Why must we serve?
“Seva is to do something without expecting anything in return. The more you do, the happier you are” — Gurudev
If you feel guilty or stressed for not finding enough time to serve, or wonder about how much you can serve or achieve on your own, remember one thing. You will never be asked to do what you cannot do. If you are not a doctor, you will not be expected to treat a sick person. Nothing is expected of you that is beyond you
The whole world, the entire universe, is one organism, one living being. Each mind is a part of that organism. This is the highest knowledge, and all knowledge must lead to this universal truth.
People suffer when consciousness gets trapped within the boundaries of ‘me’ and ‘mine’. These boundaries are, in fact, mostly a creation of the mind. Examine them closely and you will find they have no real substance. At the most fundamental level of existence, there are no boundaries at all.
When you walk through a city and see someone fall and get hurt, you feel that pain too, even if it is for a moment. That feeling isn’t weakness. It is the truest sign of your humanity. If you aren’t sensitive to another’s pain, even at a small level, something important has become numb inside you.
Every time one feels lonely, one is simply coming in touch with their own boundaries. It is that limitation, that boundary, which is the real cause of your unhappiness. You feel lonely when you seek something from others. This is also the main cause of why we feel depressed. But when you step out from wanting, when you become a giver of happiness to others, how could you be lonely anymore? The whole world will wait to receive your love. Service alone can bring contentment and self-worth.
But the path of service is also not easy. Many people begin seva but stop when they don’t receive recognition. They step back when they are humiliated or when they are not given the appropriate position. What they forget is that service without arrogance, love without reason, and knowledge without intellect are what you actually are. When you bring relief or freedom to someone through seva, good vibrations and blessings come to you in abundance. That is the reward, and it arrives before you even look for it. You feel oneness with everyone around you.
There are two types of joy. One is when you receive something. For example, look at kids, how happy they are when they get gifts. This is the infant form of joy. And then, look at your grandparents. They become happy when they give you something.
Your grandmother is so happy to cook for you. This is the second type of joy, the joy of giving, the joy of serving. This is a more mature form of joy.
You only need to graduate from the infant joy of receiving to the more mature joy of giving.
What does ‘service’ really mean? The word ‘service’ comes from the Sanskrit word ‘seva’. Seva means being like the One Divine. When you act like Him, it is called seva. Any faith in God is seva. God doesn’t expect anything from serving you. When you do something just for the joy of it, not to get anything out of it, that is seva. God doesn’t even want to get joy out of serving the creation. God is joy Himself. The nature of consciousness is joy. Hence, when you are happy with whatever you do, it is an expression of the divinity. So, seva is to do something without expecting anything in return. The more you do, the happier you are. Seeing love inside you is meditation, and seeing God in the person next to you is seva.
Service alone can bring contentment. But service without silence or enough rest tires you. Service without spirituality becomes shallow and can’t be sustained for long. On the other hand, the deeper your silence and meditative insight, the more dynamic you become outside. Both these elements are essential. They grow together. They are fertiliser for each other. If your meditation is not deep enough, do more seva. Seva brings merit, and merit allows you to go deeper in meditation. Meditation brings back your smile. Meditation offers you the knowledge of the Self. That your innermost source is joy, not sorrow. Sorrow arises only when you forget that. Knowledge of the Self reverses the tendency to seek love and comfort somewhere outside. When you know that you yourself are love, and that you yourself are light, it is absolutely impossible to be depressed. The way to overcome personal misery is to share in universal misery with knowledge. The way to expand personal joy is to share in universal joy with knowledge. When everyone believes they can contribute something to this world, a divine society begins to emerge.
If you feel guilty or stressed for not finding enough time to serve, or wonder about how much you can serve or achieve on your own, remember one thing. You will never be asked to do what you cannot do. If you are not a doctor, you will not be expected to treat a sick person. Nothing is expected of you that is beyond you. Doing service means only doing what you can do. No one will expect you to be someone you aren’t. This realisation itself brings deep rest.
Another way to serve without being tired is to do it without a sense of ‘doership’. Work doesn’t tire you as much as the sense of doership does. “I” did this. “I” did that. When you carry the weight of being the doer, exhaustion follows quickly. Seva done without that doership is light. It isn’t a burden. After doing seva, you feel grateful, not proud. And that gratitude is itself a kind of rest.
Let me share a few practical tips on seva. Make an intention to do public service for even one day a week. Reserve 3 to 4 hours and watch it transform your life. If you think you have done much, you will do very little. If you see that you have done little, you will find yourself doing more. Be grateful for any opportunity to serve. Before age steals your physical abilities, make this breath and body useful to the people around you. If you practise these tips, depression could never bother you.
There is an opportunity for seva wherever you look. Use the awareness cultivated through meditation to see these opportunities and act on them. Authentic seva is guaranteed satisfaction. Not because someone promises it, but because the universe itself is structured that way.
God doesn’t expect anything from serving you. When you do something just for the joy of it, not to get anything out of it, that is seva. God doesn’t even want to get joy out of serving the creation. God is joy Himself. The nature of consciousness is joy. Hence, when you are happy with whatever you do, it is an expression of the divinity
