“Hey D, the line still isn’t straight” I whisper. It’s 1:00AM, and we’re arranging cushions for the morning session while 200 participants sleep in this same dark quiet hall. We’ve tried 3 times and it seems we just can’t make a straight line. “Listen D, I don’t think we can do any more, it’s time for bed.” He agreed readily enough. There were only a few volunteers still up and working, and it was less than 3 hours till the morning schedule began.
But we were happy, dead tired but light with the bliss of the universal focus that comes from throwing oneself completely into something. Surrendering. Volunteering.
I spent some time recently volunteering for the Bhava Spandana program at the Isha Institute in Tennessee. This is a very intense program for the participants and also for the volunteers, our schedules were extremely busy, impossibly long days with no free time.
I had heard before of the importance of volunteering, and had some experience with volunteering. But this week brought this to another level where important lessons arise.
On an immediate level, we’re here in this world to have a set of life experiences, to enact and live out these experiences in a first-hand first-person way.
We can go through these life experiences in one of two ways: willingly or non-willingly. If we’re willing then we look forward to each new event as a new surprise, an opportunity, a new round in the game of life we’ve signed up for.
If we’re unwilling we drag our heels and tend to resent new experiences. What are we seeking instead? What do we really mean by ‘peace and quiet’? Isn’t it just the opposite of life? Do you want to move toward the opposite of life?
Consider this for a minute and we can see that if you have decided that you’re here to participate in life, if you’ve decided that you want to be in the game, then you must be willing to accept whatever happens in life. Just as a soccer player should throw themselves 100% into a game and enjoy the game whether they win or lose.
What happens to this soccer player if they’re out on the field in a difficult situation and then start to waver, to question the rules? Well they’re likely to be a less effective player. Who do you want on the field with you?
Like this we have to be a volunteer in life. So if you catch yourself resenting a situation it’s OK, we’re not perfect. But try to shift perspective and remember that you volunteered to be in this.
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I spent that week at Bhava Spandana totally involved in the program, with little attention to myself. Everyone was my boss and I did whatever anyone asked. I did things I didn’t think I was capable of. At the end of the week I was so tired, limping on overused ankles and knees, dry cracked skin from the endless hours of dishwashing. But that’s just the body. Within myself I was endlessly full of joy at having dropped my self-identity and realized my identity as a part of all life.