About Me
I'm joining Service Space because ... of noble friends
A good day to me is when ... when I have passed on smiles around me
My hero in life is ...Ramana Maharishi, Vinoba, Desmond Tutu
My favorite book is ...'The Prophet' by Khalil Gibran
One thing I'm grateful for is ... The knowing that I am always abundant
A Form Of Empathy: Sangeeta Isvaran
Apr 14, 2020, 3 comments, 9 smiles
"Hatred cannot be vanquished by hatred. The fractured world we live in today needs more empathy, more love to destroy the fear that underlies most conflicts and discrimination. The most important life lessons I've learned were in my dance classes as a child, learning to create rasa (a form of empathy), seeing every other being as an extension of oneself. This flame of understanding fuels every aspect of my work with people to trigger transformation.”
At Awakin Talks, Vadodara last December, Sangeeta captivated all of us in a stunning art offering. Choreographed almost fifteen years ago, while immersed in refugee work in Pakistan, India and Indonesia, the performance emerged from her conversation with a mother whom she had met in a sacred Sufi shrine, or durgah.
As more background, Sangeeta is a vibrant dancer-performer who developed the Katradi method, working in marginalized, underprivileged communities using the arts in education, empowerment and ... Read Full Story
Nishkam Seva (Selfless Service)
May 29, 2019, 3 comments, 14 smiles
[Here's one of the recent stories from Trupti & Swara's pilgrimage around the holy Narmada river, republished from their blog: Reva Ni Vaato]
As we were getting closer to Amarkanthak a bunch of us got an invitation for black tea. It was an unexpected yet a pleasant invitation as the man who was serving us tea had his shelter almost in the middle of a forest with hardly any people living around.
He asked us to follow the orange sign boards as we walk further into the forest. He showed us a sample sign board we were meant to follow. We got curious as we had seen these boards in some of the remotest places.
We had all these questions -Was it a group of people? Or the nearby villagers? Who puts up these little markers?
We asked him if he knew who made them. He said for eight months I serve all the ... Read Full Story
Four Days On The Road
Apr 18, 2019, 5 comments, 21 smiles
It has been a joy ride for so many of us, to witness Arun Dada share his radiance with effortless equipoise through so many diverse settings and communities. Last week, few of us went on a four-day road trip to Southern California.
Our first stop was a circle in Bakersfield, where a group of motivated women held a screening of Gandhi that was attended by 500 people -- and then held an interfaith march, in a fairly polarized community that votes strongly Republican, that brought together more than 700 people. Our first surprise was being greeted by two very young ServiceSpace volunteers, playing Gandhi's favorite chant for Arun Dada:
That was followed by the very first Awakin Circle in Bakersfield, courtesy of the one-and-only Trishna! The evening was truly sublime, with 40-50 of us huddled around a re-arranged living room. Few people just couldn't stop tearing up, as we spoke about the ... Read Full Story
When Two People Walk
Mar 20, 2019, 1 comments, 21 smiles
It’s been three months since Swara and Trupti started their pilgrimage. In my recent conversation with them, they told me how after walking for about 1400 km, they now feel like they are learning to walk. They also feel that when they come back to the starting point they might actually feel ready for the pilgrimage and this was just pre-prep to the actual pilgrimage. Looks like we never feel we are ready :)
For me it has been an interesting process to be a witness to some of the ripples of this pilgrimage. A friend decided to eat once a day till S and T return from their pilgrimage, one friend decides to work on his physical health and looses 17 kg in two months so that at some point he can go and serve them, yet another friend decides to walk in the spirit of pilgrimage every alternate weekend. ... Read Full Story
Regenerative Service, And Heading Towards Zero
Feb 18, 2019, 3 comments, 11 smiles
[For more than a year, ServiceSpace anchoring working on creating local offline communities have been coming together for a monthly call. We have some readings, share reflection on the feed and then jump on a video call. In our February call, our guest speaker was Nipun. :) We are deeply grateful to him for joining us and for always offering inspiration, stillness and lived wisdom from his 20+ years of making pathways of serving the inside and outside in innumerable ways. Below is a transcript, edited for readibility, offered in gratitude.]
Nipun: On this topic of regenerative service, let me first build on Ragu's comment -- how do you choose between broccoli and ice cream? One is stepping up and another is self-care. Well, I don't know if ice cream is actually self-care, but it is for me. :)
I'll start with some reflections from my meditation retreat. One recurring ... Read Full Story
Two Pilgrim Sisters On The Narmada
Dec 14, 2018, 19 comments, 45 smiles
Yesterday, Swara and Trupti left home for their pilgrimage. They are walking the Narmada River, a 2,800-kilometer sacred pilgrimage route.
Just before they were leaving, all four of us, including papa, sat in our front room talking about something as trivial as which phone should they take. In a couple of minutes, there was complete silence and we all folded our hands and sat in silence.
It has been a three year long journey for Trupti and at least an year long for all of us before they set off today. Her steadfast commitment and intention manifested into many little practices at home, like reading pilgrim stories. At one point she printed out at least 10 or more copies of stories from Nipun and Guri's pilgrimage, and gave them out as gifts. It has been a process slowly silencing the collective mind and bringing that stillness needed to embark on a 2800-kilometer-long ... Read Full Story
