An Architectural Tribute to the Psychology of Seva

“See, I lay a stone in Zion, a examined stone, a treasured cornerstone, a sure foundation the one who believes will hardly ever be shaken.” (Isaiah 28:16)

Psychologically, what compels human beings to see God in a stone and to make majestic stone abodes for the Divine? If marble stones could communicate, they would sing from the depths of the human psyche some of the maximum aspirations of the human thoughts. Is this what Abraham Maslow (1968) had in brain when he spoke about the research for transcendence or self-actualization as our paramount human want?

Because time immemorial, civilizations have created monuments to rejoice their elementary divine impulse – the Egyptian pyramids, Jewish temples, French cathedrals, Islamic mosques – all achieving for the heavens, trying to contact the palms of the Gods.

On Oct 18th, 2023, in a swampy farmland of Robbinsville, New Jersey (near Princeton), a BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham, a Hindu area of worship opened with very similar grandeur, and longstanding commitment to the psychology of seva or selfless service, wherever the seeker offers without having anticipating nearly anything in return.

As Yogi Trivedi instructed me, he has been thinking about the 189-foot-tall mahashikhar or central steeple of the Akshardham Mahamandir. As a scholar of religion and a journalist who has taught at Columbia University, he has devoted his lifetime to considering about the mission of the Swaminarayan motion and their Hindu temples.

Yogi Trivedi has penned, “Each stone has a tune to share – tales of selfless services, harmony, and devotion. I listened to the stones contacting out to Bhagwan Swaminarayan and the other Hindu deities to whom this mandir is devoted. I read the stones calling out to the varied group of volunteers and sadhus from all around the entire world who served total it while putting their training, careers, and family members issues on hold” (Yogi Trivedi, 2023).

The Vedic parable of the boy who goes to his guru to seek out enlightenment describes how the expert provides the boy 400 cows to herd, and instructs him to return when there are 1,000 cows. You will find enlightenment, the expert tells him. The ethical is that he should provide selflessly, not realizing what’s in it for him. He will study some thing about the meaning of existence and self-transcendence. These kinds of is the story of the Akshardham temple. People serve devoid of an expectation of reward. They give to the bigger group to make it improve.

Favourable psychologists these types of as Daniel Goleman communicate about empathy, an ability to place by yourself in other’s shoes, and to be able to give of oneself selflessly, as a hallmark of psychological intelligence. It is a person of the higher-purchase socio-psychological abilities that informs our social awareness, an vital management ability.

“Question not what your country can do for you – check with what you can do for your country,” said John F. Kennedy, the first Catholic president of the United States. The BAPS temple implores all People in america to do the exact. Together the partitions of the temple are carved photos of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr., the timeless martyrs of the oldest constitutional democracy.

At the intersection of psychology and faith, seva permeates numerous of the interrelated Hindu faiths, such as Sikhism, Jainism, and Buddhism. It usually means to provide with no expectation for benefits, to provide God or humanity. Seva is the best kind of action or karma, noticed as section of one’s righteous responsibility or dharma in order to obtain moksha or liberation. In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna urges Arjuna to execute his responsibility or dharma with out any motivation for returns. In the present day context, karma yoga has develop into considerably synonymous with volunteerism. This seva is the subtle basis of Hindu yogic practices and in specific the Swaminarayan motion. Currently, it has a excellent charm for Us residents in different kinds of yogic tactics, potentially rooted in the psychological finding that quite a few a lot more People now discover as “staying more spiritual than religious,” just about 1-third who took the survey (PEW, 2017).

The psychological and historic roots of the Swaminarayan motion stretch back to the late 1700s and early 1800s when the British with their East India Firm were actively dueling with Hindu feudal chieftains and Mughal monarchs for the manage of India. Swaminarayan (April 3, 1781-June 1, 1830), also identified as Sahajanand Swami, turned a yogi and an ascetic, believed to be a manifestation of the Divine all over whom the Swaminarayan motion flourished.

In 1800, Swaminarayan’s guru initiated him and gave him management of the religious neighborhood, which has been a constant monastic buy for a lot more than two centuries. Partly in response to the British promises that Hinduism was entire world-negating, the Swaminarayan motion pressured the worth of support or seva as deep engagement with the social environment, together with the exercise of yogic asceticism.

The psychologically destabilizing influences of European colonialism, the disruption of syncretism concerning Hinduism and Islam, and the rise of new spiritual sects this sort of as Shaktism, Jainism, and Tantric cults, may possibly have specified the impetus to the monastic asceticism which stored Hindu tactics from degrading even further. The reform actions that emerged in India at the close of the medieval or early fashionable time period strategically negotiated with the British and the Mughals with different degrees of results (Hatcher, 2016). In reality, the 1st Swaminarayan temple in Ahmedabad was crafted on a land grant from the British Imperial Govt, and Swaminarayan himself embraced with all other religion and social communities, which include Christians, Muslims, Parsis, and even individuals frequently unnoticed by the rest of modern society, the Dalits. Swaminarayan created 6 temples throughout his lifetime, and led reforms for the poor, women and various caste teams.

Psychologically, the Swaminarayan motion was a precursor to India’s independence motion and led to the increase of stalwarts like Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore, and Sri Aurobindo (Sharma, 2014). Now, the movement is a transnational network of hundreds of Hindu temples, actively involved in social assistance in the community communities. Savita and Soma Patel had bought a beachfront home in Hawaii for their retirement, but when they read of the building of the new Hindu temple in New Jersey, dwelling to one particular of the premier South Asian communities, they made a decision to adjust their programs and moved to Central Jersey to assistance establish the temple.

Satish Jangid, a competent sculptor of wooden and stone crafts, experienced almost never traveled outdoors of his property district of Rajasthan. But when he bought the prospect to add to what was after viewed as a dying art, he took up the challenge. You can uncover him instructing volunteers and guests about the work he did on the marble pillars and carved statues. He is 1 of the artisan volunteers or Vishwakarma sculptors, named after the Hindu deity of architecture.

All through the Covid-19 period, the Hindu temple nevertheless less than design was energetic in administering 40,000 free vaccines, donated 170,000 PPE products, and contributed virtually a million pounds to regional healthcare and group corporations. The results of seva are not just to the group, but also to the folks who serve. Numerous of the young guys and women of all ages who assisted build the temple, talk of their progress and progress inside of and devoid of — self confidence boosts, skillset progress, and non secular centeredness.

In other words and phrases, the underlying psychological needs stuffed by the Swaminarayan temple, in addition to elevated feeling of belonging and identification, are manifold and contact on every single component of the human lifecycle: socialization desires of the more youthful era (K-12), counselling and healthcare demands of the grownup population (25-65 several years), and retaining the elderly engaged in neighborhood service are just couple of of the rewards derived from volunteerism (65-previously mentioned). Especially, seva or selfless providing can direct to the adhering to results: improved psychological perfectly-staying, worry reduction, improved morale, a lot less isolation or loneliness, greater self-esteem, bigger overall pleasure, and internal tranquil and resilience.

The temple took around a 10 years to establish. In spite of some of the ongoing labor disputes, the major Hindu position of worship outside of India is an architectural landmark with contributions from 12,500 volunteers, it is a tribute to the values of seva or selfless provider in the non secular, cultural, and social realms.