Be the Cause

Agape Live! Sacred Site Visit-March 9th, 2008

Prabhat put together a very special Sacred Site Visit @ Agape Spiritual Center in LA…which took place this last Sunday, March 9th.

Here’s some info about Agape:

In 1986, Dr. Michael Bernard Beckwith founded the Agape International Spiritual Center, a trans-denominational spiritual community whose doors are open to all seekers in search of authentic spirituality, personal transformation and selfless service to humankind. In his own words, “My aspiration is that every individual who is touched by the vibration of Agape is inspired to cultivate a heart of love as wide as the world.” http://www.agapelive.com/

I arrived a little late for the meditation portion of the morning. The usher/bouncer at the door mentioned it was too late to enter the meditation sanctuary…no matter how much I begged. If you’re a newbie to Agape, you do get to avoid the lines to get in…but beware of seating…one of my friends and I were going to be escorted behind the stage and on video, and we decided against this and sat anonymously in the audience with all the regulars.

I thought I was safe there, but at one point of the service, all of us newbies were told to stand up and a song was sung to us. Normally, I would have thought this was way corny but there was such love radiating from my new Agape friends that it was really beautiful to say the least…

There were some moments of the service where I felt shy…cause so much love was expressed…brimming over!! My favorite parts of the service were when we sang: “This little heart of mine…I’m gonna let it shine” and when Rev. Michael Beckwith gave us all a talk. My jaw dropped watching him. He was a very entertaining speaker. He mentioned that the camera people have a heyday when he gets up on the stage because he never stays in one spot. He’s dancing, and jumping all over the place. He stated that maybe he should stay in one place and talk. And the audience roared with an astounding: NOOOO…! The man was so energized and right on target with his message that there wasn’t any way to stop smiling!

What I specifically liked about the service was…all people, all nations, and all ages were included. It felt very welcoming and heartful. It was like going to a family reunion with 500 plus friends…all gathering for peace, love, fun.

After the service, I was able to find Prabhat, Kristeen, Adnan, Jayson, someone’s friend named Mike, and Narayana and college friend. There was a booth with awesome vegetarian food.

This was a great way to celebrate life and spirit and all that’s good…on a Sunday.

“What is service?”

I just woke up after having dinner at Bharti’s and learning about indicorps.

I think it was brilliant that the invite to this dinner said, “What is Service?” instead of “Meet Indicorps.” Right now I woke up with not just thinking about something creative that Indicorps is doing, but also with parallel thoughts on service.

First, Indicorps is a network of fellows, NGOs and young activists that share oppurtunities to share time, energy, and money among social entities in India and sons and daughters of the “Indian Diaspora”. They have a good model that is based on global community outreach and sustainability. They offer fellowships to college graduates of Indian decent to take on 50+ projects that have been set up by trusted NGOs in India that need a very specific skill set. Fellows apply to be placed in one of the projects and then are given the tools to communicate directly with the people and places where they will be serving. Every young Indian that wants the freedom to impact the world in some positive way should read about this network of people, ideas, and action.

Even though Indicorps is exclusive for expatriot Indians, their approach to how they do things answers the question, “What is Service?”.

So, I wanted to ask everyone that reads this post:

What is Service to You?

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