What is Seva?
To perform selfless dedicated service without any thought of reward or personal benefit.
Why should we do Seva?
Service to the needy is Service rendered to our Lord. Seva is not merely an act of charity. It is service to God in the form of man. Simply put, Seva is the very essence of devotion. To help the needy is our duty and privilege. Every Sunday morning we gather together with our children and make a pledge to “…. live honestly the noble life of sacrifice and service… ”
It’s our duty to fulfill the pledge and put in action. It is a great opportunity for us to teach “by example” to be grateful to all that we have been blessed with and to instill the value of service from a young age. Our pledge says “We believe that the service of our country is the service of the Lord of lords and devotion to the people is the devotion to the Supreme Self “. With this pledge in mind, we incorporate Vedanta in action as Seva Projects in our curriculum.
Seva Bhava
In order to achieve all of the above we have to constantly remind ourselves that we are indeed His instrument as well as to offer the fruits of our service at His feet. We at Chinmaya Mission Milwaukee are privileged to have the opportunity to participate in serving the need of those in need in our community. We welcome all to join us in this noble endeavor wherein we give so little, and yet receive so much more in the form of indescribable joy, satisfaction and fulfillment. If you are interested in participating in our community seva activities, or would like to learn more, please send an e-mail to chinmayabalavihar.milwaukee@gmail.com
Past Seva Events
Some of the seva activities/ projects we do every year include –
- Donations to local non-profit organizations such as Milwaukee Rescue Mission, Sussex Food Pantry and Feeding America Wisconsin to feed local families in need
- Cooking at the Hindu Temple of Wisconsin – As part of the community service we cooked Maharashtrian food at the temple. We opened the temple kitchen for use with opening prayers and chanted Bhagavad Gita chapter 15 before serving food. The proceeds from this event went to the temple.
- Sandwich seva – Our children made Lunch bags (peanut butter Sandwich, apple, raisins) in a lean manufacturing way for the Milwaukee homeless shelter.
- Valentine’s Day Project – Our children made lots of beautiful Valentine’s day book marks for the assisted living residents.
- Annual Milwaukee River Keepers Cleanup – Chinmaya families helped the (Milwaukee River keepers) clean up River Milwaukee off the plastic trash before the water completely thawed and took the debris into the lake.
