Nishkam Seva (Selfless Service)

As we were getting closer to Amarkanthak a bunch of us got an invitation for black tea. It was an unexpected yet a 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 sign boards as we walk further into the forest. He showed us a sample sign board 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 for eight months I serve all the pilgrims here with tea, food and shelter and the other four months when they are not walking due to 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 has 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 who are walking do not loose their way. He has placed sign boards in the forests, hills, near river beds and few roads.

Like wise we spotted this earthen pot filled with water under a shady tree. The water must be quenching thirst of so many like us. When I looked around there were only farms which meant someone had put an effort 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.