During the month of April, Hindu Americans celebrate the birth of Honor, Dharma and Bhakti such as through Ramnavami, Hanuman, Mahavir, Swaminarayan Jayantis.
In this spirit of devotion exemplified by the festivities to honor the luminaries born this month, many participate in community service, UtsavSeva (Festivals of Seva) which augments the spirit of Hindu festivals through seva events connecting them with the cultural heritage. For some of us, April exemplifies the spirit of BhaktiSeva, which celebrates selfless service to all.
Hindu philosophy teaches seva (service) should be selfless. The message is: as part of the spiritual process of self realization, we should serve without attachment.
A discerning mind questions age-old questions: What does selfless service really mean? What should we not be attached to? Is in the giving a receiving? How can I reconcile the philosophical values in the demands of modern life?
Neil Davey, a junior at Montgomery Blair High School, eloquently describes his struggles as he contemplated seva, his motives to serve and the resulting fruits of his action. Here is his moment of realization of Seva and Serendipity:
Attending the Hindu American Seva Communities (HASC) Next Generation Seva Leaders (NGSL) Conference at the White House in August of 2012 was undeniably the highlight of my summer. Not only did I meet fellow Hindu-American students who wanted to promote Seva, the act of giving back to the community, I was inspired by young adults in the Indian and American community who dedicated their lives to increasing cognizance of Hinduism, Sikhism, Jainism and Buddhism in the United States.
Overwhelmed by their selfless service to society through their pursuit to increase awareness about minority religions and create a more unified America, I was highly dissatisfied with myself. I realized how fortunate I was, and believed that I was making no attempt to aid those less fortunate than myself.
Days after the conference, the sense of guilt still pervaded within me. I thought to myself, "The only thing I have done this summer is pursue my own interests. I am completing an internship in a lab simply so that I can add this to my résumé and try to win some science competitions." By the time summer had ended, I still felt as though I were culpable for not having completed any Seva, but the start of my busy 11th grade soon prevented these guilty thoughts from subsisting within me.
In October, I entered the Siemens Competition in Math, Science, and Technology, because I believed the work I did over the summer was quite substantial, and wanted something to show to colleges, as every Indian-American student now does in this country. After submitting my research paper, I was selected to present at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) for the Regional Siemens Competition, and was given a $3,000 scholarship. At MIT, I completed an oral presentation and endured a tough Question & Answer session regarding my project.
I was ecstatic to learn that I had won the Regional Competition and would now present at the National Competition at George Washington University in the nation's capital. And this is when I was hit in the face with serendipity, or a "happy accident."
I had completed a nice project in the lab that summer, and the goal was to generate a live-attenuated vaccine for the disease Leishmaniasis, which is highly prevalent in India, Africa and the Middle East. The disease currently affects 12 million people worldwide and causes 60,000 deaths annually. It is similar to Malaria in the sense that it is a blood-borne parasitic disease, but is transmitted via sandflies rather than mosquitoes. By the end of my summer, I had generated a vaccine candidate that could potentially prevent individuals in disease-burdened countries from obtaining Leishmaniasis. In Washington D.C., during the poster session for the National Siemens Competition, a judge asked me, "How excited do you think an individual in a country that is endemic with this disease would be about your project?"
I realized then and there that I did not need to feel so guilty after attending the HASC NGSL Conference at the White House. Seva is not a singular, but rather a multifaceted, concept. Many people think of Seva in a trite manner, believing it is simply the act of giving food or money to those less fortunate, or educating those who cannot afford an education. Of course, these are highly important aspects of Seva, but service can be done in many other ways.
For Indian-American high school students who have many other responsibilities, it is not feasible to give up school and devote 100% of their time to helping the community. But, a high school student can still play his/her part. Service for the society can still be done, even if it is not entirely "selfless."*
Science can be Seva, as students can create vaccines or drugs to save the lives of thousands, while benefiting themselves from the education and work experience. This idea of "give-and-take" is absent when most people attempt to explain the concept of Seva. It is not pragmatic to expect high school students to only "give," when they still have their whole lives ahead of them. Thus, doing scientific research in a laboratory, both to aid in the curing of disease and to write something substantial on the résumé, is a perfect manner in which a high school student can do Seva in modern America.
As this serendipity dawned upon me, I felt drastically happier when accepting my prize of 3rd place in the nation and a $40,000 scholarship at the conclusion of the Siemens Competition in Washington D.C.
Anybody can do Seva!
*Hindu scriptures say selfless does not mean that our giving is without receiving. What is says is that our giving should have no strings attached. In this freedom, in this mindfol awareness, whatever we "get" is a gift of God.