Story of meditating being a server…
Ever imagined how a bird flies? It needs two working wings in finer balance with each other for a good flight. Do you think it can fly with one broken wing?
Same is case with meditation, it’s incomplete if you don’t do service. It adds more merits & good experience to your meditation. When you bring relief and freedom to someone through service, good vibrations and blessings come to you.
I am going to share with all of you my beautiful experience of being a Dhamma Sevak this time and feel honoured and privileged enough to help run this particular Vipassana meditation batch. Trust me it was not easy task plus a path full of learnings (Understanding human behaviour & psychology even better along with some real good practical exposure to dealing with all sorts of situations on the go).
Do you often feel humanity is in deep sleep and sinking in ego battles? Try practicing selfless service for once! 🙂 You may end up checking your patience towards people behaviour & demands.
Do you feel your mental batteries are drained & you lack required strength & courage? Try practicing meditation — Turn inwards towards your true self!
Keep reminding yourself: I am working so that others may benefit from the Dhamma. Let me help them by setting a good example, and in doing so, help myself as well.”
We have to educate and culture our individual consciousness to expand over time with knowledge — to change from “What about me?” to “What can I contribute?”
Few Learnings being a Dhamma Sevak / Server:
- What you see outside might not be the case inside. External looks are so deceiving. What is going inside everyone, can make you feel surprised in all possible ways!
- People do change gradually if you keep giving them balm of compassion, kindness and a listening ear. Of course it’s a game of time & patience.
- You tend to look around all kind of sickness which shows up in human behaviour as you interact with them.
As it’s said — Correct your mental actions. Mind is first and foremost. Deeds of the body and speech are offspring of mind.
4. It’s an opportunity to express gratitude by helping people as they learn Dhamma, without expecting anything in return.
5. Helps dissolving the habit of egotism in you.
Well coming back to how everyone was feeling in first 5 days of the course 🙂
I was able to sense pain, panic & a wave of slight dis-comfort specifically in new students in meditation hall from Day 2 till Day 5 as everyone was undergoing a chance to meet themselves in so many years. All possible old Sankharas (संस्कार) were bubbling up of-course mix of good & discomforting-one’s. Patience & giving oneself the required time was the only key to reach ultimate destination to kill all the misery around.
I had to practice my learnings of all these years of consulting, influencing, persuading, collaborating, conveying just right to make everyone sit tight with patience to meet the fruits of labour as everyone completed 10 days.
Also since everything is momentary. It has a phase which comes and goes — how long it stays depends on you! Give it some time with full faith, patience to work towards a solution.
Quiet cyclic in nature — Anger comes and goes away, similarly darkness can not be forever, sun will rise next day bringing more light, love & brightness.
You need to learn to enjoy the phase of being a ‘caterpillar’ and not just the being ‘butterfly’. And learning to be “Equanimous (समभाव) in every situation” is biggest take away.
Think of it like this:
If nothing ever changed there would be no such thing as BUTTERFLY. Butterfly symbolises acceptance & deep faith that everything is happening for larger good with each new phase of life.
Similarly sitting in meditation for hours requires lot of patience, faith, going through that pain of sitting in Adishthaan (आधिष्ठान) position aka position of Establishment.
Having all that learning to be in Equanimity (समभाव) as you pass through good and painful feelings helps you to wash away all the Old Sankharas (संस्कार) — making you reach Nibban (Nirvana) aka state of complete happiness and peace.
Last but not the least, I feel everyone should try doing Seva once in lifetime. If you can do more — nothing like it!
It will give you practical experience of many leadership, people management and other so required management lessons. No theory or certification can teach you that.
As I always believe you learn more by practicals than sitting in a classroom, reading theory 🙂
Hope all of you get the right, balanced working wings when time comes for you. If the reading was worth it, please don’t forget to like.
भवतु सब्ब मंगलम्
May all being be happy!
Thanks much! More love & compassion to each reader 🙂
