Service, Simplicity & Songwriting part 2

With an Ivy league education, this MTV rap/hip hop star was living the American dream and working on Wall Street when the events of 9/11 unfolded in front of his eyes. Giving up the corporate world, NIMO PATEL decided to pursue his passion for music in LA, but a chronic health issue led him to seek Ayurvedic treatment in India. He stayed back for 6 months to volunteer at the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad and continues to this day working with the slum children of the city when he’s not working for his own non-profit organization, Empty Hands Music. In part 2, VANESSA PATEL continues to learn more about him and his mantra “Service, Simplicity & Songwriting.”

- VANESSA PATEL

NP: I really appreciate this idea of “Who are we?” Gandhi is a humane figure we’re connected to in lineage, but there are also Jesus Christ, the Buddha, Mahavir, the prophet Mohammed – all these amazing souls have come and gone, and yet the same suffering exists. No major spiritual revolution has engulfed the planet. So, who are we to judge the small, itty-bitty work that we’re doing, the little song that you might put on YouTube, or the service project that you might have done?

Everything, in a sense, is beautiful, don’t get me wrong. But, do what you feel is right in your heart without any burden or weight, because it’s powerful, and so meaningful. And yet, so meaningless. In the honoring of humanity and the honoring of all beings, we do our karma work without holding on to it, without making it feel important or creating any maya around it. That is the spiritual process of a karma yogi, and that’s why spiritual practice is at the core of service. Even this lockdown, I feel, is a blessing, because it has allowed me to get back deeper into the realization of that, into the importance of the foundation for the work that we do.