortnight, but surely it will start the process when one day, they do not have to listen to lectures on spirituality by Narendrabhai Modi.
So, to end, I just want to say that, though on the surface, an act of service might seem to be a drop of water, which in no time gets sucked up in the quagmire of lifeless desert, but this drop of water seeps in deep in the subconscious of the one who participates in the act, and may be slowly but surely transforms him. If we can inspire more and more people, by our own example to develop this attitude of service, I think we can render a matchless service to our countrymen. This service will not only expand our thinking, but will also equip us with a first had experience of the ground realities, and better enable us to think about ways to change and improve them.
Service humanizes :
"For instance, in my recent visit to India, me and my mamaji decided to clean our street with our own hands. I wanted to see what it takes to do the 'dirty work' which we all educated people scoff at or expected 'somebody else' do it. We cleared the garbage and also cleaned the area where people normally urinate. While we did it for half-an-hour lots of passers by were curious to know what was going on. The town is small and lot of people know us personally and I felt happy that atleast people noticed and understood the importance. Well! that was not the end. Once we were done, our neighbour (who were watching us since begenning) came out with 4-5 guys and tools (spade and brooms) and did much better than we did. I did the same thing when I visited a very famous village temple in our area. While I was cleaning the garbage I was happy to see that somebody else from crowd joined me and did a better job. It is easy to replicate.
Moral: Everybody loves to live in clean place. If you want something to happen, GO DO IT.
Service is elitist:
"Doing something when you have options and doing the same thing when you don't have options, are totally different things.
We did this experiment of cleaning Juhu beach at Mumbai for quite some days, feeling that people would come and join hands with us and we'll change the world. That did not happen. We gained satisfaction though. Satisfaction, that I've done a worldly job. Being a software engineer, I've shown the world that I can do cleaning work also !
Today I know how foolish, arrogant and immatured that was.
Keeping our own neighborhood clean is good. That should be done by everyone, no doubts. However imposing that on the caste-structure and trying to show that when people without choice are doing it , they are gaining spiritual experience, is arrogance, inhuman and parades upper-caste mentality. The same thinking which has kept these people there.
Spirituality is a very personal thing. It is one of the extreme stages of individualism. That exists only for the privileged few, with some sort of a "status". Asking a hungry person to become spiritual is inhuman. Imposing it on the socially-humiliated is brutality.
Secondly, when you are doing that job, you are actually replacing the person who was doing that for (however meagre) an earning. Did you have any plan for them, do you have it now? Will you marry your daughters/sons to their kids so that atleast they break social structure of caste? Unless, you tackle these questions, doing this kind of work is just eliteness exemplified. Asking people to "eat cake, if they don't have bread".
"Serving others is required only when others are in a situation that they "need" it, while "you" don't. The question is why should that situation arise? When one person is serving another in the form of " dayaa" it invariably means that the serving person is in some superior state compared to the one being served. Then we must question why did that situation arise. Suppose someone does not have eyes/vision, and needs aid to see things, then we have a reason to understand that need. But if someone does not have food, when the whole world produces food enough for double the population, the question of why they don't get food must be asked, instead of giving food in charity. "
My Views:
According to my understanding both ...ji and ...ji has mentioned some very important issues and points regarding the subject of "Seva". In that perspective I would like to share some of my thoughts.
... ji has been very correct when he mentions that it is far more important to change the situation which gives rise to the necessity of "Service" rather than indulging in "charity". It is indeed very true and a very noble thought. But if we ponder deeply over the issue, why does such a situation arise, when some are well off while another significant section has to survive on the "altruism" shown by the well-offs?
As any social issue, it is the result of multiple social and economic causes. But what I think the most important ones are :
a. Greed and limitless desire on part of the better offs and powerful.
b. Laziness on part of some. ( in slums of India we get to know many able men who are drunkards and spends days fruitlessly, because of them their wives and children faces a lot of hardship)
c. Ineffectiveness and inherent inequality in the system.
I think to face this issue of social inequality and injustice we have to face these attitudes of mind ( the third point is result of collective thinking). As someone said, Battles are first formed in mind, so I think the root causes of these problems arise in our mind, in the way we think collectively and individually, in our attitudes to one another and to the society. Once we agree on this, we will understand the importance of Service.
Service is not doing charity, or doing "good" things in slums and villages alone. Service is an attitude of mind, when one feels a kind of oneness and kinship with the other ( rich or poor, villager or urbanite, children or elderly, men or women) and this motivates him to do something which will alleviate the situation of the other. The parable of the good Samaritan, who goes out of his way to help the injured passenger, is a beautiful example.
When we will have this understanding of Service and expand it in our consciousness, we will see it is the best way to tackle the root causes of social inequality. By doing acts of service, we will become more aware of the pain and difficulty of others, of which many times, knowingly or unknowingly, we ourselves are the cause, we will start reforming ourselves, and it will be one of the quickest and most effective way to transform our thinking process and attitude.
As ...ji have mentioned, when we share in the service of our scavenger brothers, we will though not completely, but surely, will catch a glimpse of the work they do. Myself having participated in such acts, I can tell, that though it might seem a bit elitist, it is a great humbling experience, and through that i have started greatly appreciating the work. It won't change the situation for them in a fortnight, but surely it will start the process when one day, they do not have to listen to lectures on spirituality by Narendrabhai Modi.
So, to end, I just want to say that, though on the surface, an act of service might seem to be a drop of water, which in no time gets sucked up in the quagmire of lifeless desert, but this drop of water seeps in deep in the subconscious of the one who participates in the act, and may be slowly but surely transforms him. If we can inspire more and more people, by our own example to develop this attitude of service, I think we can render a matchless service to our countrymen. This service will not only expand our thinking, but will also equip us with a first had experience of the ground realities, and better enable us to think about ways to change and improve them.
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