Nishkam Seva (Selfless Service)

As we got closer to Amarkanthak, a bunch of us got an invitation to black tea. It was an unexpected yet pleasant invitation, as the man who was serving us tea had his shelter almost in the middle of a forest, with hardly any people living around.

He asked us to follow the orange signboards as we walked further into the forest. He showed us a sample signboard we were meant to follow. We got curious as we had seen these boards in some of the remotest places.

We had all these questions -Was it a group of people? Or the nearby villagers? Who puts up these little markers?

We asked him if he knew who made them. He said that for eight months, I serve all the pilgrims here with tea, food, and shelter, and in the other four months, when they are not walking due to the rains, I paint these boards, take some nails, select an area, cycle, and put them up. He has been doing this for 12 years. What an invisible act of kindness!!! We bowed to him to share our gratitude and even shared how every time we would see the board, part of us said thank you, and part of us thought that whoever had done this must be crazy:) It was such a joyous moment for us to finally meet one of the faces of the one who has put so much effort just so that thousands of pilgrims walking do not lose their way. He has placed signboards in the forests, hills, near river beds, and on a few roads.

Likewise, we spotted this earthen pot filled with water under a shady tree. The water must quench the thirst of so many like us. When I looked around, there were only farms, which meant someone had gone to great lengths to bring water from a distance. Yet there was no one whom we could thank in person. We just closed our eyes, shared our gratitude, and walked with the seed thought of Nishkam Seva (Selfless Service.