Ma Jaya is a Spiritual Leader and Activist who is at the forefront of the global struggle for human rights and religious freedom. An internationally recognized advocate for the homeless and the poor, she is also upheld as one of the early pioneers in the fight against AIDS and is renowned for her work with death and dying. She is widely known for her compassionate work, serving those who are suffe
ring, people with AIDS, the homeless, the poor, and anyone in need. Ma encourages all she comes in contact with to serve humanity in any way that they can. She encouraged me to serve on a regular basis by teaching me that there are no throwaway people. Every human being deserves a chance to be heard ,to be loved,and to be touched. At that time in the middle of the 80's I had been going to USC County hospital every Saturday, specifically, the ward for HIV and AIDS, visiting with the patients, providing support and company to many who never received visitors. During this time, I would encourage my friends to join me on my visits there. Many came with me, but no one was consistent, and I couldn’t force anyone to serve, especially to the very ill and in many cases the dying. It was in the middle 90's while driving to and from the hospital that I began to notice all the homeless that were tucked away in doorways, under the structure of bridges, living in boxes and other makeshift shelters. These were not the homeless of skid row or those that clustered around missions and charities in the downtown area. They did not want to be part of the drugs, the violence or the Police shake –downs that happened on a daily basis. For the most part, they wanted to be left in peace and out of the public eye. I started “Under The Bridges and on the Streets”, for two reasons: One to serve this particular group, who lived on the streets and under our bridges with a healthy meal. The second reason was to offer my friends the chance to serve and feel the benefits of doing it. I figured how hard could it be to feed people? My guru’s guru, the famous Indian saint; Neem Karoli Baba, would feed anyone and everyone that he came in contact with. In many of the trips that I made to India, one of the many lessons that I learned, was that food was seen by many as God in form. With so many of its population going days without any nourishment, a meal could certainly be received as something sent from God. What I saw in India, I was seeing here in Los Angeles. As statistics show, there can be as many as 170,000 homeless (Los Angeles Times: January 11, 2008), on any given day. Surely many of them went to bed in the evening without eating or receiving any nourishment, however small, that day. Now some sixteen years later, we are still serving the homeless. Our bagged lunches contain a meat and cheese sandwich on a soft sesame seed bun, a piece of fresh fruit, a home-made brownie and a bottle of water. When we have it, we also distribute clothes, shoes and toiletries.
