Category: Seva
selfless service, sadhana, and its joy
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Transformation in thinking
On this auspicious occasion of Amritavarsham’62 we got an opportunity to interact with a Mumbai based businessman – Mr. Ashok Lal. Ashokji is running the North Indian canteen since last evening for Amma’s birthday, serving delicious dishes to appease the North Indian palate….Jilebi is a super-hit! He shared with us his journey from non-spirituality to being a devotee, right after the first darshan of Amma. “I am from hotel industry. I met Amma six years back and became a devotee. We started doing seva in a public program conducted by Amma in Mumbai – cooking food for around 10,000 people,…
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Yoga classes in Kedar Valley
Several yoga camps were conducted for women in the Himalayan villages of Dunda in Uttarksh, and Jabri, Agastyamuni, Ukhimath, and Guptkashi in Kedar Valley. The women in these villages are known for doing all the work at home and in the fields. Twice a day, they carry extremely heavy bundles of grass out of the jungles which they have cut for use in their homes and villages. Special yogasanas that focus on the lower back and knees were developed and were taught to the women to help ease the physical stress of their labors. Women of all ages participated in…
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Actively supporting education in Uttarakhand
When I saw this room, I thought it had been abandoned for some time. Instead, I was shocked to find it was an active classroom in use only one week before. Judging by the posters left on the wall, this is a science classroom. As response to the immediate needs of Uttarakhand flood victims wraps up, Amma has asked us to focus on education to benefit the overall population. Our approach is four fold: 1) Using the labor of IVUSA volunteer students from Japan, we have demolished two old classroom buildings like the one above at Inter-colleges in Kandara and…
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Constructive destruction
Nothing is wasted and a great care is taken to keep everything from the demolition. Each stone is kept aside for the construction of the new building and the boards can be used for making benches and desks for the schools.
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Role models
More important than the physical work our team of Japanese students can accomplish, is the example of selfless service they provide for the young children and adults in the villages. Today in Kandara, it was most apparent. The teachers sat and read newspapers, men played cards, younger boys flirted with the Japanese girls. They had no idea to participate in building new classrooms that would benefit their own children. A few young girls came out to help, desperately attaching themselves to the Japanese girls. They have no role models for a life other than the women they see carrying grass…
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5000 Roti
Around 200 villagers from Uttarakhand traveled by bus for two days to see Amma in Delhi. For most, it will be their first chance for her Darshan. For many, it is their first trip to the big city. They represent all of the UK programs we have launched in the past year: recipients of houses, vocational training graduates, children from our tuition classes, and the complete class of women who are learning to build toilets. Most remarkable is how quickly they have blended in. Just as they embraced our programs in their villages, they are eager to participate is Amma’s…
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Japanese university students at Uttarakhand
For the second year in a row, Japanese university students have come to Chandrapuri to help with Amma’s Uttarakhand Rehabilitation Projects. Last year they built houses for flood victims. This year 65 members of International Volunteer University Students Association will focus their work on two area schools. After two days travel from Delhi by train and bus, the students went immediately to work assembling new classroom desk and bench sets to be presented by MAM to 100 local schools. Earlier they were warmly welcomed by the community plus very special guestsEducation Minister Mantri Prasad Naithani and MLA (Kedarnath) Shaila Rani…
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Service is Good!
During most Saturday programs at M. A. Center, I sit in the back of the hall cutting out old photos of Amma from cassette covers, calendars, and various outdated printed material to recycle or frame. Inevitably, a few children – maybe 4 or 5, sometimes more – will stop by to help along with a parent. They sit for a some time, and some stay, while some eventually get distracted and bounce away like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh. Some come back, only to bounce away again… Tonight, I was looking forward to returning to my usual spot after having…
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Tution classes at Delhi Ashram
I am on a train tonight to Jammu, then on to Srinagar to cover the medical team. Stopping briefly at Amma’s Delhi Ashram, I saw a familiar sight in the afternoon. Nearly a hundred children clustered in front of four teachers. These afternoon tuition classes are a key part of the Adopted Villages Program being deployed to rural villages in every state of India. The poor children of Delhi are no different than their rural brothers and sisters. They too need help to keep up in school and the ashram is providing it. Scotti