As CORD’s activities expanded, its mission also struck a chord worldwide, inspiring service activities in Sri Lanka and gaining assistance from Canada and the U.S.A., among other international supporters.
The Chinmaya Mission Hospital in Bengaluru carries the same spirit of service into the medical sector. A small clinic begun in a slum in the early sixties at Bengaluru, has grown into the Chinmaya Mission Hospital, a gigantic and highly technical and specialized hospital, bringing accessible and affordable health care to all sections of society.
The Chinmaya Hospital is now a focused, tertiary hospital, providing the best in health services at the lowest possible cost.
At CORD and the Chinmaya Mission Hospital, we have learned from Gurudev that service (seva) is a lifetime program; it knows no rest or respite. Seva begins with us. We are not doing service to others.
The real value of service is what it does to us, more than what we do to others. In truth, when we serve, we come to see and be the Divinity in us, and recognize the Divinity that is equally present in others. We serve because we are urged by the Lord within us. Service is its own reward.
We should not suppose that our selfless service reforms or reshapes the world. We may or may not be contributing to the change; it does not matter. The real value of seva is its most visible result — it reforms us, reshapes us, and purifies our minds.
Aptly, Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi summarized the supreme goal of seva as, “Self-realization is the greatest service you can offer the world.” May our work at CORD and at the Chinmaya Mission Hospital make us fit to realize this great Truth.