SEWA DAY

Today is the second annual Sewa Day. Here's some information from the Sewa Day website. There's lots more of interest and inspiration to be found there.

Sewa is a universal concept, which involves performing an act of kindness without expectation of reward. It is performed selflessly and without ulterior motive.

As a concept, Sewa in embedded in Indian traditions, and is actively promoted by different cultures and faiths - as the core belief is the same - to sacrifice your time and resources for the benefit of others without wanting anything in return. 

On Sewa Day, thousands of good-hearted people across the world come together to perform Sewa and experience the joy of giving in its truest sense. By participating in this collective endeavour, we hope that the seeds of Sewa are watered so that acts of kindness and public service are performed more often. Sewa Day is a catalyst in making this happen. 

Previously, participating groups have organised Sewa Day volunteering projects in old people’s homes, homeless shelters, schools in disadvantaged areas, hospitals and hospices, country parks, conservation areas and city farms – all with an aim of making a positive difference to someone else’s happiness and prosperity. Join us this year to make our dream a reality.We’re all concerned about disadvantage, deprivation and ignorance. Sewa day provides an opportunity to do something positive that makes a meaningful difference to someone else’s quality of life. 

We discourage all projects that involve fund-raising; as the purpose is to give your time. So, let’s focus on that. 

It really doesn’t matter if you’re a pensioner or a young child, whether you’re physically able or not, or whether you black, brown or blue. 

All that matters is that you commit to doing a good deed on Sewa Day, which takes place on Sunday, 25th September 2011. 

Sewa UK is a secular, non-political UK registered charity.

While Leicester Council of Faiths is not, itself, participating in or promoting any particular activity for Sewa Day 2011, I couldn't let the occasion go by without reflecting on how selfless service is treated in the scripture or inspirational texts of our eight member faith communities.

In the extract from the Sewa Day website above, it states, "As a concept, Sewa in embedded in Indian traditions, and is actively promoted by different cultures and faiths - as the core belief is the same - to sacrifice your time and resources for the benefit of others without wanting anything in return." This does not suggest (indeed, it counters the suggestion) that such a concept and practice is the domain of the faiths, religions or philosophies of Indian origin alone. They can surely be said to be common to all religions, sometimes being expressed in more general terms as "The Golden Rule"). But whether it is called sewa, service, charity, caritas - or some other term - it is one of the core principles, central practices and essential virtues of the spiritual life. It may be expressed in a myriad forms and practices, but its presence enriches the world and its absence devalues religion itself.

Here are some quotations from each of our eight member faiths that I have found myself. No doubt you could come up with many more, faithful reader.

Bahá'í

"This is worship: to serve mankind and to minister to the needs of the people. Service is prayer." ('Abdu'l-Bahá)

Buddhist

"The greatest quality is seeking to serve others." (Atisha)

Christian

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms." (1 Peter 4:9-11)

Hindu

“Give. Give with faith. Do not give without faith. Give with sensitivity. Give with a feeling of abundance. Give with right understanding.” (Taittiriya Upanishad)

Jain

"In making a gift one gets over greed, which is a form of Himsa, and hence gifts made to the worthy recipients amount to a renunciation of Himsa (i.e., amount to observance of Ahimsa)." (Purusharthasiddhi-upaya)

Jewish

"He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing." (Deuteronomy10:17-19)

Muslim

"Worship God, and join not aught with Him in worship. Be good to parents, and to kindred, and to orphans, and to the poor, and to a neighbour, whether kinsman or new-comer, and to a fellow traveller, and to the wayfarer, and to the slaves whom your right hands hold; verily, God loveth not the proud, the vain boaster" (Qur’án, 4:40)

Sikh

"A place in God's court can only be attained if we do service to others in this world." (Guru Granth Sahib)

FOCUSING ON OUR COMMITMENT TO EACH OTHER

Riaz Ravat has written the First Person column in today’s Leicester Mercury: 

Focusing on our commitment to each other 

Riaz Ravat looks at Sewa Day, an inter-faith charity event which brings people together 

In a few days, volunteers from a number Leicester's Indian-rooted faith communities, will come together for a special Sewa Day event. "Sewa" originates from the Indian language of Sanskrit and the concept invokes a spirit of community and selfless service for a just and fair society. It is promoted by different cultures and faiths but the core belief is the same – to sacrifice your time and resources for the benefit of others without wanting anything in return. In this age of the "Big Society", Sewa Day makes a key contribution. 

Leicester would not be Leicester unless we deliver Sewa Day in our own unique and cosmopolitan style. This is why for us the day is anchored in the wider inter-faith context of the city. It is all too easy to run campaigns for individual faiths, by individual faiths. Rather, we have established a special partnership which includes several Gurdwaras, Hindu groups, a Buddhist Temple, an Indian restaurant, as well as individual volunteers from the Buddhist, Hindu and Sikh communities. 

Our project, "Talk over Tea", will involve engaging and entertaining elderly members of the African Caribbean community. Not only are we sharing food and socialising with one of society's most isolated and vulnerable groups but we are also building relational bridges between people of different backgrounds. 

There will be so many conversations to explore, such as discovering each others' cultures, faiths, life experiences, traditions and, of course, diets! It seems like a simple idea, which it is, but it doesn't often happen very often. That's why we need a focus and Sewa Day gives us that opportunity to stop and think about our commitment to each other. 

Although Sewa Day is a relatively new initiative, it is nevertheless, a reminder about the long-standing efforts made by Buddhists, Hindus and Sikhs to the social fabric of the UK. 

Charity is part and parcel of these major faiths and is delivered in temples and communities every single day of the week. Sewa Day is just one of many faith-based social action initiatives run each year. In November, the Christian-Muslim Dialogue Group will run its 10th annual charity dinner. 

St Philip's Centre with its Christian heritage has co-ordinated the distinctive effort for Sewa Day. There is a precedent for how people of one faith can engineer charity efforts which are based in other traditions. Last year we launched Leicester's first-ever Mitzvah Day campaign. Mitzvah is a Hebrew word meaning "good deed" and our partnership with the Jewish community and other faiths of the city once again demonstrated our common endeavour, which is to utilise the best that each of our faiths offer to serve wider society. 

Sewa Day – next Thursday – will show that when Leicester contributes, it makes a difference by being different. 

Riaz Ravat is based at St Philip's Centre, Leicester.