Author: Sukh

Last week I met up with “Mr. Hyphen”, Robin Sukhadia, in Downtown Los Angeles.  After an hour of inspiring conversation on how he left his corporate job to pursue his dreams he finally turns on his tape recorder and starts firing off questions about the Seva Cafe.  I’m not quite sure why he needed the tape recorder, considering that he himself has performed at the Seva Cafe in India, and considering that he views his entire life as a gift to others. 

He actually took the time to transcript our conversation and post it on his highly esteemed Mr Hyphen Blog:
http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/archives/2007/02/seva_cafe_la_wh_1.html

By the way, if you missed it, Robin was awarded the Mr Hyphen Pageant title a few months ago after razzling the audience with his looks :) , his involvement with Project Ahimsa, and his life story.  Robin is currently pursuing a MFA in world music at Cal Arts and his Graduation Recital is on April 13th.  Check out http://www.astralaudio.com/robin/ for more info.

The Seva Cafe in Long Beach will continue to operate at the Royal Cup Coffee Shop every Saturday through March 3rd, 2007. We have realized that the Seva Cafe, at its core, is a place of genuine giving. When we give, in an unconditional way, we actually give rise to something deep and pure within ourselves. The Seva Cafe is unique, because not only do we give to others, but we also create an opportunity for others to do the same. The volunteers, the guests, and even the musicians all find themselves generating goodness when they enter those four walls.

Over time, we have realized that the Seva Cafe is not about four walls. As one volunteer put it, the Seva Cafe is a “beautiful invisible” thing. If the Seva Cafe is indeed about genuine giving, then we can carry that with us everywhere we go, in our thoughts, our words and our actions. As such, the Seva Cafe, after March 3rd, will exist everywhere we are.

After a short period of this so-called “internal cultivation”, we will get together again to decide if and when an external Seva Cafe should be re-created. We are open to suggestions and ideas (and venues) if you wish to share. Please continue to visit our website for on-going updates.

We realize that the Seva Cafe has impacted many lives in many profound ways. The four walls that have helped create that atmosphere can never be overemphasized. For all of those that have been a part of this experiment thus far, we bow in gratitude for all that you have helped create.

In addition to the love that we experienced every Saturday, as a component of this experiment we were able to contribute $3279.04 to the Gujarat, India based non-profit organization: Manav Sadhna. Not only did Manav Sadhna start the original Seva Cafe in India, but they also provide food, education, and health care to over 6000 slum children every day. You can always learn more about them at http://www.manavsadhna.org.

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