Member Area | ServiceSpace

P.K. Mehta In Memoriam (1930 - 2019)

Aug 15, 2019, 4 comments, 7 smiles [P.K. Mehta has been a friend of the Servicespace ecosystem from its very beginning, even playing a key role in arranging for Nipun's first public talk. Yet the debt of gratitude we owe him is much greater due to his professional contributions. If you've ever been on a bridge or tall building during an earthquake, chances are you are alive because of Kumar uncle-- a fact I myself learned at his funeral. His groundbreaking innovations in his field remain the worldwide gold standard high performance, low emissions concrete, with his textbook translated into many languages and still in use decades after its publication. Much like his material contributions provided a sort of basic substrate that permeates all our lives, his blessings and quiet generosity provided another sort of basic substrate that allowed tremendous good work to happen in the world, and continue for decades to come. He passed away last ... Read Full Story

Preeta On Justice Stevens (in 1995)

Jul 18, 2019, 3 comments, 12 smiles To wield tremendous power evenhandedly with kindness and humility is a mark of a strong connection to oceanic truth. We're used to finding this rarest combination of traits among saints and social change leaders like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr, yet this week, the country lost a man who embodied them in a secular way from an exalted office. Justice John Paul Stevens was ahead of his time on many key issues and questions that faced the nation, and will be looked back upon by future generations as consistently and courageously on the right side of history. Appointed to the Supreme Court by Gerald Ford and initially considered to be a solid conservative Republican, his judicial legacy is often regarded as leading the liberal wing of the court for 35 years. Its a characterization that he'd dispute, and those who knew him well would strongly attest that the guiding ... Read Full Story

Nuggets From Shinzen Young's Call

Jan 26, 2019, 7 smiles Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Shinzen Young. Shinzen Young is an American mindfulness teacher and neuroscience research consultant who frequently uses concepts from mathematics as a metaphor to illustrate the abstract concepts of meditation and who is building a bridge between contemplative practice and hard science. His interest in integrating meditation with scientific paradigms has resulted in collaborations with neuroscientists at Harvard Medical School and elsewhere in the burgeoning field of contemplative neuroscience. He aims to bring a secular mindfulness practice to a wider audience across faith traditions using revamped terminology and techniques as well as automated expert systems. He is well-known not only for his particular way of combining Eastern and Western science and thought traditions, but also for his categorical, systematic approach to meditation, outlined in his recent book, The Science of Enlightenment: How Meditation Works (2016). We'll post the transcript of the call ... Read Full Story

Nuggets From Shabnam Virmani's Call

Nov 25, 2018, 2 comments, 3 smiles Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Shabnam Virmani. Shabnam Virmani is a documentary filmmaker, former journalist, feminist, and singer of Kabir folk songs. In 2003, stung by the religious riots of Gujarat, India in 2002, she set out in quest of the 15th century mystic poet/saint Kabir, exploring how his poetry intersects with ideas of identity, religion, nationalism, harmony, and impermanence. She “ventur[ed] into diverse socio-cultural, religious and musical landscapes, meeting with people who sing, love, quote, revere and make meaning of Kabir” in their lives. In 2009, following six years of journey, Shabnam and the Kabir Project team offered to the world a set of 4 musical documentary films, and several music CDs and books of translated poetry, for reflection and healing. In her quest, the magic of Kabir’s song and poetry began to slowly seep within, and to hold up a transformational mirror to ... Read Full Story

Nuggets From Melanie Joy's Call

Nov 21, 2018, 3 smiles Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Melanie Joy. Like many of us, Dr. Melanie Joy, a Harvard-educated psychologist, professor, and vegan activist, grew up without giving too much mind to a behavior that most human beings share: eating animals, and eating some animals rather than others. Have you ever wondered why you can eat a turkey bowl of chili, or hot dog but still love your cat or feel your heart melt at the sight of a baby lamb? This is the question that, after a serious bout of illness causing a stark turnaround in attitude toward eating meat, led Dr. Joy on a nearly two-decades-long quest for an answer. That answer culminated in a now increasingly popular term and concept: carnism. Also arose one of the main motivations of Dr. Joy’s work: raising awareness. “Simply becoming aware […] allows us to reclaim our rationality and ... Read Full Story

Nuggets From Sandra Waddock's Call

Sep 29, 2018, 1 comments, 3 smiles Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Sandra Waddock. An intellectual shaman takes on the three roles of the traditional indigenous shaman: healer, connector, and sense-maker -- helping make sense of the world in the interest of the greater good. This label not only describes those management professionals whom Sandra Waddock has interviewed for her book, Intellectual Shamans: Management Academics Making a Difference, but is also an apt description of her own role as an academic. Sandra Waddock is the Galligan Chair of Strategy, Carrol School Scholar of Corporate Responsibility, and Professor of Management at Boston College’s Carrol School of Management. With thirteen published books and nearly 150 papers, she shares her gift to push an agenda of change, responsibility and sustainability. She advises us to be ordinary difference-makers and actors for our common good, helping us heal old narratives and make sense of our world so ... Read Full Story

Nuggets From Emma Slade's Call

Sep 08, 2018, 6 smiles Last Saturday, we had the privilege of hosting Awakin Call with Emma Slade. How does a jet-setting financial analyst from London end up a Buddhist nun in Bhutan? Emma Slade is a yoga and meditation teacher and author who left a successful career in finance in her 30s to find peace and meaning in the mountains of Bhutan. Unusual for a mother of a now 12-year-old boy, she was ordained a Buddhist nun in Bhutan in 2014 after rigorous training – the first (and still the only) Western woman to have achieved this in Bhutan. She currently runs an acclaimed charity to benefit special needs children in rural Bhutan. Slade left a career in global finance in 1997 when, while traveling for business in Indonesia, she was held hostage at gunpoint by armed men in her five-star hotel room. "Once I had recovered enough to see my life clearly, I felt ... Read Full Story

Preeta's Fuji Declaration

Jul 27, 2018, 10 smiles Preeta spoke in Japan on co-creating harmony and balance in the world by uncovering the feminine energy. Lots of great thoughts elegantly and vulnerably woven together in this 5-minute talk (with audio slighly out of sync) :-)

Prahlad Tipanya Retreat At Banyan Grove

Jul 17, 2018, 6 comments, 15 smiles On any given day in India, hundreds and thousands show up to hear him sing and speak. When he gives a TED performance, literally the biggest name in Bollywood shows up to introduce him. Whether it is five minutes on a national stage or a few hours on an evening performance, two things remain true: Prahlad-ji remains unchanged, and the audience is left wanting more. Much like the 15th century saint Kabir who inspired Prahlad-ji’s journey, he has a way of getting to the heart of the matter instantly with the incisiveness and clarity, even as it’s offered humbly with love. In chatting before the retreat began, he says to me, “Rahul-ji, the work of the Sufi saints and saints of all traditions and eras has been to break down boundaries and bring people together. Through transcending differences we’re able to approach Oneness-- but to reach it we must concentrate our minds. ... Read Full Story

Three Luminaries Together

Jun 12, 2018, 1 comments, 10 smiles Google machine learning delivered a YouTube video recommendation that delighted me: Rev Heng Sure, Master Hua, and Brother David Steindl-Rast all together! Like a light reflected between mirrors, it was remarkable to witness the kindness, humility, and paradoxical light-gravitas of Master Hua bounced between the Q&A managed by the other two. There's a couple of wonderful moments at the end that are worth waiting for.

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