Radhey Radhey Swamiji. My question is regarding Seva
Could you please expand on the significance of Seva in our everyday
life. We begin this journey as a self-seeking, we have loved the world for
our sake and when we go towards God it is only natural that we love God for our
sake. One cannot immediately develop that selfless love with Narad-ji talks about
However we understand through the intellect that true love is not selfish
it is selfless and hence we need to reach this point where we will love God
for his sake in other words not our happiness but his happiness. Kripalu ji
Maharaj says "quoting Kripalu ji Maharaj doha"
This love is all about giving not even thinking of taking "lene wala bada"
"bholoa bhala Braja ke rasikon mai shamil nahi hai" one who thinks I will take from God and Guru
that person is simple-minded he's deceiving himself. If you just give, you
will get infinitely more in return so that is why we need to lift our devotion
to that point that we are endowed with the desire to give. The expression of our
love of our devotion is to serve the Seva and that seva how do you do it
while living in the world. There is three kinds of seva
Dhan, Taan, Maan -you serve with your material possessions. All day long you are working
in the world so that hard work that you are doing it is is resulting in material
accruals you offer a bit of that in the service of God now when we start doing
that in other words when we are earning and then we offer a little bit of that
then slowly slowly the consciousness will change we will realize this work is
not for my pleasure it's not for my enjoyment because I'm now offering the
fruits to God so I am working for the pleasure of God and Guru. This change in
the consciousness automatically starts happening when we offer the fruits of
our work that is the first the lowest kind of Seva is through dhaan, through
material wealth and then after that higher is through done through the body
in other words we take time out and engage the body in service let's say you
are cleaning up the ashram or you making arrangements for the satsang etc
etc or you're collecting bricks for the Bay Area temple whatever this is
seva with the body and then the highest is the 'manasi seva' - manasi seva means in the
mind you keep this desire I want happiness of God and Guru
that's the highest 'quoting scriptures' but you
will only reach that highest when you start the step from the lowest
Now if somebody says you know those two are inconvenient 'Chamadi jaye lakin damdi
na jaye' people say I can't, first two is alright I'll serve in the mind
then that is hypocrisy because service in the mind cannot happen unless we are
serving with the body and with the world as well. That is why we need to start
that step from below okay we should always be on the lookout how can we
serve how can we increase our service this is the most powerful way of
cleansing our heart. Kripalu ji Maharaj has gone to the extent of saying
'quoting scriptures'
he has written a hundred couplets in a book called 'Bhakti Shatak' then he says
most important 'quoting scriptures'
'quoting scriptures' remember Shri Krishna and increase your
seva bhav your desire to serve this is the most important and powerful way
of cleansing your heart. Why because ultimately we are his servants, "jivera
svarupa hoy Krishna nitya das" the hand is the servant of the body it's a
fragment of the body we are fragments of the Lord so we are naturally his
servants. Now you can keep analyzing atma gyana I am NOT the body I am the
soul it's all theoretical but the moment you engage in genuine
service the nature of the soul manifests and then you can see the soul by
realization oh I'm not the body I'm not the mind I'm not the intellect I am that
tiny soul that is why service is so so important