Loving the Loving Leper Community - Beginning

“When you act out of present-moment awareness, whatever you do becomes imbued with a sense of quality, care, and love—even the most simple action.” — Eckhart Tolle

Since January of this year I have been living in Ahmedabad, India and will be here until the end of the year.

I’ve come to develop a humanitarian program with Manav Sadhna (a local NGO founded on Gandhian values), the shape of which has only just taken form. And as I am realizing more and more, I am also here to learn how to be of true loving service to other.

This loving service is what Manav Sadhna and its members are all about and they do it extraordinarily well. Their motto, “Love all, Serve all” from Gandhi says it all. And this they do, with a particular emphasis on the poor, underserved, and needy.

So what started as a small group of volunteers meeting basic needs in a nearby slum area, has now turned into a dynamic organization that attracts hundreds of volunteers from around the world and that delivers a multitude of humanitarian programs affecting thousands of people.

Like me, Manav Sadhna is not out to save the world or fix problems. First and foremost, they are moved by the plight of the underserved and seek to create heart-centered connections with them. Their work is informed by the understanding that service to other is an act of worship to that which is sacred, that which is divine. Love, joy, and results flow naturally as a result—and a continuous, mutual cycle of giving is fostered.

Contrast this by the emotionless (safe) approach of leading with the intellect to fix something that is perceived as wrong, which strips away human dignity and misses the opportunity to create connection, meaning, and fulfillment.

We’re talking about the difference between giving with mind and giving with heart.

Where to Start?

Upon arriving, the question has been what the best entry point would be for me to begin work.

I was taken to the outskirts of Ahmedabad to visit a community of lepers that Manav Sadhna serves, officially known as the Gandhi Leper Seva Sangh and affectionately known as the Loving Community. It’s a community of approximately 435 residents, about half of which have the leprosy disease. These are some of, if not the most marginalized people in all of Ahmedabad.

Not only are they poor and often have to beg each day for their daily food but they are also dealing with a disease that is physically incapacitating and that has a severe social stigma attached and thus have been rejected and forgotten by society (people are scared to catch the disease). Life for these people is a daily struggle for survival and without intervention, there isn’t much chance for their circumstances to improve.

After my brief visit there, I thought to myself that it would be a good place to start. I figured I could create some kind of Jin Shin Jyutsu clinic that would be helpful for mitigating the symptoms associated with the disease and for cultivating a sense of optimism in the residents that life circumstances could be improved.

A few days later, without any such input from me, both the founders of Manav Sadhna approached me saying that they would like me to start my work at the Loving Community.

I think they had some sense I would be a good fit. One was particularly adamant about me being able to have a singular focus, as all the people share a fairly common story. It would be different from working in a slum so vast and so spread out, where the experience and results would be scattered without much continuity. This is helpful because a foundation in NYC interested in seeing how traditional medicine pans out in a humanitarian context has funded my work here and being able to focus in like this will assist my research greatly.

Not only that but the work at this special place presents a personal learning opportunity, as intimately getting to know this community and creating honest loving connections with the members will be a must. Doing so requires presence and emotional labor, things that typically have not been easy for me to totally muster but are so necessary in being the type of person and humanitarian I want to be.

The Work

I took some time after speaking with the founders to design a more concrete sketch of the program.

“Uplift the community through the power of collective harmony to foster greater ease, grace, and unexpected goodness. Relieve suffering. Touch hearts. Cultivate optimism.”

These were the first words in my proposal.

My primary method of treatment is Jin Shin Jyutsu, an ancient form of Japanese medicine. In my 10 years of experience with it, I have come to see that its effect goes much deeper than just the health benefits it confers.

True medicine always works at the level of cause and Jin Shin Jyutsu is no exception to the rule. By establishing a state of harmony at that level, not only do you reap dramatic physical and psychological rewards but more importantly, life begins to flow more smoothly, magically even.

Inner harmony begets outer harmony.

I started imagining would it would be like to treat each member of the community as many times as I could over the course of a 6-month period. I knew not only would there be a significant reduction in the suffering associated with the disease but benefits like grace and unexpected goodness would no doubt follow as well. Optimism would be cultivated. Not only in individual lives but also in the community at large, as the micro state affects the macro state.

I was inspired.

More from the proposal: “Being a process-driven program, the focus will not so much be on end results or ‘fixing’ but rather on caring for each client individually. Being present with them. Seeing them. Offering loving compassion.”

This is the key and I owe a debt of thanks to Jayeshbhai, one of the Manav Sadhna founders, for articulating this philosophy so clearly to me.

I’m not seeking to fix, heal, or create a specific result. This is the mindset of a doer, it is a common mindset and approach in the world of humanitarian activity and one that can be utterly detrimental.

If I’m not trying to fix anything or save anybody, why do this? I wrote an article related to that question here. In short, I feel called to do so. That and this work is personally rewarding and fulfilling to me, plus I learn and grow so much as a result of it. I guess you could say it’s a selfish motivation of sorts.

Opening Ceremonies

As I was drafting my proposal, I knew some form of opening ceremonies with the entire community would be necessary to introduce me and set the stage for the work I would be doing.

A volunteer here had the idea to gift every resident of the Loving Community with a high-quality blanket that could be used to sleep with or sit on while begging.

She helped organize a big event for the distribution of these blankets where the entire community would be gathered in their recently constructed community center, so this also presented a great opportunity to introduce me.

Arriving at the community center late last week was incredible. It was decorated and you could tell a great deal of preparation was made for our arrival. All the children lined up outside and greeted us with a huge “namaste!” Considering the lack of resources and challenges within the community, you appreciate these things all the more.

Jayeshbhai made time to be with us for the distribution ceremony. He is largely responsible for Manav Sadhna’s involvement with the Loving Community. According to him, one day he approached a leper he spotted begging on the street, touched her foot, and said, “I’m your son. I want to beg with you.” He meant it.

The woman was blown away and couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This seed, this relationship that formed would eventually lead to all the wonderful things that Manav Sadhna has done for the community.

Jayeshbhai gave me an unexpectedly powerful introduction. He began by comparing the root of my name, Christopher, to Christ and Krishna, saying that they are related and that I was like Krishna because he believes I am “a man of love.” He then dubbed me Krishnabhai and asked everybody, “Are you going to be friends with Krishnabhai?” “Are you going to welcome Krishnabhai?” To which the crowd responded with an enthusiastic, “Yes!” Jayeshbhai really delivered in creating an initial layer of trust and safety and everybody looked at me differently afterward.

Then I took the mic for a few moments and tried to explain who I am and what I do through a translator. It didn’t go so smooth but I managed to get out that I was looking forward to getting to know everybody and that it was clear why they call it the Loving Community—there was such an outpouring of love from the eyes of the residents.

Going Door-to-Door

After opening ceremonies was finished, everybody with Manav Sadhna left to go door-to-door to distribute the blankets. Here’s a quick clip of Jayeshbhai presenting the first one.

Then Jayeshbhai grabbed me and said that we were going to go door-to-door to meet everybody we could.

I couldn’t believe it. I’d never done anything like this before. Really? Meet every single person? Isn’t that going to take a long time?

So we started going door-to-door, with Jayeshbhai each time introducing me, saying something to the effect of “meet Krishabhai, he’s going to be coming here to do seva (service).”

Time stood still being with him like this as we met all the residents, we were totally present and in a flow state.

I’ve never met and embraced so many people in one go before. It was fun. Incredibly inspiring. And surreal.

All throughout the experience, Jayeshbhai was feeding me a continuous stream of wisdom about how to be of service. That I should start by just being with the people. Work with them. Have chai with them. Get to know them. Then introduce my work. Then leave. He said to follow the pace of nature, not to hurry anything. And that it was all about, “Live, Learn, Love.”

A few really cool things happened along the way. Several people I met gave me blessings, one said that her house was the place to have lunch when I needed it, another older lady said that if I needed love to see her, and another said to come by whenever I wanted chai. Can you imagine? Such generosity from people who hardly have anything to give.

I felt deeply honored that Jayeshbhai dedicated so much one-on-one time with me like this and his remarkable ability to create instantaneous, loving connections with anybody has inspired me to learn to do the same.

It’s not easy but as Jayeshbhai told me, “God gave you the potential.” The same is true for you.

Moving Forward

We stopped by one home and inside there was a young boy, maybe 6 or 7 years old who was lying on the floor having a difficult time breathing, it seemed like he had asthma. He was rail thin, not moving, and his faced was covered up with netting to keep a swarm of flies from bothering him. Jayeshbhai said to the boy while pointing at me, “this is your angel. Do you see him? This is your angel.”

I didn’t want to leave. He was in such a state of need.

I found out later that the boy is paralyzed from the neck down—this news kept me up for hours that night.

How could he not have a bed? How could he be so skinny? What kind of life is that?

As soon as possible, I intend to get back out to the Loving Community and visit with the boy’s family to get more detail on his situation and arrange for some basic necessities, like a bed and perhaps some kind of wheelchair so that he can go outside during the day. That and some food because he is obviously not eating properly. I’m sure some Jin Shin Jyutsu will greatly help is breathing condition.

I couldn’t be more excited or inspired to get started.