Author Of 120 Books In Japanese!
Apr 5, 2017 | permalink
A while back, Gary Zukav had introduced me to Ken Honda. This morning, we met for breakfast with his daughter Hanah and secretary Sarah (who is from Texas, but fluent in Japanese!).
Ken is very popular among the Japanese youth. In his twenties, he was very successful in the finance world, but at the age of 29, life took him down a different path. He became a father, quit his job, and published a small (free) booklet that went viral. Now, he has written over 120 books in Japanese (that have sold over 11 million copies) -- and cranks out another one every couple months. Kind of amazing. And he can't believe I'm not writing books. :) After our conversation, he's keen to do a book on generosity in Japan, and we also cooked up a few other ideas. :)
His daughter Hanah was also very sweet. She's never taken a test in her life. When she explored college, everyone told her that ultimately college is about relationships. So instead of college, she decided to start a website called "Life is my college". After our breakfast, she wrote a super sweet note that speaks her open heart: "I watched your TED talks before we met and resonated so much with it so I was actually a bit nervous to meet you in person. But meeting you changed everything. Right from the moment you got in the car, I became your number one fan. Feeling your warm welcoming presence, I felt like I was in a bubble of love." Hanah is a big fan of YouTuber Superwoman, :) and is excited to come to India later this year, for a Moved by Love retreat.
Beloved Sisters In Japan
Apr 5, 2017 | permalink
I arrived in Japan, and had all kinds of wonderful excuses to be with my wonderful Saionji sisters. Two days of endless laughs, deep conversations, and happy brainstorming. We had a circle with systems thinkers, a beautiful prayer event with the larger community, and various meetings in between.
The sisters are truly called to laddership, a kind of leadership that relies on awareness of the interconnections with an ecology. At the moment, Yuka is busy laddering her second child in the third tri-mester of her pregnancy while Rika is getting ready to start Awakin Circles with their community. Maki, who has hosted 16 Karma Kitchens in Tokyo, recently spoke at a "dream event" with 1000 people and her dream of building a hospice was selected by the audience as the most inspirational. Many ServiceSpace friends from around the globe will be joining them for Symphony of Peace Prayers this year.
Masami treated us to a glorious 8-course vegetarian meal (best Japanese -- and umami -- food I've ever had!), trumped only by her radiant energy and metaphysical visions about the future of ServiceSpace. :) Hiro and I also had lunch, talking about Yuval Harari's books and personal practice of sitting 60 days in meditation each year.
Before we left, I offered Meghna's beautiful art work -- and as they posed for a photo, I joked that it looked like prison mug shots. That explains Rika's smile. :)
Laddership In Udaipur
Feb 1, 2017 | permalink
Somehow we managed a way to block few days in *all* four of schedules and snuck away to Udaipur. Truly, what an undescribable joy to be in the company of noble friends.
An Offering To My Parents
Jan 30, 2017 | permalink
My parents left early this morning, after three weeks here in India. In a way, this was their first “ServiceSpace” trip to India. It started with them being spontaneously gifted plane tickets, in a completely unsuspecting way. And it just continued on and on. Another friend gave up his car for the entire duration of their trip. Everywhere they went, love and gratitude would follow them like a shadow.
In the span of a week, they spoke at three Awakin Circles in three different cities -- Ahmedabad, Baroda and Surat. To be honest, I wasn’t sure how it would all unfold, since I don’t think of them as “guest speakers”, but everywhere, people were moved deeply. I wasn’t at any of them but I would get grateful emails everyday. They even moved the ServiceSpace veterans (like Neil and Nimo) to tears. It all felt like one glorious arrangement.
My Mom would tell stories, my Dad would whittle it down to an insight, they would field questions, and conclude with a collective song. Gratitude all around. In Baroda, one gentleman coyly came up to them after the circle with an offering: he wrote “thank you” hundreds of times on a piece of paper, while wishing them gratitude. “Awakin Circles in Baroda have saved my life,” he said, “And it was a ripple of what you started in your living room, 18 years ago. I can't say thank you enough.” A group of folks gifted them a heartfelt scroll, on which they each wrote different practices they were going to do.
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My parents had heard that Awakin Circles have rippled out all around the world, but to actually experience it, in such a way, was nothing short of amazing.
In between all the goodness, they managed to get a couple days for family, couple days for a vacation in Kerala, and my Dad even managed to fly kites on Uttaryan! :)
And they constantly did things like inaugurate this vegetable garden at the Gandhi Ashram, via an offering of soil from their backyard in the US.
At one point, during the Gandhi 3.0 retreat, my Dad came up to me and said, “Nipun, I’m proud of you.” Now, I do know that my Dad has always been proud of me, but he never really says that. A bit surprised, I looked at him and said, “Why do you say that?” “Well, I just saw what you did in there.” “Where?” “In the circle. The energy was off track, and in just five minutes, you turned it all around. Just like that, and no one would even notice.” I was really touched that he noticed.
Similarly, my mom returned back and couldn’t stop raving about the Gandhi 3.0 retreat. "Now, I can really understand what you’ve been doing for the last 18 years of ServiceSpace. All these inspiring volunteers, working so selflessly and in harmony, creating all these unending ripples. It takes all those years to pull off just one of these retreats in this way. Like any mother, sometimes I still worry about how you'll be taken care of as you get older, but now I can see clearly that the universe has got you covered." :)
I am grateful beyond words, to have been able to offer these three weeks to my parents -- and in turn, I offer bows to the many invisible hearts that effortlessly came together to fulfill this unspoken wish.
Ten Days Of Gandhi 3.0
Jan 21, 2017 | permalink
Forty leaders convened from over a dozen countries for a “Gandhi 3.0” retreat. Twenty-five volunteers committed to serving 10 days of their lives, from cooking to cleaning to anchoring the retreat. It was a labor-of-love, all around; for instance, the kitchen crew hand-crafted more than 100 recipes just for this!
For a few days before it started, we had an immersion program for early arrivals -- and that itself changed people’s lives. On January 25th, Rev. Heng Sure lit up Seva Cafe. It was a dream come true for many volunteers, to have Rev. Heng Sure in India. Ari shared an incredible story of vulnerable generosity.
On the 26th, the retreat started. People had flown in from around the world. One person had offices in 41 countries; another had spoken to crowds of 100 thousand; one had worked with 8 US presidents; another was from a royal family. Yet everyone opened by saying, “I don’t know why I’m here.” That means that no one had an agenda; everyone came on the strength of deep relationships. That set the field for radical emergence.
By the 27th, it was clear that something precious was blooming through our circle. On the 28th, we had a community night at the Gandhi Ashram! On the 29th, a spectacular community night anchored by Guri and Sheetal. By the 30th, everyone was in tears after our concluding three-steps-and-a-bow. Not one person knew what exactly was going on, but these leaders -- who have experienced thousands of circles before -- invariably wrote back: “life changing experience.”
Pure grace. The whole thing. Rev. Heng Sure called it “my most memorable experience in conscious memory.”
Audrey has posted an amazing write-up that chronicles the details: Unlocking the Law of Love. If you just have 8 minutes, this video may fill up your heart too:
Manufacturing To Gardening
Jan 18, 2017 | permalink
Today, I spoke to a massive audience of school principals. Hundreds of them, who were directly touching hundreds of thousands of lives. I spoke about five reasons why small is beautiful. Primarily, small is beautiful because small is connected and a relational web allows for inner transformation to emerge.
Everyone gobbled up the message, and were keen to take things to the next level. But I warned about that, too: “The challenge with cultivating compassion is that it can’t be manufactured, and today’s schools have become factories. Compassion requires gardening. If you’re asking questions about curriculum and scale, things won’t go too far. But if you are looking to support your teachers in growing some flowers on the side, or if you’re looking to create terrace garden with some new rules of engagement, something interesting could emerge.”
Parag, Sachi, Smita-ben and I went together, and all of us unequivocally were in awe at the resonance. As we drove to our next meeting, we all just felt, “Well, if we just keep at this, it could just create a tidal wave of change for the next generation.” With many schools now, we have initiated some experiments to see how we can keep at it. Very exciting.
Failure Club Starts In Mumbai
Jan 17, 2017 | permalink
Tonight, I was in Mumbai, so I figured I might host a circle in the evening. I experimented with a “Failure Club” circle, and sent out a quick email and 65 people RSVP’d! Anand-bhai and his family eagerly (and so graciously!) hosted the meditation, the space and the dinner.
A Failure Club, then, is a circle that celebrates failure, aspires for compassionate "moonshots" that seems outrageous or impossible (imagine Seva Cafe when it started), and builds a community of like-hearted people.It was amazing to see how people resonated. One attendee said, “I am afraid of talking to strangers, but I know we need to dissolve boundaries in our world -- so l’d love to fail.” Immediately, two others joined her to make it happen. Some folks spoke of taking on big societal problems, others introspected in the direction of dissolving personal barriers; but collectively, it all quietly created a space of confidence. A confidence not borne of resources, but of interconnections.
Lots of people who engage in "labor of love" projects are forced to give up on their vision simply because of a few missing pieces. We, as a circle, hope to provide a backbone of unconditional support that affords a project more time for its virtuous cycle of generosity to kick into gear. The offerings could include values-driven processes, frameworks that ask different kind of questions and hold space for multiple forms of capital, a diverse group of experienced mentors, and a kindred community of peers pushing similar boundaries.
Two Views, One Love
Jan 15, 2017 | permalink
You can tell that a circle is strong when you hear two polar opposite viewpoints and everyone in the circle loves both the speakers. :) This happened at our Educators Retreat with two remarkable speakers.
One was Chaitanya-bhai, who has dedicated his life to running a small, rural school. He says the purpose of education is for children to discover themselves, in relation to the natural life around them. There are no exams in his school. No set curriculum. With such simplicity and depth, he narrated his experience profoundly. Some of his children came into our circle, and just seeing their stillness, you could tell something different was going on all this school. It's a school with modest means -- they put up a wooden slab on a tree, tossed on some tarp and that became the boys dorm. That's just how they roll. I would imagine that most everyone in the room would figure that if they had Chaitanya-bhai as their teacher, they would grow up to be good human beings. I wish it was recorded, but hopefully this won't be the last time you hear from him. Someone asked him, "If you were principal of a school of few hundred or few thousand students, like many here in this circle, what would you do?" "I would never be that principal," he said flatly with his usual tone of kindness. He felt compassion cannot be scaled, and hence schools shouldn't be scaled.
Another speaker was Jayanti Ravi. Everything about her is grace. With a keen Harvard-educated mind and a profoundly spiritual heart, she is a very uncommon combination of hands, head and heart. She farms in her backyard, she is a mother of two children, she translates scripture daily with her mom (over Skype). Right after we first met, she went home and did Smile Deck ideas with her kids and husband. Oh, and she was the former Education Minister of Gujarat -- where one stroke of her pen would affect change for millions of lives -- and she still runs the Ministry of Rural Development. In a way, she was the antithesis of Chaitanya-bhai, and yet it all seemed perfectly yin-and-yang. When asked about scale, Jayanti-ben smilingly said, "Didn't Gandhi scale? Mandela? Martin Luther King Jr.? Yes, we have to scale. But we must understand the distinction between growing roses and cultivating rice."
At the end, one of the principals raises his hand and says, "Can I do a vote of thanks, whenever we're done?" "Sure," I said. With an emotional heart, he expresses profound gratitude for just having met Jayanti-ben. "I've followed her work, I've admired her life, I've been part of her program. I never thought I would actually be sitting in a circle with her. This is a dream come true. And I was thinking how can I honor such a woman? We've been talking about love and giving, and I want to offer this." Now with tears in his eyes, he takes out a pen from his pocket. "This is the most precious thing I have. It's a gift from my six year old daughter and something I absolutely cherish, and I want to offer this an expression of my gratitude. Thank you." At first, Jayanti-ben felt like she couldn't take such a gift, but then she accepted it and said that she'd love to meet that young woman next time she's in town. It was a special moment.
The whole retreat seeded some solid ripples. Most everyone in the circle had organized events and circles, and yet the most frequently asked question was, "How does this crew do it?" More pointedly, a gang of 6 principals came together and asked me, "How did you get these amazing volunteers?" They really are amazing. For instance, 23 year-old recent PhD student named Sanchi went to a school at the Gandhi Ashram to make a difference. But instead of impact, she led with transformation; she started “Tulsi Talk” circles in each dorm room; soon they spread and shifted the culture of the campus. Principals are often used to hierarchy, but we had all these youngsters like Sanchi leading the school principals. :)
Offering A Flower To Krishnamurti
Jan 14, 2017 | permalink
At lunch, during an Educators Retreat, a long-time educator opens up about an intimate experience that has shaped a lot of who he is today.
Seeking enlightenment, a young man renounces the world and joins Osho in Pune. He is practically penniless and possession-less, but happily cultivating inner transformation. Amongst Osho sannayasins, it seems, there was a regular practice of reading J. Krishnamurti (whom Osho also had a lot of respect for). Whenever they caught wind that Krishnamurti was delivering lectures in Mumbai, bunch of them would sneak out, share a taxi-ride and listen to him speak in person. Over time, this started to have a profound effect on this young educator -- so much so that one day he thought to himself, "Why am I here if Krishnamurti is the one that is speaking to the deepest longing of my heart?" He decided to leave the Osho commune and become a student of Krishnamurti.
Now, of course, Krishnamurti doesn't accept disciples. In fact, his entire message was against the teacher-student dichotomy. But this young man figures, "If my devotion and wish for inner transformation is pure, he will receive me and bless me." He goes to visit him. On the way, under a bridge, he sees a florist and he think of buying a flower as an offering to Krishnamurti. "One rupee," says the florist. "Really?" says the young monk who had practically nothing. "Sir, just smell the rose and you'll see why." He indulges and buys it for a rupee.
After his usual discourse, he inquires about a private appointment with JK. They tell him the process of taking the elevator and sitting in a small group with him. En route, he is swayed by another spontaneous thought: "Why should I seek his time? I should just stand in the parking lot and if my devotion is pure, he will receive me."
Okay, so plan B. He knows the route from which JK leaves the building and enters his car. Along the way, he plants himself, holding a flower. Seeing him, an organizer asks him, "What are you doing here?" "Sir, I want to offer a flower to Krishnamurti as he passes by." "A flower? Don't you know? He is totally against plucking flowers." "Oh really! I didn't know." And with that, the young man hides his hand (with the flower) in the back, and stands there waiting with deep reverence and humility.
Soon, Krishnamurti passes by. In fact, true to his reputation of walking fast, he whizzes by. But all of a sudden, he stops mid-way to his car. Turns around. Looks at the young man and walks toward him. Facing him, eye to eye, he stares for a few long moments. Then he extends his right hand and asks, "Do you have something for me?" Utterly in shock, he brings out the hidden flower behind his back and offers it. JK takes the flowers and sits in the car. For many moments, he looks at the rose and then looks back at the fellow. Looks at the rose and looks back, repeatedly for a while. Then, the car drives off.
From this moment, that young man became a devout student of J. Krishnamurti. As circumstances would have it, JK eventually asked him to translate many of his popular books into Hindi -- and he was also a live translator for many of his public dialogues.
Watermelon Is What I Remember
Jan 13, 2017 | permalink
Inspired by a simple conversation with Vijayam-ji and Zarin, we hosted an Educators retreat -- mostly with principals of many schools around India. Three folks spent 3 days traveling in buses, to join us all the way from Nepal! Our core inquiry was around Compassion Quotient, in light of "reinventing schools, revolutionizing education and rediscovering our values."
One recurring theme was around how we teach who we are. That the most effective teacher is one who teaches from the heart, not the book. Malathi, who runs several schools in Bombay with several thousand students, shared a beautiful story of her earlier days as a teacher:
One day, I ran into an old student of mine at the market. When I recognized her, she was elated.We heard lots of great stories, like how a teacher would respond when children misbehaved or pulled a prank. Swara shared how she was transformed when she popularized a nickname for a professor, and the professor called her in. "My professor's name was N. A. Patel, so I nicknamed him Sodium Patel and everyone really caught on to it. One day Professor Patel called me in, since he somehow found out it was me. And he tells me, 'That is a good one!'"
"M'aam, how did you recognize me, after all these years?"
"Your eyes. And your smile."
This young girl from my class was now a mother, carrying her three year-old beside her. As she proceeded to introduce me to her daughter, I was curious what she would remember from the class. "This is my teacher who really loved all us," she explained to her child. "One day, she gave us all watermelon juice in class."
Watermelon?! That's what stuck? Not curriculum. Watermelon juice! At the end of the day, what kids remember are the small acts of love.
I’ve been holding lots of circles with educators this trip, and it’s great to see their deep resonance with ServiceSpace values. An engagement spectrum ought to emerge.