In case you didn't get to see it live, here is the link to Mukta's Awakin Call! She was wonderful, and so were the hosts, Cynthia Li and Kozo Hattori. https://www.awakin.org/calls/471/mukta-panda/
I read this post by Mukta last night. Usually, I instantly reflect with whatever spontaneously comes to my mind. Yesterday, I intentionally slept over it to await my dream and to what would I wake up with this morning.
I recall having seen my childhood and the routine of my grandmother in my dream last night. She would get up at four o’clock in the morning, grind the grain manually, and then start her two mile early morning walk to the holy shrine to take bath in the holy pond, feeding the fish, the birds and her favorite peacocks on the way, back to complete her household chores as well as responding to neighbors requests and demands for advice and help, and going to sleep around midnight on jute mattress on the floor, to wake-up early next morning to start the routine again. She was a living example of service. All I recall about her is that she sacrificed her own Self in Service to others. She always had a smile on her face. No one ever heard her complaining about anything. It was obvious that she enjoyed everything that she did in her life. Service was her life as well as her joy.
I woke up this morning and started to reflect on my dream as well as on the post by Mukta, sitting on my back yard patio with a hot cup of coffee, watching the birds and hoping to spot a deer or two.
I know what joy is. I have my own perceptions and parameters for it. As for service, I am trying to understand its meaning. Common perception as well as dictionary definitions of service refer as something for others, without defining what others mean and completely omitting any reference to self. To me, service for self, is primary since our health and fitness are essential to be able to serve others. As for others, I include not only the human beings, but everything in God’s Creation, be they belong to animal kingdom or to the beautiful sights and sounds of nature. In my view, to help preserve the environment and the ecosystem on our planet is also service. As medical professionals, we all are committed by Hippocratic oath and now we need to also commit to the Oath to self-care and well-being, as we strive to serve the humanity. As human beings we should also be committed to serve the others, which include the mother nature, and the fellow beings of animal kingdom.
Like my grandmother, the routine of my daily service includes assisting my children, helping my wife, feeding the birds, watering the plants, enquiring about the friends and neighbors, reading and writing and, last but not the least, offering my prayers as part of daily routine. All these actions of mine give my joy and make my life worth living.
Mukta has posted two pictures. The first reflects our family’s motto of positivity. Light a candle rather than complain of darkness.
The second picture is of our family’s deity. This photo is fifty years old when we established our own home in Goa. It is our ritual to light a candle and pray before our patron deity every morning and evening and seek the blessing for family’s well-being as well as for our ability to help and serve others. It reflects our family’s strong belief in the power of faith, prayers, and blessings.
The last phrase of the quote is the punch line. Service must be a joy. Otherwise, it is a waste of time and energy. Every action of ours that brings joy, is service.
It is said that work is worship. To serve is worship too. Stay blessed.
In case you didn't get to see it live, here is the link to Mukta's Awakin Call! She was wonderful, and so were the hosts, Cynthia Li and Kozo Hattori. https://www.awakin.org/calls/471/mukta-panda/
I read this post by Mukta last night. Usually, I instantly reflect with whatever spontaneously comes to my mind. Yesterday, I intentionally slept over it to await my dream and to what would I wake up with this morning.
I recall having seen my childhood and the routine of my grandmother in my dream last night. She would get up at four o’clock in the morning, grind the grain manually, and then start her two mile early morning walk to the holy shrine to take bath in the holy pond, feeding the fish, the birds and her favorite peacocks on the way, back to complete her household chores as well as responding to neighbors requests and demands for advice and help, and going to sleep around midnight on jute mattress on the floor, to wake-up early next morning to start the routine again. She was a living example of service. All I recall about her is that she sacrificed her own Self in Service to others. She always had a smile on her face. No one ever heard her complaining about anything. It was obvious that she enjoyed everything that she did in her life. Service was her life as well as her joy.
I woke up this morning and started to reflect on my dream as well as on the post by Mukta, sitting on my back yard patio with a hot cup of coffee, watching the birds and hoping to spot a deer or two.
I know what joy is. I have my own perceptions and parameters for it. As for service, I am trying to understand its meaning. Common perception as well as dictionary definitions of service refer as something for others, without defining what others mean and completely omitting any reference to self. To me, service for self, is primary since our health and fitness are essential to be able to serve others. As for others, I include not only the human beings, but everything in God’s Creation, be they belong to animal kingdom or to the beautiful sights and sounds of nature. In my view, to help preserve the environment and the ecosystem on our planet is also service. As medical professionals, we all are committed by Hippocratic oath and now we need to also commit to the Oath to self-care and well-being, as we strive to serve the humanity. As human beings we should also be committed to serve the others, which include the mother nature, and the fellow beings of animal kingdom.
Like my grandmother, the routine of my daily service includes assisting my children, helping my wife, feeding the birds, watering the plants, enquiring about the friends and neighbors, reading and writing and, last but not the least, offering my prayers as part of daily routine. All these actions of mine give my joy and make my life worth living.
Mukta has posted two pictures. The first reflects our family’s motto of positivity. Light a candle rather than complain of darkness.
The second picture is of our family’s deity. This photo is fifty years old when we established our own home in Goa. It is our ritual to light a candle and pray before our patron deity every morning and evening and seek the blessing for family’s well-being as well as for our ability to help and serve others. It reflects our family’s strong belief in the power of faith, prayers, and blessings.
The last phrase of the quote is the punch line. Service must be a joy. Otherwise, it is a waste of time and energy. Every action of ours that brings joy, is service.
It is said that work is worship. To serve is worship too. Stay blessed.