Seva-teams: The First Step

Written by Sripad Nemi Maharaja

Srila Gurudeva has many times said that he wants to see a dynamic, inspiring and highly effective society, as it was in Srila Prabhupada’s time. The following practical steps will be consistent with the model.
 
1. Establish a common vision, so that we can identify who we are, and what our mission is. This is essential. It is the only means to adequately inspire devotees to practise and preach enthusiastically within the common framework.

2. Give members and groups of members the authority and self-confidence to engage in service within the framework of Srila Gurudeva’s instructions and mission.

3. Give members and groups of members the education, information, skills and attitudes that they need to engage and cooperate in their particular situations. This includes appropriate devotional education, as well as training in the skills and attitudes necessary for preaching, leadership, communication, personal and interpersonal skills and so on.   
 
4. Members and groups of members communicate with and support each other as they engage in service in their respective fields of service and geographical areas.

Seva teams

Practically, how can we enable this to happen? It starts with seva teams. We would like to use this word in a very specific sense. A seva team is a group of devotees who cooperate in a mood of voluntary, loving service to fulfil a common purpose within Srila Gurudeva’s overall mission. There are already dozens of examples of such teams in our sanga. For instance, practically every festival committee is a seva-team, as are the Gangamatas in London, the San Francisco-Bay Area community preaching effort, Syamarani didi’s travelling party, the preaching center in Stuttgart, various international publishing groups, and many other similar efforts.

To integrate service within Srila Gurudeva’s sanga, a group (seva-team) of devotees has formed who are committed to:

1. Help identify seva-needs throughout the sanga
2. Coordinate the formation of seva-teams around the world by helping devotees to (a) identify their preferred areas of service and (b) link up with others;

3. Supply the support, education, training and materials to fulfil these needs.

This coordinating and facilitating group is called Seva Resource Initiative or SRI, and it accepts the responsibility to help to inspire, educate, train and support other members and seva teams.

Book publishing will obviously require extensive financial management and support from a central fund, as may some other projects, such as the construction of web-sites. Projects such as the agreed construction of the ladies’ ashram may take place by finding willing donors for the project. Otherwise, most seva teams will probably not be funded centrally.