Originally uploaded by yaznotjaz.

A recent edition of the San Francisco Chronicle contained an article I read with interest. FINDING MY RELIGION: Nipun and Guri Mehta talk about their $1-a-day pilgrimage through India is an interview with two people I am blessed to know, although it’s been months since I’ve seen them in person.

I’ve mentioned Nipun and Guri (and Viral and Mark and Dipti) in passing before, describing them as people who are so beautifully inspiring on a daily basis that my words will never do them justice. I first met them all in November 2004, when – through an introduction from my friend SS – the crazy crackstabber, Mark, invited me to a Wednesday evening meditation at the home of Nipun and Viral’s parents in the South Bay. Nearly every Wednesday evening over the next five, six months, I regularly drove two hours from the Sacramento area to the South Bay, where I sat on the floor of a Silicon Valley living room with dozens of other people from all walks of life, cross-legged, eyes closed, in silence for an hour. After that, I would participate in an hour-long roundtable sharing of thoughts with the others, gratefully accept a homecooked vegetarian meal from Nipun’s mother, and then hit the road for the hour-long drive home to the East Bay.

Those few hours spent in the company of such conscious individuals are amongst the most peaceful I can remember. Time and again, I have started writing about them, only to discard my writing, leaving it half-finished. It’s true, I’ll never be able to suitably articulate their spirit of service, their compassion, the beauty of these people I’ve met through the Wednesday evenings. I’ll try again soon, though, because everyone should be lucky to know people even half as beautiful as these.

From the SF Chronicle article:

There’s a question posted on your personal Web site: “Do you have a spiritual teacher?” Your answer to that was, “Yes, you.” Is it sometimes a struggle to see everyone as your teacher?

Nipun: I try to see life with reverence — all life. When we were walking, we learned a lot of things. We learned to see the goodness in everybody, to try to learn from everybody and everything, even if it’s just a tree. I mean, when you’re walking and it’s really hot, and you see a tree and you say, “Wow!” — it’s just there giving shade to you selflessly!

So I try to approach everything with humility. You never know what can teach you spiritual lessons you need to learn.

Nipun’s brother, Viral, once gave a talk that, to me, sums up the spirit of CharityFocus and the people who are, in various ways, affiliated with it:

Namaste — in India when we meet and greet, we say Namaste, and Ram Dass gives a beautiful definition: Namaste means I honor the place in you, where the entire universe resides. I honor the place in you, of love, of light, of truth. I honor that place in you, where if you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us.