MANAGING SEVA (SELFLESS SERVICE) IN TIMES OF GREAT CHANGE
by
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FOREWORD
SEVA: THE SELFLESS COMMUNITY SERVICE
Seva is the spiritual practice of selfless service. Seva, a Sanskrit word , springs from two forms of yoga, Karma Yoga which is yoga of action and Bhakti Yoga, the yoga of worship inspired by divine love. Seva is one of the simplest and yet most profound and life changing ways that we can put our spiritual knowledge into action. Seva is asking “How may I serve you?” Or ask “Can I help you?” Another way of doing service is to roll up your sleeves and help where you notice that you are needed. We can share our resources and energy with those in need and respond positively when a person asks for help. "Being there as the need arises” is a simple definition of seva by Sri Ravi Shankar of the Art of Living Foundation . When you consider work as divine service, you can do it anywhere, at any time. Doing seva is uplifting your own self, your own people and your world. Offering our seva is a way to make a significant contribution to the spiritual community of fellow beings on earth. It is a practice that feeds us spiritually and a spiritual discipline that awakens us to the greater truth of our own being. The concept of seva or selfless service has been with us in the East as well as in the Western countries since time immemorial. This was true since the time of Andrew Carnegie and others and is now being seen in developing countries by the creation of new wealth. The proliferation of non-profits and non-governmental organizations (NGO) is a testament to this.People also live longer and in their later years during retirement, they want to find a meaning to their lives – this is often expressed in volunteerism with a variety of local and national charity organizations. Many people do seva in their own little ways without formally joining a non-profit or NGO.
There is also a large and growing population of immigrants from the former developing countries who live in the West and wish to “give back” to their countries of birth. This seva is often by building schools and hospitals in their towns and villages.Yet another form of seva is by carrying out medical missions to distant lands where there is an acute shortage of medical personnel and medications.
Despite the universal desire for seva, managing the process of seva is formidable and can create tensions and undo the desire to help the needy. There are frictions within the organization, either NGO or a non-formal group of people who wish to do seva. There are also personal rivalries and organizational issues which need to be navigated so that the end result is visible and tangible. Seva also has to comply with local, state, and national regulations, statutes and laws. Despite the concept of seva as selfless service, there is a need for adequate publicity to engage others who may have similar programs and to avoid duplication. Attracting funds is also a challenge. As programs become bigger, they create more paperwork and hierarchical systems which may impede progress and prevent funds going to the needy.Introduction of new programs in a community give rise to a revolution of rising expectations . Traditionally, the impact of “rising expectations” may lead to youth wanting and demanding more, quest for greater freedom, consumerism, education, desire for upward social mobility. This may in some cases lead to social unrest . Frequently, both parties are disappointed and there may be a backlash towards the organizers of seva. We hope that our case studies will enable both the seva givers to better manage their seva programs. Our intention is not to discredit any government or officialdom, but merely to point out the problems we faced. There are of course, many dedicated government and non-government individuals who are honest and doing their job with dedication despite numerous challenges, many of which are inherent in any vast organization.
There are many models of government which may include a true democracy and autocracy and models in-between. Similarly, there are many forms and formats of seva. An ideal model may not exist. Recently, the erudite Thomas L. Friedman suggested that the ideal capitalist model may be a balanced public-private partnership — where government provided the institutions, rules, safety nets, education, research and infrastructure to empower the private sector to innovate, invest and take the risks that promote growth and jobs . Perhaps, there lies a model of seva which may be close to ideal.I was impressed by James Kofi Annan’s lecture at Grinnell Young Innovators for Social Justice Prize Symposium entitled “Passion, Commitment, and Innovation: The Critical Success Factors in Community Project Sustainability”. James Kofi Annan, told of his own personal journey from being a child slave, a victim of child trafficking, and a survivor of child trafficking in the country of Ghana. He escaped from that institution and to become educated, from learning to read after the age of 13, to entering college, and then getting a master’s degree in Ghana, and then working for Barclays Bank. But his commitment did not end with his own personal improvement. He then turned his passion for social justice, to helping other children who were in the same conditions he had once lived in himself, as anti-slavery activists have done for many hundreds of years. James founded the organization Challenging Heights in 2003 to provide education and support for children who have emerged from human trafficking and to prevent children from being sold into slavery in the country of Ghana. As president, he provides for more than 500 children in a school as well as education and support for survivors who go through a reorientation process and are physically, literally saved from forced labor. I firmly believe that to sustain any project, there is a need for passion and commitment, and if there is no innovation, the project will wither away.
Paul Alofs, CEO at the fundraising efforts at Canada’s leading cancer hospital, the Princess Margaret has helped raise $550-million, and now he is leading a new quest for $1billion to finance research into personalized cancer treatments. Mr. Alofs is also about to launch a book, Passion Capital, offering his view on how institutions can harness workers’ energy and intensity. The not-for-profit sector is served by volunteers. These are people who work for free and a lot of them report that this is the most fulfilling part of their week. We have found that harnessing the passion of volunteers, whether they are teachers in remote parts of India, volunteers in national blood donation drives in the USA or physicians in Guyana, was critical in our seva projects."To whom much is given, much is expected." The fact of life is that a lot has been given to us in the USA, while many in developing countries did not even have the opportunity to go to a primary school to acquire the most basic of education, primary health care lacks in many developing countries, before our medical mission in Guyana, there was no facility for kidney replacement services in Guyana, South America – a patient with kidney failure simply died. Our renal replacement program in Guyana and our blood and bone marrow donation programs are in response to this need. This fact alone motivated us to do something – to give back to the community – the global community.
Participation in distance learning is another example which can help a large number of educators in developing countries who may lack resources in health psychology. The University of West London has initiated a Master’s program in Global Health Psychology in which I have been involved since its inception. They have a special focus on developing countries and personnel who participate in humanitarian missions .
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
The first part of the book gives practical aspects of performing seva in the USA, India and Guyana, South America. I give case histories from my own experience and how I navigated the turbulent waters to deliver what we set out to accomplish. I hope that our team’s work will motivate others to understand the difficulties and find solutions to fulfilling the goal of seva. At the end, we could not achieve anything without the help of dedicated team members many of whom gave up their vacations and willingly gave their money and energy to make a difference.
The second part of the book examined 5 case studies of our work dealing with kidney and corneal transplants in Guyana, blood and bone marrow drives in the USA under the auspices of the Hindu Mandir Executive Committee, distance learning in the UK and the Global Energy Parliament, Kerala, India.
The third part of the book gives cautionary lessons in managing seva projects across the world.
The fourth part of the book gives theoretical aspects of seva, which include social networks in management of complex missionary projects, the use of social networking technology in the promotion and scaling up of complex global health initiatives, the growing phenomenon of “voluntourism” and Distance Learning.
Our case histories represent a variety of situations across continents. Having initiated and carried these projects from scratch to fruition has given us an insight into the many issues others may face when they initiate their own projects. We experienced frustration at many points in the trajectory of our projects; however, we persevered and perhaps achieved modest success. We should confess that we thought of abandoning and giving up at multiple stages of our projects, however, we were reminded of the beneficiaries and continued against many odds and obstacles. Some of these could have been prevented but others were inevitable.
About the Author
Dr. Rahul M. Jindal is currently a Transplant Surgeon at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and Professor of Surgery and Global Health at Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland. Dr. Jindal is a visiting professor in several universities in India and the U.K.
Jindal is the author of over 150 manuscripts; has been funded by the National Institute of Health. Jindal’s research work and publications have been cited in text books and have been accompanied by editorials. Jindal has played a crucial role on the medical team that conducted ground-breaking surgery at Walter Reed AMC on Thanksgiving Day in 2009. A 21-year old senior airman, Tre Porfirio was shot three times by an insurgent in Afghanistan; he received the first ever pancreas islet cell transplant after trauma.
Dr. Jindal setup the first comprehensive kidney dialysis and transplant program in Guyana, South America. His team visits Guyana 4 times a year and has performed numerous surgical procedures. Recently, Jindal’s team added corneal transplant program to their existing work in Guyana. Jindal endowed a scholarship (Rahul M. Jindal travel fellowship) which will enable selected final year medical students to carry out electives in medical schools in India. He is the Co-Chair of SEVAK Program (www.sevakproject.org) in which his team trains high school students in good preventative measures and diagnosis of diabetes and hypertension in India and Guyana where there are no medical facilities. Jindal narrated the Guyana experience in his book “The story of the first kidney transplant in Guyana, South America, and lessons learnt for other developing countries (Publisher: iUniverse, 2009. ISBN: 9-78144-017387-5).
In addition to his clinical activities, Dr. Jindal earned a PhD in Social Psychology from the Middlesex University, London, for his work on improving quality of life in patients with kidney failure and kidney transplants. Based on his experience in working with psycho-social issues in this group of patients, Dr. Jindal co-authored a book entitled “The Struggle for Life: A Psychological Perspective of Kidney Disease and Transplantation, (Publisher: Praeger, Westport, CT, USA, 2003, ISBN: 0-86569-323-4”
Dr. Jindal recently received the Leadership Award by the “International Leadership Foundation” Washington, DC, 2013. He also received the Outstanding American by choice award by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, 2013. Governor of Maryland appointed Jindal as Commissioner, Office on Service and Volunteerism, Maryland (2013) and Commissioner to the Human Rights Commission, Montgomery County, Maryland (2014). Jindal was awarded the Fulbright-Nehru Distinguished Chair to carry out research and teaching in India for 2015-6; and also the Ellis Island Medal of Honor, 2015.