About Me
I'm joining Service Space because ... I have always been drawn to the idea of serving. I have been a karma yogi all my life and would like to keep that a practice in professional arena as well
A good day to me is when ... I learn something from any mistake and take it as a learning. When my attitude is forgiving and when I can remember the higher truth of life in most of things I do as opposed to I my me mine attitude
My hero in life is ...Yogananda and many more
My favorite book is ...Life!!
One thing I'm grateful for is ... To have found like minded souls and have the guidance in life to follow truth
The Things That Stay
Oct 03, 2019, 4 comments, 24 smiles
[A touching story from Nandita shared at last night's Awakin Circle in Santa Clara, on this week's passage: My Neighbor's Corn.]
I loved the story. This is something I think about a lot, and have been thinking about it specifically in the context of my work.
I have the honor of being in a profession that involves helping people. But I've been thinking about how I can touch lives -- not just in an intellectual way (I'm a doctor, so I get to do that intellectually as part of my job), but also at a human level. How to make sure I keep that part alive?
I recently had a very beautiful interaction with a parent that I have to share in this context.
About four months back, I took care of a very sick baby, who tried to die all through the course of the night. It still brings me shivers, thinking about ... Read Full Story
My Money Versus God's Money
Jul 29, 2019, 5 comments, 17 smiles
[Beautiful reflection shared by Aryae, in our Awakin Circle last Wednesday.]
Rabindranath Tagore's poem reminds me of a teaching from my teacher Rabbi Shlomo, who used to teach about Sadaka. That's Hebrew, traditionally translated as charity, but its literal meaning was justice. Why justice? Because whatever I have is only partly mine, and the rest belongs to God. The proper use of my money is to take care of my needs. Proper use of God's money is to take care of others.
So here's a story of Shlomo. It was a Friday night.
Now, on a Friday night, a religious Jew doesn't carry his wallet or anything in his pockets. Shlomo was walking toward his synagogue and a thief comes up to him with a knife and says, "Gimme all your money."
Shlomo says, "I'm sorry I don't have any money." And he tries to explain his practice but the thief doesn't believe him. ... Read Full Story
Awakin Circle With Zilong Wang!
Jun 28, 2019, 2 comments, 19 smiles
[At this week's Awakin Circle in Santa Clara, we had the gift of hearing stories from Zilong, nine months after his bike pilgrimage to China finished. Here's a transcript of the conversation.]
Introduction: Zilong is one of those just souls who, when you meet him, you walk away feeling a little bit lighter afterwards. He grew up in China and came to the U.S. to study at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, where he graduated as valedictorian of his class. After getting a job with an environmental consulting firm in San Francisco, he decided that he would spend the summer biking from Massachusetts to San Francisco, to expand his worldview. He stayed in different homes and depended on the kindness of strangers along the way. He also read the Tao Te Ching, the Bible, the Koran and Moby Dick along the way. When he moved out here, he became a familiar face ... Read Full Story
Meghna Returns: Whirling, Twirling And Finding Home
Jun 06, 2019, 19 smiles
[Yesterday, I was quite moved by Meghna's share. At the time, I was didn't realize that she was the host of the legendary Awakin Circles in Ahmedabad for the last decade! Post circle, I heard some remarkable stories of that circle, like how a young man would fast every Wednesday and silently leave behind a bag of grains. Asked why, he responded, "At one point, I had decided to end my life. What kept me alive is the love I felt in the circle. Today, I can't help but want to pay it forward." In gratitude for Meghna's heart of service, here is a transcription of her share at yesterday's circle.]
It's so wonderful to be here after many, many years.
Listening to this week's passage, I was thinking of a music teacher I had when I was a child. Every time I'd practice music, it would always be about finding my ... Read Full Story
"I Seem To Be Called Ted"
Feb 07, 2019, 10 smiles
[At Awakin Santa Clara, you would see Ted do so many little things, from the dimming the lights to organizing Smile Cards stuffing. And in each circle, he starts with his trademark "I seem to be called Ted" opening. This week, he expanded on that. See below for the transcript from last night's share. ]
I seem to be called Ted and, and so the first thing that struck me is that, you know, Ted is a label. It's a role that I play. It's something that exists only in this lifetime. Ted didn't exist in any past lifetime. Ted's not going to exist in any future lifetime. And that brings up the, the realization that all of the things in our LinkedIn profile, the jobs, the roles that I've played, everything like that can be seen as just conditioning. Those causes and conditions happened, and now I have something to ... Read Full Story
At The Edges Of Our Generosity
Jan 31, 2019, 2 comments, 6 smiles
[We had a very powerful share at last night's Awakin Circle around generosity, and it made us all feel into how, without any coercive effort, an organic safe space is created among us -- a space that is able to lovingly hold so many journeys. Thank you, all!]
I tend to freeze up and get a little scattered when I am talking to a lot of people, so I wrote down what I have to say, 'cause I did have something I wanted to say.
I'm suffering deeply and I'm unable to extend generosity to others at this moment. So much has been stolen from my body and soul a few months ago that I spend most of my day trying to regenerate my relationship with my limbs and organs.
I think in times of deep trauma, sometimes the most amount of generosity you can extend is just giving yourself enough room for ... Read Full Story
Who Are Our Neighbors?
Dec 27, 2018, 6 comments, 13 smiles
[At yesterday's Awakin Circle in Santa Clara, the passage, "Who Is My Neighbor?" prompted so many touching reflections! Below are a couple of them, from Jyoti and Aryae.]
Jyoti: I've got so many stories on this one. One of my aunts passed away earlier this week, and she had lived in the same gated community in Pune for over 50 years. Her husband was a doctor and made house calls during the day. So they knew everybody in the neighborhood. To this day, like until the week before she passed away, she would sit in her room facing the outside and socialize with the people who went past. She would check in to see how they were doing, and what was going on, and offer whatever help she could.
We lived in a different town in Delhi, she was in Pune. But her generosity and connections went past these borders. Her friends ... Read Full Story
Long Arcs Of Time
Aug 09, 2018, 11 smiles
[At last night's Awakin Santa Clara, Somik shared this powerful story, prompted by the passage, Stop The War.]
I really appreciated this passage; in particular, how skillfully the author shifted the focus from the external war to the internal war. That's where the entire juice is.
What really struck me in the passage was the way he said, "The way to transcend the war is through developing understanding."
I was asking myself, "Well, what is that understanding?"
In my own life, I find that whenever I've been at war, the only thing that's helped me move forward is to get very clear about what's real and what's not real. I find that this whole world in our heads is full of constructs that have no reality, and yet that pretty much shapes our decision making.
At the same time, our bodies are receptacles of wisdom. We are only now discovering that there are 10 million ... Read Full Story
Sacred Imperfection, A Talk By Bonnie Rose
Jun 21, 2018, 1 comments, 11 smiles
[Below is the transcript of a talk that Rev. Bonnie Rose delivered at our Awakin Circle in Santa Clara last night.]
I think I am going to speak about 'Sacred Imperfection' today. I was sitting here meditating, thinking why did I pick something so hard? :)
It occurred to me that my whole life, particularly as a minister, there's been a lot of pressure to be a certain way my whole life. I've been trying to get it right and finally be perfect enough to be a really good minister. And what I've discovered in the last couple of years as I've grown more and meditated more deeply -- also through a lot of the values that I've practiced because of ServiceSpace -- that a lot of the secret of my success is failure. Which is odd. It's a paradox. And actually getting it wrong is as good as getting it right ... Read Full Story
A Laugh With This Being
May 02, 2018, 3 comments, 15 smiles
[A powerful story shared by Nisha at last week's Awakin Circle in Santa Clara, where the weekly passage (read by Donna!) was on 'Recycling Karmic Trash'.]
Hi, my name is Nisha. An example that comes to mind for me is we were at a two-day community retreat in London. (We're visiting from London, and this is our first time to be at the Awakin Circle here. It's quite a blessing to be here). So, part of that day-long retreat was that everyone got a gift bag that volunteers had put together, and each person had to go out into the streets and find a homeless person to give this bag.
Now Anil, who's my husband, drives to work and he couldn't find a homeless person. On my commute to work, there were loads of homeless people. So I took this bag and went off to work. But, I just couldn't find any ... Read Full Story
