Category: Seva
selfless service, sadhana, and its joy
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Into the land of destruction
I spent most of Friday, April 15th, in collecting all the needed items for the disaster relief work. We bought food, work gloves, and masks to protect against infection and potential radiation. We also had to buy a cheap tent and took a few thin sleeping bags from the Tokyo ashram, as that was all we had. We knew it would be colder in the disaster area, but never imagined exactly how cold it really was. There were 3 of us: Nath Hoshi, Santosh Miyazawa, and myself. By the time we left the city, it was almost 9 pm, and…
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Warmth of love in winter
As the winters started to set in Delhi and the cold waves started to blow, the first thoughts which came to the mind of the devotees of the Delhi Ashram, was not to take out the warm clothes and cover themselves adequately, but that how those people, who live without even a shelter, leave alone some warm clothes would bear this cruel, bone chilling and unbearable cold season. This thought paved the way for the Blanket distribution program of the Delhi Ashram. The program first of all required new blankets to be purchased for which funds were required. This was…
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AYUDH Kenya hosts waffle bake sale
AYUDH Kenya, inspired by the Belgium youth, had the idea to start a waffle bake-sale on 24th December at the Westgate Mall, Nairobi. The main aim was to raise money for the Amma’s charitable projects. We were very lucky to have pulled the whole event off in two weeks. Arranging for a space at the mall during Christmas time. Although, this was a cost-effective project, renting out a space at the mall, buying all the ingredients and cutlery, fortunately, we managed to raise some money to get things started before-hand, luckily. We began the sale at 8:00am which ran a…
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One, two, three! – sing along with me!
A year ago, on 19th December 2009, Amma inaugurated the Amrita Institute for Differently-Abled (AIDA) , an institute for mentally disabled children of Kozhikode and neighboring areas. Initially the AIDA Centre accepted 20 children offering adequate therapy to support their daily activities, social integration and education. Inspired by this project, last April the Milan Satsang group wanted to offer our emotional and moral support to the day-care nurses here in Italy who were carrying out such a delicate task for the differently-abled. We started off with “one, two, three…sing along with me!”, a group activity sharing smiles, company and music.…
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Clean Sunday
Early morning Sunday 24 October I was laid back, sipping chai, staring out my south block cell window. In the car park below there was unusual activity. Bramacharis were streaming onto a waiting bus. Ahh I remembered the Sunday Clean Up program. Early in the week I had enthusiastically volunteered to join up. I weighed the alternatives, procrastinated but sense of duty won out and I dashed for the bus. Our group went to Karunappally and pulled up out front of the Siva Temple. A lone western girl emerged from the back of the bus,looking a little bewildered, so being…
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With the seva children in Japan
Tokyo, July 27, 2010: Amma was wearing a beautiful golden saree with red border. One of the devotees described Amma in that saree as “Sinduraruna vigraham” (Meditate on the Divine Mother, who has a body of the color of saffron/vermilion-red). The Tokyo program was made possible by the tireless efforts of the sevites. One could see people doing seva in every corner of the hall and outside (snack shop, kitchen). When Devi Bhava ended, Amma came out of the temple and started walking towards Her car. Then She stopped and looked at all the sevites and asked them to come…
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The Serving drive
They have been our trusted ‘chalaks.’ Rick, Steve, and Corey. These three drivers have been bringing us from city to city for the past two North American Tours. While we are fast asleep, exhausted after a long Devi Bhava, they are wide awake – navigating the highways across the US. They became part of the family – they know most of us by our first name. Amma knows them too (of course) – they have gone for darshan more than once. And yes, they drivers also caught the seva bug. Where other bus drivers would probably stay in their rooms…
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the day that was
watching ’embracing the world’ video triggered some memories in me. it was sometime in 1998 and i had been a part of amma’s free housing project – amrita kuteeram. amma had organized a team of volunteers which was to build 25 thousand free houses for the poor. as a forerunner, we visited every applicant’s address and our task was to filter out ineligible ones. the selected applicant or families were sorted out again according to the urgency of the need and that task was to prioritize constructions for the first year, second year, consecutive year and so on. amongst one…
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Amma s invisible hands
Devotees and school community from Davangere offered Seva in the MAM’s House Building project taking place in the village of Dongarampura, in Raichur, where the MAM has built 250 houses. Those participating took this service work as a God given opportunity and offered it to Amma with love. A family of five closed the hotel that they own to join the group. Several others including businessmen, engineers, employees, etc. took leave from work to be available to serve Amma’s cause. One of them gave up household responsibilities to other family members to stay in Raichur and handle the accounts and…