Doing Seva
What is the benefit of doing service? What does one learn from it? What does one derive from it? Unless one does service he will not give up his individuality as an independent living entity. Service means you have to accept another and then you become dependant on them. Surrender to them, be dependant on them, under their control, you give up your control – you are the servant, they are the master. This independence is what is keeping us from Krsna.
So service destroys that independent mood. Because to serve someone you have to accept that they are better than you; they are qualified for service. So unless we do service we will not give up our individuality as independent living entities. If we say that the svarupa of the jiva is a servant (jivera svarupa haya krsnera nitya dasa) then we must do seva. If we want to say only and want to serve by the mind then we are not acting in our svarupa.
Because svarupa means rupam, it has form – we have hands, legs, arms. We must have knowledge, mood and action (jnana, bhava and kriya) We may have the bhava and think of ourselves as servants, but we are not acting on it. There is no kriya (activity). Of course Bhakti means kriya, kriya yoga. Why does the person have bhava but no kriya? Because he doesn’t have intense love.
If we want to know from guru we must to seva. Unless we do seva we will not give up our ahankara. Externally we can show obeisances, we can say – “Jai Gurudev! Jai Gurudev!” it is very easy to perform activities with the body, but when we are doing service, we must actually do something from inside. There must be a change of heart. “I love this person, I care for this person. I want to serve this person. I want to please this person, I feel so much gratitude for what this person has given me.”
Only by doing seva is one’s love and affection shown for the Lord. Prahlada Maharaja himself said, “Service is better than smaranam.” How is that? Because when one does seva, that includes his internal and external senses. It makes you think more of the person you are serving. Feelings are involved. If you are only meditating in your mind, the balance of your body is sitting idly, your senses are not being utilized in Krsna's service, they are not getting any promotion or contact with the cinmaya sakti. So how are they getting benefited? How are your hands, legs, tongue getting purified?
Service is all encompassing – it engages our body, mind and words. You can see what an ideal service nama sankirtana is! Bhakti begins with seva, dasyam.
If one only shows loving affection without showing friendship or doing any seva, he is cheating. One who is only serving, but without feeling is impersonal, he is mechanical. Machines can also do nice service. So if there are no feelings from the heart then why is seva being done?
If you are trying to serve someone and it's done with loving feeling, then you will know – “Oh, is the person actually please by my service?” or you just say – “Ok, I have this service. I just do it. If he is pleased or displeased I don’t care! I just did my service.” It's not just a one way street. This is cheating, you are holding back! What about your feelings? What about your love? This is a very subtle point.
So what’s the difference between seva and work? Machines only work they don’t do seva. Service means with feelings for the person you are serving. That’s why we say ‘devotional service’.
So service destroys that independent mood. Because to serve someone you have to accept that they are better than you; they are qualified for service. So unless we do service we will not give up our individuality as independent living entities. If we say that the svarupa of the jiva is a servant (jivera svarupa haya krsnera nitya dasa) then we must do seva. If we want to say only and want to serve by the mind then we are not acting in our svarupa.
Because svarupa means rupam, it has form – we have hands, legs, arms. We must have knowledge, mood and action (jnana, bhava and kriya) We may have the bhava and think of ourselves as servants, but we are not acting on it. There is no kriya (activity). Of course Bhakti means kriya, kriya yoga. Why does the person have bhava but no kriya? Because he doesn’t have intense love.
If we want to know from guru we must to seva. Unless we do seva we will not give up our ahankara. Externally we can show obeisances, we can say – “Jai Gurudev! Jai Gurudev!” it is very easy to perform activities with the body, but when we are doing service, we must actually do something from inside. There must be a change of heart. “I love this person, I care for this person. I want to serve this person. I want to please this person, I feel so much gratitude for what this person has given me.”
Only by doing seva is one’s love and affection shown for the Lord. Prahlada Maharaja himself said, “Service is better than smaranam.” How is that? Because when one does seva, that includes his internal and external senses. It makes you think more of the person you are serving. Feelings are involved. If you are only meditating in your mind, the balance of your body is sitting idly, your senses are not being utilized in Krsna's service, they are not getting any promotion or contact with the cinmaya sakti. So how are they getting benefited? How are your hands, legs, tongue getting purified?
Service is all encompassing – it engages our body, mind and words. You can see what an ideal service nama sankirtana is! Bhakti begins with seva, dasyam.
If one only shows loving affection without showing friendship or doing any seva, he is cheating. One who is only serving, but without feeling is impersonal, he is mechanical. Machines can also do nice service. So if there are no feelings from the heart then why is seva being done?
If you are trying to serve someone and it's done with loving feeling, then you will know – “Oh, is the person actually please by my service?” or you just say – “Ok, I have this service. I just do it. If he is pleased or displeased I don’t care! I just did my service.” It's not just a one way street. This is cheating, you are holding back! What about your feelings? What about your love? This is a very subtle point.
So what’s the difference between seva and work? Machines only work they don’t do seva. Service means with feelings for the person you are serving. That’s why we say ‘devotional service’.
Comments