Early Impressions of Amma’s Ashram (Amritapuri) — “Rajasic” Spirituality, of Energy, Love, and Movement, and perspective of an HSP

Here I am at Amma’s Amritapuri Ashram in Kerala. For some reason, my first inclination was to blog  this from the perspective of an HSP (Highly Sensitive Person) – for perhaps, it seems to be largely my psychological constitution which has coloured much of my experiences and my perceptions, over the last couple of days.

To begin with, practically all HSP’s can relate to the notion of having difficulty sleeping, in unusual or unfamiliar circumstances (or, for some HSP’s, the circumstances do not have to be particularly unfamiliar).

For me, it usually takes a change of setting, or stressful circumstance to affect my sleep.

That said, I have usually had pretty good success sleeping on Indian trains.

The night of my travel to Amma’s Ashram, however, was an exception. Through various factors (not enough exercise? Excessive Idli’s and Chappatis close to bedtime, leading to “frustration and irritation”…), I became quite discomposed, and slept only a couple of hours during the night – perhaps 2 hours.

That said, during those two hours I had some wonderful dreams.

In any case though, despite the nice dreams, I was quite tired on my first day at Amritapuri.

 “Rajasic” Spirituality

The place, I would say, partakes quite strongly of what Ramakrishna once referred to as “Rajasic spirituality” – a spirituality that is based on movement, energy, passion, fun, love, joy, or, etc., etc., etc. – Rajas can be translated using a family of terms, (“passion” is a favourite one), but in this case I might refer to the Rajas of Amma’s Ashram in terms of its Energy, its Excitement, its Noise, its Movement, its Love, its Joy, its Busy-ness.

(the characterization of Love and Joy as “Rajasic” rather than primarily Sattvic, comes to me from a book I have been reading lately, Peter Marchand’s The Yoga of Nine Emotions. This is a really fascinating book which I recommend highly – would like to blog on it in more detail perhaps in future.)

In any case, I see the activity at Amma’s as quite exemplary of Ramakrishna’s characterization of “Rajasic” Spiritual Practices.

The quotation from Ramakrishna where he speaks at length about these types of Spirituality, is quite candid and humourous actually – I believe I found it in the beautiful book Sayings by Lex Hixon…. Can’t find it online at the moment but want to see if I can find it in the near future.

Amma’s Ashram and Rajasic Spirituality

Why do I speak of Amma’s in terms of Rajas?

It may be useful, for discussing this, to draw a contrast with Sattvic spirituality.

Sattvic, would generally mostly partake (if we decide to carry on using the matrix of the nine emotions described by Peter Marchand) of the Rasa – the “taste” (literally), or Emotion, of Shantha, or “Calmness.” (Shantha being the noun, clearly, affiliated with the well known Sanskrit adjective-cum-Indian-backpackers-and-hippies-phrase “Shanti”!)

So Sattvic spirituality, calm and quiet spirituality, is more inclined to keep to itself; one might say, to remain introverted…. In Ramakrishna’s description of the various spiritual aspirants, the description of the Sattvic spiritual aspirant I remember being described as humourously introverted. (Something to the effect of, “While others are going to the temple, parading about with powder, robes, and prasad, the Sattvic aspirant might feel a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing, and simply rise early and do his prayers quietly in his own room…”)

“While others are going to the temple, parading about with powder, robes, and prasad, the Sattvic aspirant might feel a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing, and simply rise early and do his prayers quietly in his own room…”  (Ramakrishna)

Spirituality containing more calmness or shantha, may be more conducive to Introverts and HSPs. Or at least Spirituality that is a bit more quiet – as compared with the sound and excitement here at Amma’s while she is around.

But this is leaving too many things out, and is too quick a treatment.  But I wanted to begin putting this out there, in case the discussion might be of interest to any HSP’s or Introverts – including perhaps followers of Amma!

I am aware, come to think of it, that I believe the well-known writer on HSP, Ted Zeff (Who has written various HSP “Survival Guides,” which are quite good little books), is himself a fan, perhaps even a devotee, of Amma-chi. So while my mind has gotten a bit tired now (it is quite early, before breakfast here, and blood sugar has dropped), I would like to try and expand on this further, hopefully later today.

(If I am not overwhelmed by the wonderfully Rajasic spirituality of Amritapuri!)

Om Shantha Hasya Shringara (Om-Calmness-Joy-Love)

Reflections on “Darshan,” and my Darshan of the Dalai Lama

I have to say that I love South India. Sure I love North India too. But all in all, I just find the South to be more laid back, more friendly – more white coconut chutney, golden sambar and vegetable subji, white rice, (or a crispy wholesome masala dosa) on bright green banana leaf… 

Back on the Indian trains again – I write this from my seat, gazing out the window at the endlessly green South Indian landscape (passing out of Chennai into the expanses of rural Tamil Nadu), of rice paddy fields, coconut trees, cows, villages, small stations that our express train speeds through without slowing – we go express from Chennai to Trivandrum. After a five days holiday in the small fishing town of Mahabilupuram, I am finally off to the Ashram of Amma (Amritapuri Ashram), in Kerala, a place I have planned to visit for a long time.

A part of me worries that the Ashram experience may be rather hectic (I hear it is quite a busy busy place, with perhaps a thousand persons; and I am due to share a dormitory of four); for me, this kind of busy-ness can be quite unwelcome.  But still, I look forward with eagerness.  I am sure that it will be an interesting experience.  And should I be able to take the darshan of Amma, I am quite excited to see what this will be like.  Never before have I been (physically) embraced by a saint!

Amma

This leads me to what might be my only other experience, having darshan of a holy person — (mind you, are we not all holy people? deep inside? But putting this aside, perhaps let us just think or speak of holy people as they are defined in the social world of relative truth) —

First, what is darshan? Darshan was an ancient Sanskrit term simply meaning “to see”, or “vision” — there has in the Indian tradition, been a strong importance given to the notion of simply “seeing”, or “having a view of”, the divine.

As one aside, we might find this to be an interesting note on the Indian tradition of religiosity, or the sacred. Why Hindu traditions were sometimes seen to be a kind of “pantheism” by some of the earliest Western thinkers who were exposed to them (and while the issue is complex, “Pantheism” is a not unfair characterization, many would agree, of the Hindu view of the divine), is simply because the divine was often said to be “in everything.”

In India, there long has been a feeling, or a recognition (could we say), that all is divine. That all is God.

(I remember now, working the night shift at Loblaws many years ago, being told by my dear Indian co-worker Laxhman, “Gard is in Everything! Gard is right here, now — in this conversation!”  (nice that we were having such holy conversations, at night in a grocery store))

Thus it makes perfect sense in the Indian tradition to speak of seeing the divinity. Of seeing something holy. Physical forms can indeed be holy.

And the divine can express itself through physical forms. Indeed, the divine does express itself through each and every one of us.

There is in particular a notion that, at our heart(s), that each one of us is truly divine. That each of us is God, deep deep inside, so to speak.

Why do I not feel like God? We might ask that question…. Well, in the Hindu tradition, it is often felt that, the matter of achieving God is not a matter of finding something outside. Not a matter, necessarily, of achieving something extrinsic to ourselves….

Rather, in the tradition of jnana yoga, and indeed to be sought through all of the traditions of Indian religiosity, it is said that when we find our true selves, (free from all of the acts, and plays, and games of personality, and identification with our personal separate-ness…) — that when we find our true selves, then we also find God.

So the Saint is inside all of us. It is just a matter of, if we are interested in finding our “holiness.”

But I have digressed from my original train — I was going to mention the other Saint or Holy Person I have had a darshan of — this was His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in Dharamsala in 2013.

It was a surprisingly powerful experience, and an interesting circumstance… I had managed to procure a ticket to see the teachings of HH. D-L at the Large Temple just by the town. As those who have been before know, the teachings are in Tibetan, but one can procure radios, and listen to the buzzy translation while attending.

In any case, through some circumstance, I had become extremely late, and felt that I might miss it. At some point I met up with an Irish fellow, who had just arrived in Dharamsala, and came expressly to go to the teachings, but had no ticket.

I was skeptical of whether they would let even me in, as the teaching was nearly over. For him, I thought it was likely a hopeless case; as it was likely quite crowded, and he had no ticket. In any case, to my surprise, we managed to get in. As we came in, the crowd was quite dense, and we had to remain on the stairs.

After ten minutes, the lecture ended, and, we were lucky enough that His Holiness chose to walk out precisely by the way we were standing, passing by our crowded staircase! He passed about perhaps 5 or 10 metres from us. I felt a great deal of joy and happiness to see him — this very humble looking man, bowing to everyone, with these wonderfully vibrant, bright and joyful eyes, and bright and laughing expression.

Just to see this man made me so happy! He looked at all of us and gave little bows, hands pressed in front of him…. What can I say — I experienced — and others said they had felt much the same way too — such a wave of good feelings to experience this darshan.

So much happiness was in me through being around this joyful man. This joy remained with me throughout the day, and to a muted degree was still felt — this upwelling of happiness — for several days thereafter.

HHDL

In any case, this kind of thing may be “mind-created” — (but, is not our whole world mind-created?)… Perhaps everyone who sees a “celebrity” who they like, also feels this wonderful, wave of darshan.

That is possible. But I just know that this was a great experience for me, and I can report that the ancient Indian practice of travelling long distances, simply to take “darshan” of a Saint or Holy Person, is something that, in this instance, did not disappoint me.

Sleep as a form of Meditation?

I recently read someone asking a question to the effect, “whether sleep can considered a form of meditation?”

I felt a pull to give a bit of a response, which began to expand and expand, and which I feel could be expanded indefinitely. I want to reprint a bit of my response, with more points added, for all who may also have interest in this fascinating topic. I am also interested to hear points from others.

Sleep has long been a fascinating and important topic for many of us. Sleep is quite mysterious — we spend, as is often said, nearly one-third of our hours in this incarnation, in the state of Sleep (or maybe better to say in the states (plural) of Sleep — as there are so many stages and phases of sleep). But it is something that remains a bit of an enigma. How intriguing, for our waking awareness to experience being awake, and seemingly a short time later, to re-emerge feeling refreshed….

Emerson, in Nature, listed sleep as one of the phenomena that was “thought [to be] not only unexplained but inexplicable” and thus still in need of explanation and theory (“language, sleep, madness, dreams, beasts, and sex”).

Now many [phenomena] are thought not only unexplained but inexplicable; as language, sleep, madness, dreams, beasts, sex….

Sleep as Meditation?

A few points maybe one could make in response:

There is indeed the quote by His Holiness the Dalai Lama — “Sleep is the Best Form of Meditation”

I often feel that quote is directed towards this busy world, where many of us are often sleep-deprived. I feel like HH Dalai Lama is suggesting — if you need more sleep — then get it! That is a great form of mediation for people who need the sleep!

That said — too much sleep, can be negative for spiritual practice, I feel and many others do.

This may be more of a pitfall though, for some particular people than others.

Ayurveda

Ayurveda (the ancient Vedic (Indian) system of medicine) would say those with many “kapha” characteristics, may be more likely to sleep too much or oversleep (can look up “kapha” online, to see if you think it pertains to you)

For Kapha types particularly, Ayurveda recommends not sleeping too much, and actually in particular, being sure to rise quite early in the morning. It is recommended for everybody, actually, to try and rise before 6 AM; this means it is best to try and get to bed by around 10 or 10:30 PM or so.

For otherwise, too much sleep can lead to lethargy, dullness, and inertia — factors which are not conducive to meditation and which meditation specifically seeks to avoid.

(I want to write much, much, more in this direction soon — there is a lot you can read online about Ayurveda’s fascinating teachings on sleep).

Buddha

There is also this well-known Buddhist story:

(Thanks to the blog Junkyard Paradox for the precise quote — I knew this one but had to look it up, and found it nicely reprinted there. Thank you dear friend):

Yuan once asked: Do you make efforts in your practice of the Way, Master?
Hui Hai: Yes, I do.
Yuan: How?
Hui Hai: When hungry, I eat; when tired, I sleep.
Yuan: And does everybody make the same efforts as you do, Master?
Hui Hai: Not in the same way.
Yuan: Why not?
Hui Hai: When they are eating, they think of a hundred kinds of necessities, and when they are going to sleep, they ponder over affairs of a thousand different kinds. That is how they differ from me.   From The Little Book of Buddhist Wisdom compiled by Richard and Diana St Ruth

This is very important I feel: sleep becomes practically a form of meditation, particularly if we slowly “ease” our way into sleep, doing so with mindfulness and peace.  Myself, and many many others, recommend (what may seem obvious, but so many of us do not do it regularly, in today’s “busy world”), that one unwind and have peaceful time prior to going to sleep.  Do something relaxing, read spiritual books, sit in quietness, (or even meditate), just prior to sleep — and you should find that your sleep is deeper, far more nourishing, fulfilling, and refreshing, and indeed — virtually a form of meditation in itself.

Avoid stimulating activities before sleep! Sit quietly, read from a book, preferably one of which you would not mind the content of which to merge into your subconscious (what you do or take in just before sleep, is quite likely to be imprinted more thoroughly on the subconscious mind).

Enjoy your sleep, enjoy your life. When you eat, eat. When you sleep, sleep.   🙂

How to Get More Sleep

Finally, this video on “How to get more Sleep”  (and better sleep, I might add) by Brendon Burchard, is surprisingly perceptive, simple, and full of jewels.  Following these suggestions helped this overtired empath to get more and better sleep on a more consistent basis  (video below).  Thanks for the great content Brendon!

Green Supplements — Spirulina and others

I have become a bit of a Green Supplements fanatic over the past several months.

It has always been difficult for me to find sufficient green food while living in India. Leafy greens in particular, which are my lifeblood, and make me feel alive and wonderful. When I eat greens, I feel alive and fresh; when I miss my greens, I tend to feel slow, uncomfortable, “tamasic”, and heavy.

So, that will be my activity today. It is a bit silly, actually. But I am running out of my green supplements, and so will be returning, by bus, from Mahabilupuram, the roughly 2 hours to Auroville (from where I just said my goodbyes days ago), to pick up my Green needs (and some other goods – maybe Tulsi Tea); and then, after this short visit, to perhaps eat lunch, and get on the bus back to dear ancient Mamallapuram.

So that is my project for the day.

I would like to share my own current green supplement regimen, for others who may be interested in learning more:

1. Spirulina

This is perhaps my mainstay green supplement. It is a bit different from most of the other green plant supplements, insofar as it is very protein rich. 

I take spirulina primarily for the Protein, and for the Iron, of which it is also supposed to be a good source. Also it is extremely rich in Vitamin A (Beta-carotene), and in a wide assortment of other Vitamins and Minerals.

Sometimes, in addition to Spirulina, I take a combination capsule produced by Aurospirul, Simplicity Farm (The Spirulina farm in Auroville, which manufactures all of these supplements). This is:

2. Spirulina with Amla  

For proper absorption of Iron and also protein, it is necessary for the body to have Vitamin C. The Spirulina with Amla capsule is excellent for this purpose.

Amla (Indian Gooseberry; also known as Amalaki) is one of the richest sources of Vitamin C on earth. It has a Vitamin C content about 20 times that of Oranges(!) It is also a powerful anti-oxidant and body coolant.

I highly recommend this combination of Spirulina and Amla, conveniently encapsulated by Simplicity Farm, for a good dose of Protein, Vitamin A, Iron, and Vitamin C, among others.

3. Wheatgrass

Wheatgrass is a great source of energy, as well as all sorts of vitamins. Like most of these other green supplements, wheatgrass contains very high amounts of Chlorophyll, which has manifold health benefits.

This may sound a bit strange, but I personally only take wheatgrass at certain moments and situations, for the reason that I find it to be stimulating and potentially (a bit like caffeine but in a different way), causing of anxiety.

Beautiful Wheatgrass

Wheatgrass is best taken, for me, on an empty stomach. It seems to have something of a bodily purifying effect. So that if I take too much wheatgrass, it may lead to a bit of headache or dizziness/weakness. It is like the body is cleaning itself.

So Wheatgrass, as good for health as it is, is something that I actually have learned, for my own physiology, to take more judiciously. I have heard of some others having similar experiences, so I would advise, if you are new to Wheatgrass, to not over-do it, and to “start slow”!

(Actually, the onset of headache and weakness, the first time it happened to me, resembled the very onset I experienced of Dengue fever, in Delhi in 2013. This was two months after I had gotten over my Dengue — but I thought I had it again!  My local Tibetan friend assured me he thought it was not Dengue, but I had us go to the hospital and check — and thankfully, he was correct: the tests came back negative; I later realized this feeling was just a result of too much wheatgrass!)

4. Moringa 

This is a green supplement native to South India. It is extremely high in a wide range of Vitamins, as well as Chlorophyll. I have found this to have many of the same benefits as Wheatgrass, but without the stimulation, and without the attendant sometimes unwanted feelings and side-effects. It has quickly become one of my staple supplements.

For anyone with access to Moringa, either in its unprocessed pure leaf form or dried into powder or tablets/capsules, I highly highly recommend this wonderful plant.

5. Alfalfa

I take Alfalfa primarily to control my blood sugar. It stabilizes blood sugar (I actually notice the effect quite physiologically and quickly), and also is said to reduce cholesterol. It is something that is actually quite helpful for me, in instances of a blood sugar spike.

I try to carry a small container of Alfalfa capsules with me in my backpack at all times, as an emergency measure for spikes in blood sugar. It has been a great boon to me quite often.

Alfalfa

Mahabalipuram (Mamallapuram) — A place to take a break

Mahabalipuram (or Mamallapuram, as it is now called), is a place I am enjoying quite a bit, as a place to take a break, unwind, and relax.

There is frankly not a huge amount to see or do in the town, and it is quite touristy, with “far more touts than good restaurants,” as I have seen one person write, which is quite true. (That said, if you want decent and fairly priced South Indian food, walk a few minutes down towards the Bus Stand end. The Western tourist restaurants are over-priced, and the food is nothing special).

Despite this, I am very happy to be in Mahabalipuram. I have a room right on the Beach, with a beautiful view from my balcony, which I got for a fairly reasonable price (Lutz Guest House, near Mamma Mia restaurant, at the very North end of the beach – best value of the various places we paraded through on our first day).

This is a nice town to rest in and take some time for quiet. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed after three-and-a-half months spent in a rather intensive, talkative and busy, volunteer community in Auroville (a few hours away). Mahabalipuram is for me a great place to just rest and do –nothing.

Beautiful view from my balcony. The beach is filled with local fishing boats and fishermen.

That’s the ancient (c. 9th century) Shore Temple in the background.

Living as an HSP or Empath in a Busy Community

1. Carve out your space

HSPs and Empaths easily exchange energy with other people. This can make living in very close quarters, physiologically and energetically difficult.

A dormitory with no dividers or curtains, most HSPs and Empaths will not find to be comfortable or conducive to their well-being. It may well become torture.

I know from my own experience, I have had trying experiences living in dormitories with no dividers.

At the very least, if you are forced into a dormitory atmosphere, put up curtains to at least have some privacy from the gaze of others.

I personally also try to make my own living and sleeping space – even if it is “audibly” communal – that is to say, other people living near me can speak to me, and hear me speak to them – I try to make my space “my own space,” and as a general rule will not talk to people through the curtains or makeshift “walls.” I make it not a conversational space.

This can be either implicit — I just avoid talking to people through the walls, and soon they understand that I keep my time in my own space my own private time — or explicit — if someone persistently tries to speak to me through the curtains, I just let them know, humbly, with love, firmness, and humility, that

“Hi, just to let you know, I am sorry, but I really like to have one private space to myself in the community, and so when I am here in my (bed/sleeping space/personal space), I try to avoid it becoming a social space.”

The person will invariably, at least in my own experience, be totally understanding and supportive of my wishes, when I state them in a humble and truthful way.

I have found that this is most comfortable, as I know that, as not-entirely-private as it may be, at least there is an extent to which when I retreat behind my curtains, it can really be a retreat, into my own personal space.

Living as an HSP and Introvert in a very Busy, Extroverted, Volunteer Community (Sadhana Forest India)

Discovering the literature on Introversion and Highly Sensitive Persons (or “HSPs”), several years ago, helped me to understand many things about my own life. This was very powerful for me, and helped me to understand some of the reasons why I have experienced things the way that I have, and helped clarify many of my life’s experiences.

I hope to write more in depth about my life’s experiences vis-a-vis being highly HSP, an “empath”, and Introvert, in future posts.

Elaine Aron’s website on the Highly Sensitive Person – www.hsperson.com – is a highly informative resource and introduction to the concept of HSP (and the majority of HSP’s (though not all) are also Introverts).

But for those who are Introverts or HSP, or take an interest in these psychological profiles and already know a thing or two about them, I want to talk in this post about some recent personal experiences of my own – namely, in spending three and a half months in what I would characterise as a Highly, Highly, Highly extroverted volunteer community – that said, a very beautiful and purposeful community – working on reforestation in line with certain values of living (such as Veganism, Gift Economy, Non-competition, and Sustainability), operating in Auroville, in the state of Tamil Nadu, South India.

This community is called Sadhana Forest India – and their work resonates quite a bit with some of my own core values (I have been deeply interested in the philosophies of Gift Economy and of Selfless Service, or Seva (Sanskrit), which are core values of Sadhana Forest.)

I would like to share some of my experiences at this community from an HSP and Introverted point of view.

As there are many things to share, perhaps I will begin with the beginning of the day, and work progressively down.

Beginning of the Day – Wake up at 5:30 or 5:45 am, and attend the “Morning Circle”

Morning circle – this is a highly extroverted affair. Imagine being woken up by someone playing a guitar and walking around the community, at 5:30 or 5:45 am (changes seasonally). Then there are 15 to 30 minutes to arrive at a big circle, where the community’s volunteers (ranging from 25 to 70 volunteers during my time there), stand together, stretch, then sing a song or play a game, before breaking for a multitude of hugs, before striding off to the work of the morning (working in the forest, or cooking breakfast, or performing other sevas).

Eventually I learned to skip morning circle. Once I had been at Sadhana for several weeks, I had developed enough of a trust from the long-term volunteers, that they understood that my wishing to not partake in morning circle, was not an expression of laziness or hostility to other volunteers in the community – but rather, to start my morning in my own preferable more calm, peaceful, and personal way, prior to beginning the five hours or so of communal living and work (a work schedule already something rather stressful for an introvert).

Particularly the playing of games, sometimes involving bringing all of these bodies together, first thing in the morning, was something that an HSP or empath, made me feel uncomfortable to immediately wake up to every morning.

These sorts of activities would be highly enlivening and invigorating for Extroverts, who by virtue of their physiological constitution collect their energy from outside and from other people, (and indeed one did notice the great enlivening effect on the extroverts (who constitute an estimated two-thirds to three-quarters of most populations). However, I think introverts, and particularly HSP’s (who tend to often be “empaths,” who subtly pick up on the energy of other human beings, and have the feeling of it imposing on their own energy – will understand the feeling of this being one of the last things they would seek to do to start their day.

Introverts and HSP’s will tend to prefer a more calm and quiet beginning to their day. This particularly applies when there are several hours of – often extroverted – work scheduled before the common lunch.

Other issues:

• The common meals, noise in the main hut during meals
• Communal living – living very close together – eg., in the dorms. Solution to this: try and obtain a living space that is at least curtained off, and preferably as secluded as possible.

Another issue is simply being worn down over time. It greatly interests me to think about how over time my stamina and patience, and inner integrity, seemed to be steadily reduced and worn down.

Positives: a great learning experience. Learned to live with people in perhaps a far more intensive way than have ever lived before.

The few moments or times of seclusion were welcomed and appreciated far more.

Also, now that I have left Sadhana (albeit not for ever), I appreciate my own personal time so, so, so much more.

My Time at Sadhana Forest, India

I recently finished a stint of three and a half months at Sadhana Forest. This is a reforestation community in Auroville, in the state of Tamil Nadu, in South India. But it is so much more than a reforestation project – it is truly a unique community, with particular very strongly held and maintained values.

To name a few of the core values: veganism, sustainable living, non-competition, the educational philosophy of ‘unschooling’, and gift economy, among others. Sadhana Forest is a volunteer community, operated entirely by volunteers (long and short-term). Besides the original Sadhana Forest in South India where I stayed, they have also recently opened projects in Haiti (in 2010), and Kenya (just recently in 2014), where they are working on Reforestation of depleted regions, and particularly in these two new camps, on planting food-bearing trees to contribute to food security. The work that is being done in these places is clearly very important: these latter two are impoverished regions, where the land has been depleted and where food security is a major issue. In Sadhana Forest India, the focus is primarily on Reforestation and Water conservation rather than on Food security; but here, the water table has been raised by over 6 metres (I know, it sounds like a lot to me also!), during the 11 or so years since Sadhana was founded.

The model of work at Sadhana Forest is quite beautiful: it is entirely a volunteer model. The work done is referred to as “Seva,” a Sanskrit word meaning “Selfless Service.”

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