Serve with Joy & Humility

The topic of my speech today was “service”, and I won the best speaker award. The following is a summary of the speech.

I have always been the type of person that would go out of my way to help others. Whether it may be repairing their computers, teaching them something, or even renovating their apartments. I would not help others because of any incentive, but simply because I enjoyed being of service.

A few years ago, after my eye surgeries, I felt like the tables had turned. I was no longer able to serve people; I was now on the receiving end of service. This situation tremendously hurt my ego, because I started to feel helpless and worthless. To make matters worse, people who would see me walking down the stairs with assistance would often ask if I was mentally challenged. This would pierce my heart like an arrow, and I would respond by saying, “No, I have low-vision, and by the way, I’m a network engineer”. I felt the need to justify myself by telling them about my successful career.

Fortunately, a few weeks later, an incident occurred that completely changed my perspective about being of service to others. One evening, once the elevator reached our floor, my mom assisted me to get on so that I would not trip on the step. There was an elderly man already in the elevator when we entered. He felt extremely sad when he looked at me, and asked my mom “What is wrong with this boy?”

I responded to him with a smile and said, “I have low-vision.”

I could feel the pain in his heart as he said to my mom again “but he is so young.”

We just smiled as the elevator continued to the ground floor, and my mom once again assisted me out of the elevator.

It was on that day that I realized one of my purposes in life – it’s to generate compassion within others. I would always feel offended when others would ask about my condition, or hold my hand while we walk. But today, I have realized that these individuals are not just doing me a favor, I’m also helping them by offering them an opportunity to serve. There have been many days during which it is bright enough for me to walk alone, but my friends or family members would still choose to hold my hand. Even when I would tell them that I’m fine walking, alone, they respond saying something like “why am I not allowed to hold you?” Sometimes there’s even a competition of who gets an opportunity to help me, from kids to elderly people.

It is the feeling of compassion that empowers a person to serve others. Compassion is a feeling of shared suffering for another form of life with the desire to alleviate that suffering. Compassion is often observed as a type of selfless service, generosity, or kindness.

Through my experience, I would like to emphasize that service is never a one-way street. If we serve others in some way, we are also receiving service in another form, whether it may be a sense of gratitude or a boost to our ego. Therefore, we must be humble when we are serving. We must remind ourselves that we are blessed to have the opportunity to serve others.

Similarly, if we are on the receiving end of service, we must also curb our pride. We must allow others to serve us. In addition, you may have noticed that many individuals who are on the receiving end of the service sometimes express a bitter or frustrated attitude. This is not because they do not appreciate the service they are receiving, it’s simply because they feel helpless in that situation and they do not know of any way to relieve that feeling. However, there is a way to calm this bitter and frustrated attitude. It is by practicing mindfulness such as meditation, which will enhance the person’s sense of gratitude as well as create inner peace and acceptance.

I invite you to start practicing compassion towards others, but most importantly towards yourself first. Simply observe your inner voice, is it critical or is it kind?

Compassionate individuals are those of us that have experienced our share of suffering, and feel empathy for others who are facing similar challenges. We realize that just like us, others are also seeking happiness and trying to avoid pain.

Finally, through compassion our hearts open and we experience oneness with all. The most elevated emotion radiated by the heart is compassion, and it benefits our health in addition to helping us develop spiritually.

“I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy.” – Tagore

A State of Flow

Some of us consider making a difference in the world a top priority, and we go out of our way, and even stress ourselves out just to serve. I am aware that life coaching, articles, and insights that I share, as well as some of the personal experiences with Shirdi Sai Baba and Satya Sai Baba have inspired others and transformed lives.

I have noticed that when I try to write from my ego or for the need to simply write, I am unable to do so; no matter how hard I try. However, there are other times when the insights come in with tremendous power, that I am forced to stop doing whatever it may be, and immediately start writing. And during this time, I’m in a state where the words simply flow. I feel as if I’m the instrument, and the Universe is playing the music. This is the main reason for the inconsistency in the timings of the articles.

There have been many times when I’ve tried to write at will, but the words do not come through. Now, my perspective has changed a little through another insight. Basically, It’s great to serve, but even by not serving, and just working on ourselves we can make a difference.

I’m always reminded of something I read about the Buddha. It is said that when the Buddha walked in the garden, flowers that were out of season bloomed. This was simply through his presence. This inspires me to continuously work on myself, and many others will automatically be transformed.

If the main purpose is to serve, then it doesn’t matter if it is action-based, or non-action based. However, once we surrender to the universe, action-based service becomes an effortless flow, not a self-requirement or an expectation.

Buddha Purnima 2014 Dream

May 14, 2014, 3.50am – I have been falling in and out of a dream state several times since the past few minutes. Whenever I’m back in the dream Satya Sai Baba appears to me. He does not say anything. As I come out of the dream state, I see a reflection of his head in front of me. This occurred about three times, and while it was happening, I remember thinking to myself, “I better stop meditating, because strange things are starting to happen again”. In any case, as I fell back into the dream state, I saw Satya Sai Baba sitting on my bed. He wasn’t looking at me, he seemed to be busy doing something, as if looking for an object in a box.

I tapped him on the shoulder and said “Swami”.
He turned towards me and stood up. He was looking young, and extremely handsome. He was wearing an orange robe, and the wall behind him was blue.
He was so pleased to see me. He shook my hand with both his hands and said “Thank you Dinesh, Thank you for being there”. As I shook his hand I remember thinking to myself, “Swami, please speak slowly, I will have to remember this to write it down”.

I believe that there was one more thing that he had said, but because that thought was running through my head I could not remember what it was. He then embraced me and said, “Spread my message”. While I was embracing him, I could see the blue wall behind him, which had a poster on it that read, “Be at your Home”. It was a white poster with black text. I then fully woke up, with my heart racing and body sweating as usual when I experience such dreams.

During the next few days, I may get more insights about the significance of this dream, which I will share on my blog Bliss with Sai. Meanwhile, I guess I need to remember Satya Sai Baba’s words “spread my message”.

UPDATE @ 7.00am - To add a little more to this – after I went back to bed, Shirdi Sai Baba appeared in my dream at around 7am, which woke me up. He was tall and wearing a peach colored robe. Honestly, I did notice him, but I was too tired to interact with him.

I later found out when I woke up that today is an auspicious day, Buddha Poornima and Full Moon.

I will share some deeper information on lucid dreaming, mindfulness, etc. in the upcoming blog post.

Express the Healthiest Emotion

Have you ever wondered why some people are just plain rude, always frustrated, constantly complaining, and blaming everyone else for the problems in their lives? Their presence and speech is extremely negative which makes us avoid them as much as possible. Even if we don’t personally know them, we can sense the bitterness. They may be shop owners, teachers, or a random person in line in front of us at the supermarket. You may have noticed that such folks often interact amongst themselves, which is acceptable, until we need to interact with them. It then becomes frustrating, and soon enough their behavior influences us.

It can be observed that the early years of this group of people may have been quite challenging. They may have had to, and continue to struggle with family, health, finance, careers, or relationship issues. As this persists without any hope of a resolution, their attitude begins to turn bitter. There is a limit to how much pain a person can endure, no matter how much patience or persistence one has. It becomes even more difficult when they notice that their friends and family are progressing with less effort, while they continue to strive and burn themselves out without seeing any results.

Very often we condemn this behavior and avoid interaction with such people. We respond to this type of behavior with exactly the same attitude that is projected. Instead, it would be wiser for us to understand what has triggered this behavior in them, which can assist us in guiding them and transforming their attitudes. We all struggle with challenges in our lives, even though some have a higher coping ability than others. These challenges are meant to help us become better, not bitter human beings. Each one of us is a like a diamond, and if we are agitated and irritated by every rub, which is disguised in the form of a problem, we cannot be polished, and will not evolve beyond the bitter state that we reflect.

If we have become bitter human beings, one way to overcome this is by changing our perspectives. It’s clearly evident that those who are responsible, trustworthy, and capable are the ones that are ‘offered’ more challenging roles. So, why don’t we consider ourselves blessed instead of doomed? This simple change in perspective will encourage us and continue to fuel our will power to persevere under any condition.

In addition to the change in perspective, expressing the attitude of gratitude is extremely powerful, and is an instant cure for bitterness. By changing our focus from the negative to the positive we will realize how lucky and blessed we actually are. However, the challenge is to remind ourselves to switch our focus while we are in the negative state. To achieve this, it is crucial to make gratitude a part of our daily routine. Maintaining a gratitude journal is the most powerful technique to remind us how blessed we are, and to refrain from the habit of constantly complaining. Every night, before going to bed, we can review the activities of the day and write down the events and people that we are grateful for. We can take this a step further, and write down the tasks that were accomplished on that day, and the tasks to be completed on the following day. This will not only lead us to more happiness, but it will also increase our productivity. This is a simple and effective technique, that we can start doing right away. Gratitude is the healthiest emotion and we must constantly express it in order to transform our lives.

The fact is that problems will never cease to exist, but our bitter behavior can. We can remind ourselves that when there is ease and simplicity in our lives, it is because of the lessons we have learned through our experiences over time; however, when we face obstacles and resistance, it is because there is more to learn. Finally, we will realize that the goal of life is to learn and grow.   Therefore, with a positive attitude let us consider every struggle to be an opportunity to become better and humble human beings.

“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie

Source: Dino’s Words of Wsdom blog

The Five Words

Since the past few years, I have had several spiritual visions, interactions, and healings from beings of higher consciousness in my dreams; such as Shirdi Sai Baba, Sathya Sai Baba, Lord Shiva, Krishna, Guru Nanak, Lord Shani Dev, etc. In this blog, I will share details of many of these dreams as well as the insights that I have received.

Yesterday, I visited the Sathya Sai Baba centre for His birthday celebration bhajans. While I sat there listening to the bhajans, I had a feeling that I would experience something in my dream. Although, I was not completely sure.

Around 4am this morning, Sathya Sai Baba appeared in my dream. He was extremely tall and walked towards me. I was surprised and very happy to see Him so I walked towards him to bow down. He did not say a word, simply blessed me, and I woke up. As always, when I have such experiences in my dreams my heart rate rises and it’s difficult to go back to sleep. This experience reminded me of a dream interaction with Sathya Sai Baba I had several years ago. I hope you enjoy reading it.

March 2, 2007, 5:30AM, Taipei– I saw a flash of lightening, time froze, and Sathya Sai Baba’s picture flashed in several bright colors. I was astonished and could not figure out what was happening. I thought to myself: "what was that lightening flash, a flash of awakening, or is this what people describe as one of Satya Sai Baba’s miracles?” Once the colors stopped flashing, I saw Sathya Sai Baba wearing a blue robe standing in front of me. He was very tall and his hair transformed into a triangular and then a square shape before returning to normal. I was simply standing there as a witness, confused as to what had just happened.

I did not feel any love as one would expect, nor did I feel any emotions of guilt, fear or joy. I walked towards him, bowed down and touched his feet. I then took a few steps back to take a better look at him since he was extremely tall. I joined my hands and said "I do not have any questions to ask you, but do you have a message for me?" He walked towards me, bent down, placed his hand on my chin, looked directly into my eyes and said five words in a language that I did not understand, and then disappeared. 

I stood there thinking to myself "What? Baba, wait! I don't understand your message; it’s not in English”. A moment later, I woke up.

The next day, I shared this dream with a devotee of Sathya Sai Baba, expecting him to decode the message for me. Unfortunately, the five words were not the numbers to the next week’s lottery, as I had hoped. The five words were Sathya Sai Baba’s virtues by which we should live our lives: truth, right conduct, peace, love, and non-violence.

Prior to this dream, I visited Puttaparthi only once, and had a chance to see Sathya Sai Baba from quite a distance. I realized that distance was not a limitation to experience his grace. Even though, Sathya Sai Baba is no longer in his physical form, he can cross all boundaries of existence and connect with us, if we simply invoke for his blessings. His purpose is to elevate the consciousness of humanity, and he will creatively reach his devotees to spread his message in ways that we cannot even imagine.  

I believe the vision of Him in my dream this morning has reminded me of the wonderful feelings that we have experienced through his grace and to continue living by the five virtues that he has shared with everyone.

“Devotion is not a uniform to be worn on certain days and then to be put aside.” – Sathya Sai Baba