Its a secret!

Last Saturday, as I walked into the Royal Cup Coffee Shop, I was greeted by Rajeev.  He said that a package had arrived for me, I asked him from whom, he said he didn’t know.  I couldn’t figure out why a package would come to our Seva Cafe location and not to our PO BOX Address but I was too distracted to try to piece the logic together. 

I was setting up for our regular Seva Cafe location when Rajeev finally handed the package over to me.  It had already been opened.  I looked on the Priority Mail package and noticed that instead of putting their name and address, the sender had only left the word: “Smile!”.  I immediately recognized that this was something special in my hands and consequently a desire to share this gift with others arose.  I took the package over to the where five new volunteers were sitting and I showed them the package.  Ever since they arrived the new volunteers were asking me questions of what the Seva Cafe was.  Here, I thought, was an opportunity to show them in action.  Before I opened the package, I told them that these are the kinds of things that happen here.

We opened the Priority Mail package and inside we discovered a book, a note, and a self-addressed envelope.  I first proceeded to read the note out loud:

Sukh bhai,
I read this book from start to finish in one sitting.  I have never done this before.  I hope this book finds you well and has the same profound effect on you that it had on me.  I know this breaks the rules, but I would like you to read my secret before mailing it.  Thank you for helping me,
SMILE!

I contemplated the latter part of the letter for a moment.  Not quite understanding what rules were being broken and what this person’s secret was, I proceeded to look at the book for some clues.  The book was entitled: “The Secret Lives of Men and Women“.  It was a compilation of selected secrets submitted to www.postsecret.com.  Individuals anywhere could send in their secrets by depicting them on a postcard.  It allows them to share their common humanity with others, and relieves them of a burden that they may have been carrying for a long time.  I opened the book to a random page and the ‘realness’ of the human experience hit me immediately.  A postcard with a woman confessing that she is more afraid of aging than of dying, and another photograph of a priest with ”Some Days, it feels more like a noose!!” written on his clerical collar.

Then it hit me.  The self-addressed envelope contained the secret of this anonymous sender, and they actually wanted me to read their secret before it made its way to postsecret.com.  I looked inside the envelope unsure of what secrets were awaiting me.  I pulled out, with little surprise, a Smile Card.  One the smile card was hand written the anonymous senders secret: “I can’t give gifts or do community service without expecting something in return.”  … and at the bottom in big bold letters: “Not Anymore!“ 

In that moment, we all wondered if we do service without expectation.  Maybe that was a secret that all of us were harboring and was unleashed through the courage of this anonymous sender.  I also thought about all the secrets that I keep locked up in myself.  How the things that actually make me human are the things that I try so hard to hide from others.  I keep my own pain and anger locked away so that others won’t think poorly of me.  That’s my secret.

Seva on KUCI

I was asked to speak about the Walk for Hope on KUCI’s Peace by Peace radio show hosted by our good friend Sarah Pauly.  Sarah asked me what was up with Be the Cause and for the next 10 minutes I talked about the Seva Cafe.  I guess we’ll chat about the Walk for Hope on the next show
Here is a link to the interview.  (It will take a couple of minutes to download even with a high speed internet connection).
http://www.bethecause.org/about/files/Seva%20Cafe.mp3

Guest is God

Brain Surgery!  Doctor, Doctor, can you help me?  There is a hole in my mind.  I once knew how to function logically, now I seem to have lost all perspective, in short, I’ve lost a grip on my reality.  As if my existence has turned to rose pedals and they float and extend in every direction.  What was once up, now I find beneath my feet.  What was once inside, now travels outside. 

My assumptions on life, my judgments of others don’t help me anymore.  In fact, they only get in the way.  They once dictated my behaviors, now they paralyze me.  They keep me from moving, from reaching, from flying.  Rose pedals grow wings, become birds, and reach the sky.

I wake up on Saturday mornings with a smile, knowing that I will have to work harder today than any other day of the week.  … and I smile.  Doctor, Doctor, there is something wrong with me. Read more…

Seva Cafe Week 3

Today was by far the most emotional Seva Cafes that I have experienced. I can’t begin to explain why, all I know that is that every time I engaged in a new activity, a new emotion flooded into my being.

It started with the orientation. After all the volunteers introduced themselves, I for some reason was compelled to share the story of Biba’s Aunt. Biba is one of those people who is always kind and gentle to everyone she meets. Recently her Aunt passed away. Despite not knowing her Aunt, I somehow felt that I need to be a part of the ceremonies. Thoughts of death, bring up many thoughts on life. A realization sets in that this “living” is very temporary, and very short. It is almost as if our entire lives are like wind, arising only to pass away. Somehow, the passing of Biba’s Aunt brought me back to the concept of the Seva Cafe. In the short time that we are here on this planet, the question that urges us, is what direction are we moving in? Even in this moment, some of our brothers and sisters are headed to wage war onto each other, that is the direction they are taking their lives. Some people are acting out their greed, their fears, their hatred, or their egos. … and for some reason, in my own life, I have a small opportunity to move my life into a completely different direction. In this temporary life, I hope that we are not being busy for the sake of being busy, that we are actually taking the time to reflect on what is most important.

Somehow, in that orientation, Biba’s aunt was with us.

The entire day was packed with emotion. I recalled walking outside for a moment, when I returned, I looked around and noticed that every person in the room was wearing a smile. What an amazing place I thought, this is love.

At one point, I recognized a homeless man sitting on one of the tables outside. I remembered him from the launch two weeks ago and recalled how he had left immediately after finishing his meal without waiting for the server to bring him his envelope. For some reason, this time I felt compelled to sit with him. He looked like he was in his late 50s, old enough to be my father. I knew that my own father would want me to treat him with respect, so I sat down, as if I was literally his son. I held his hand for a few moments and asked him how he was doing. He was counting his change hoping to find enough money for a beef sandwich… he had apparantly forgotton that every Saturday evening there are no prices, and more importantly that all the meals are vegetarian .

I wanted to give my new friend an opportunity, an opportunity to see the world differently from how he always sees it. I told him that there is a lot of pain and suffering in the world and that the Seva Cafe simply gives us an opportunity to spread some love. That’s all I needed to say. He immediately had tears in his eyes. He told me that he knew about pain and suffering too well. Maybe what he really needed most in that moment was someone to remind him that there is hope in life. I told him that we would bring out a meal for him, and that the food he was about to eat had been paid for by someone he will never meet… and that everyone in the kitchen was preparing that one meal for him with one intention: to serve him with love. I also wanted him to know that he is part of the hope for this world, and that he too would have the opportunity to help pay for a future guest’s meal, as a gift to someone who he will never meet.

When he walked away after his meal, I knew we had nourished something in that man well beyond his stomach. He left 93 cents behind, as a gift, to help pay for someone else’s meal.

Towards the end of the night, my friend Biba and some of her relatives dropped by. They had spent the entire day at the funeral and decided to be with us in the evening. At the end of their meal, I wanted to honor their aunt in a special way. I grabbed our Share the Love Box and placed it right in the center of their dining table. I opened it and showed them the money that sat inside. The Share the Love Box is a profound experiement in Trust. It sits by the door and anyone can take money from it. We leave a note by the box to remind people that they can take money, or leave money, for the purpose of conducting acts of kindness. So far, we have had plenty of people leaving money in the box, but very few folks that are actually willing to take money out. Taking money from that box brings a strong sense of responsibility. You become tied to the intentions of the person who left the money in the first place. I felt that this was an opportunity to do something special for Biba’s Aunt. I asked everyone on the table to reach into the box, to take a few dollars and then within the next week to put those funds to good use. I happened to pull a $5 bill out myself. Maybe I’ll buy a random person a sandwich and tell him that is a gift, from a woman that I’ve never met, whose journey here has come to an end, and who has somehow become a part of the very air we breath.

Sukh

Letter to Manav Sadhna

Hello Manav Sadhna Family,

Through your well wishes, the Seva Café is doing well. Many people are having life enhancing experiences here. During the launch of the Seva Café, one woman was actually in tears after we brought her a meal. Last night was the third Seva Café that we have conducted. There are many more stories that I can possibly share. Every time I looked around the room, all I saw was smiles, I thought to myself that this is a place where Love resides. Last night I saw a homeless man sitting on one of the tables outside. I went up to him to see how he was doing. I explained the concept of the Seva Café and he was literally moved to tears. He said he knew all about pain and suffering because of living on the streets. We brought him his meal. Afterwards, he left 93 cents on the table to pay for a future guest’s meal, it was all the money he had on him.

Many more stories to reflect on. One of our friend’s aunt passed away last week. The funeral was yesterday, after the funeral the family decided to come and join us at the Seva Café. I placed the Share the Love box on their table and we as a group all decided to take money out of the box and do something meaningful with it in the coming days.

I can’t even begin to share how the volunteers themselves are doing. Recently a friend of ours, Sudi, washed dishes for 5 hours straight, he even had to carry dirty water from one room to another because the plumbing pipes were clogged. He must have gained something through that experience because he agreed to come and serve every single Saturday. Another friend drove 1 hour to be with us yesterday, after sitting for four minutes he decided that he was going to wash dishes for the rest of the night. Another friend of ours came by during the first week just to say hello. He kept saying that he needed to leave the entire night but ended up staying with us past midnight. You couldn’t get him away from the dish washing sink. I spoke to him afterwards and he mentioned the hard time he was having at another non-profit he works at. He was literally feeling burned-out and had decided to take a break from his non-profit work… he said that being at the Seva Café rejuvenated his spirit and he felt a new force of inspiration to do good in the world. He too has come back every single Saturday. Its hard to put into words what happens here. Watching Niyati wipe the tables down at the end of evening was one of the most peaceful experiences I had. As if somehow the universe itself was guiding every single stroke of her hands.

Thank you for providing us with the inspiration to get this started. It is already beginning to affect people in a very positive way. We know that with everything we do here, we are tied to everything you do there. Many of the local folks that have visited the Seva Café in Ahmadabad have been supporting this effort here. Please let us know how the Seva Café is doing there in Ahmedabad andzif there is anything we can do to help from here.

Some stories of the Seva Café are here and some comments from guests will be added here as well:
http://www.bethecause.org/wordpress/index.php?cat=45

With as much love as we are capable of,
Sukh