Founding Philosophy

Serving God by Serving Humanity

Dear One,

The Self in me and the Self in you is the same.

Vedika is an altar of transformation. The wisdom of the Vedas is the match that ignites our consciousness, and flames of self discipline, self healing, self inquiry, self awareness and self love erupt forth from our being ablaze with truth./p>

An important consequence follows the illumination of our being with the fire of truth. It burns away our notions of God as a splendid but remote concept or entity.

Devo Manushya Rupane -declare the Vedas. God is not distinct from us. God is a near, personable, intimate experience of the Self, and it inspires in us love...and we begin to love God and all that is of God, other creatures, other beings. This entire universe, physical and non physical, dark and light, becomes divine.

Through the flow of love, with new eyes and expanded inner perception we begin to finally understand the nature of the object we love...we behold God.

Who serves who? The Self serves its own Self. God serves God.

The Self journeys through various bodies, in multiple incarnations, in varied time and space dimensions and as animate and inanimate, and yet, it never looses its Self. That which is truly the essence of al, is Self. This Self supports all change and yet remains unchanged at all times. It appears far but is totally near and to the one established in Self, the truth is revealed. Now begins the final journey.

What is left but to love and honor and worship the Self? What is easier than to embrace the Self in all beings and creatures?

Seva is the love of Self by Self. Seva is the worship of Self by Self. Seva is the support of Self to Self. Seva is the hug of Self embracing all beings that share the same Self.

Seva is the supreme act of love.

Pratichi

Need for Seva based Model of Individual and Collective Success

In modern society, success is almost always an individual accomplishment and accounted for by the list of material possessions, titles, professional status and power. In fact, countries, societies and communities also act as contending rivals and compete and struggle with each others based upon political clout, financial strength and possession of resources.

The Vedas extol the value of integrity of society and offer a completely radical definition of success which cannot by measured by external accomplishments but is rather the internal victory of light over darkness (asto ma sat gamaya), the establishment of individual and group consciousness in Dharma (moral and ethical truths) so that the society as well as the individuals that make up the society, becomes vehicles of growth, transformation and win- win conditions of life growth.

In Vedic society, success is always a unity of body (individuals), mind (beliefs) and soul (essential oneness) of society; and never an individualistic, fragmented, mad rush to horde material objects and power symbols. Hence, the sages teach that the successful, rich, healthy, wise and fortunate ones must necessarily take it upon themselves to help bring about equanimity and true universal happiness through the act of Seva.

To insure the all round success of society, mind, body and soul ­ so that no individual is left behind, the sages explain the three debts (Rin) that every individual is indebted to pay back to the cosmos:

Dev Rin: the First debt is to God, the Source of All that expresses itself as All

This debt can be paid off mainly by selfless service or seva to humanity and all other living creatures of this world in which God (Dev) abides. This service will naturally have to be rendered irrespective of race, religion, color or other natural and artificial factors.

This concept extends into conscious, respectful and almost reverential treatment of parents, the aging or elders of any society; the practice of non violence towards all living things; a dedicated offering of our deliberate truthfulness, and practice of pleasantness towards others in day to day behavior; study of scriptures daily to remember this debt and thereby determinately practice self control and develop purity of thought towards all.

In the pay out of this debt, the sage tradition teaches tremendous respect of the aging and the poor and the needy and extols their care as no less than worship of God.

The first Debt towards God is paid off by Vedika Global, Inc. through its Vedika Seva Initiative.

Na twahamkamaye rajyam
na swargam napunarbhavam
kamaye duhkha-taptanam
praninam artinashanam

I desire neither kingdom
nor heaven nor do I desire salvation for myself.
My only desire is to put an end to the travails
of those who are afflicted with misery.

Rishi Rin: the Second debt is to the Sages who have connected us to Truth

A second debt accrues towards the Sages who have brought to us the Vedas. Through meditation and inner practices the sages purified their own consciousness to such a degree that in it was reflected, the entire truth of wholeness that is God. The sages teach us how to leap across differences of race, religion and color and seek union with that which is common to all...the divine Self, the cosmic fabric of oneness and love.

We pay off this debt by serving all sages, lofty teachers and other beings of ascended consciousness (no matter of what religion or creed they belong to), because a sage is a sage not by clothes and language or form of worship, but by nature of their lofty and expanded universal consciousness.

We pay off this debt by ensuring the preservation of sage tradition, including the scriptures and living sage heritage by various means and manners. One way to preserve sage wisdom is to teach it to our children, the next generation, and to disseminate its wisdom through teachings and discourses as far and wide as possible.

Vedika Global, Inc. pays of the second debt towards the sages by establishment of Vedika Gurukula, the platform for dissemination of Sage sciences of Ayurveda, Yoga and Vedanta.

Sant kasht sahi aapu hee
sukhee karai ju sameep
Aap jare tau aur ko
kare ujeron deep

The saints make the miseries of the world their own,
but spread joy to whoever approaches them.
By itself burning,
the lamp disseminates light all around.

- Sage Kabir

Pitra Rin: the Third debt is towards our Ancestors in our Family line

The fulfillment of this Rin or debt is symbolic of recognition of the human chain of consciousness, role of family as a unit of growth, and role of our elders in our personal evolution.

We pay off this debt by paying regard to our ancestors, and ensuring that the values they lived and left us with, are transmitted to our children, to continue the unbroken chain of conscious thinking, loving and transmission of knowledge.

Families have ancestors, and societies have their own ancestors too, ideal figures, who lived in the past and are collectively remembered. Martin Luther King, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, are examples of ancestors of society. To walk on the ideals shown by them is the duty of the members of society.

Vedika Global pays of this third Rin through its Vedika Sangha initiative that empowers families and individuals and reconnects them to their family and community roots.

Giving back to God what God gave us

Vedika Seva initiative of Vedika Global, Inc. is determined in its goal of Seva or selfless service of humanity through the application of Ayurveda, Yoga and Vedanta.

Seva is not merely charity in the strict sense. Seva is not just the donation of what we have in extra and won’t miss, if we give it up, any way. The word Seva has no direct affiliation with material objects and quantifiable activities that we undertake for the social good. Seva is an offering of love.

Seva can be performed by the neediest of beings with a large enough heart. The hungry can give away their food to quench the hunger in another.

The Vedic tradition tells the story of emperor Sibi who saved an injured bird, exhausted from being chased by a hungry vulture. King Sibi offered the meat from a cut part of his own thigh, to quench the hunger of the vulture; and then took care of the injured bird and nursed her back to health too. The vulture is not mean, it is merely taking care of its instinct to eat; and the emperor, flowing in spirit of Seva, saw nothing of offering his body to the vulture and his service to the injured bird. Kind Sibi saw his own Self in the vulture and the bird, and in the play of life, either way, served God.

Seva is a spirit of love, an expanded understanding of realty of oneness, a state of consciousness in which the we recognize or at least begin to recognize that the Self in me is the same as the Self in the other; and that by serving the other and worshipping the other and loving the other and caring for the other-- I serve, worship, care for and love my own Self; and in both cases, the server and the served, both are God.

Seva is giving without restriction, giving without calculation, giving without care of recognition; giving because giving feels the most natural thing to do …Seva is the Sankalpa or intention of the divine Self seated within that feels kinship with God and experiences oneness and intrinsic interconnectedness with all of God’s creation.

An insecure mind or tired body cannot shake the arising Seva consciousness in wise souls. The performance of Seva unleashes an inner Shakti that is like that of a thousand suns. The service of even one hungry, helpless, homeless being or animal in need awakens the sleeping God within, that blesses us again and again, in ways untold, unheard and unimagined.

Pratichi

At Vedika Seva, our Give back to God projects will keep all three cosmic debts in mind. We will walk the path of wisdom even as we teach this path to others.

Also, the Seva we will render will not only comprise of tangible things such as food and blankets and other material gifts where required; but also comprise of more permanent spiritual gifts such as free education, teaching of skills and practical wisdom to plant permanent seeds of hope and activate self help abilities; regularly offer prayers and chants of mantras, and performance of global prosperity and peace enhancing yajnas that benefit all beings and creatures and heal the environment too. .

As part of our Seva mission, we will establish free/ low cost wellbeing centers called Vedika Jyoti’s worldwide, in which the poor and needy can access the healing wisdom of Ayurveda, Yoga and Vedanta.

Our Seva is first and foremost the sharing of our thoughts and our vibration and our words of love and comfort to all. Please receive us with open hearts.

Indebted to the fire of truth,
Thank you Sadhus,

In your Seva,

Pratichi Mathur
Founder, Vedika Global.