We all do seva in one form or another. Some seva are visible but others are more subtle, for example looking after family members and bringing up children with good sanskar is also seva. Even going to work is a seva; once, a UK Jyot sister bemoaned about having to go to work because Guruhari Pappaji was in the UK but Param Pujya Ben said that we should consider going to work as Pappaji’s seva as well.
But it is the bhavna that we have to do seva that is in it self seva. At a samaiyo at Vidyanagar a UK grahasta bhai having observed all the tremendous seva being carried out by the locals commented to Guruhari Pappaji that he was not able to do such physical seva and so instead he would do money seva, Pappaji promptly responded, “The bhavna that you have is your seva.” Likewise once when a sadhak was unable to go for a garden seva at Ladywalk, he rang Pujya Harishbhai out of sincerity because he didn’t want to let anyone down. However, Pujya Harishbhai said to him, ‘Through your phone call (that is because of your bhavna) you are already here.” This is why despite the various forms of seva, large or small, it is the bhavna with which it is carried out that gives merit to the seva.
When doing seva the sadhak should always be aware and be careful of three key things:
1. We should never do seva assigned to others, no matter how capable we may be, but we should instead provide support where fitting. This is because for whatever reason it may not be appropriate or beneficial for us to do a particular seva. During the period of Agri Orient where Dadukaka and seniors were one day discussing which one of Maharaj’s discourses in the Vachamarut was the greatest, Babubhai (Param Pujya Pappaji) was sat in an adjacent room doing his work. Someone asked Babubhai why he wasn’t taking part in the discussion, he replied, “I haven’t been given that seva.” Clearly Pappaji was more than capable to take part in that discussion but he adhered to the seva that Yogi Bapa had given to him at that time.
2. We should never become too attached to the seva that we are doing. This is because we should be doing that seva to please Pappaji and not for our own self gratification. If we are attached to a particular seva then that may show our swabhav; I only like to do this seva, I am only comfortable doing this or that. Or, it may show our ego. Either way Pappaji will give us another seva that we may not like or find easy to do just to highlight our dehabhav. However, Pappaji is so kind that he gives us the seva that suits us the most.
3. We should never think that we are indispensable in the seva that we are doing, that is, we should never think that without me a particular seva cannot be done. There are plenty of mukto in Akshardham; if we are not here then Pappaji will put someone else in our place! When Shastriji Maharaj was building Akshar Purushottam mandirs a lot of satsangi provided help by donating land, money and physical labour. Once, a Sheth had donated a lot of money for the construction of a mandir, Shastriji Maharaj confided in the Sheth and told him that actually he did not need help from any one in building these mandirs, if he wished they would be erected just like that by his own divine power, but he only took help from satsangi in order to give them the opportunity to do seva. The Sheth became so offended by what Shastriji Maharaj had said that he never came back again (Anoopam 5, Akshar Purushottam ni Nishta). So we should not feel ourselves to be too important when doing seva.
But what is the purpose for seva? There are two key reasons for seva:
1. To support Pappaji in his prime mission (as per Yogi Bapa’s agna) to spiritually lead and liberate those women who want to become sadhu and become one with God (Bhagwan Bhajvu). It is our genuine bhavna that we should do the seva of beno such that they should not experience any form of difficulty.
2. The other reason for seva is for our own sudhi karan, that is, our own purification. In that sense, seva can be considered to be a furnace for purification. When there was Agri Orient in which Kakaji and Pappaji were running the business, Pappaji once asked Yogi Bapa, “Agri Orient is yours to do as you wish, but what is it that you want me to do?” Bapa replied, “We have only one mission, to become brahmrup and join with parabrahm.” Seva is a means for us to become that which Pappaji wants to make us, namely Param Bhagwat Sant.
During that process of purification, when doing seva there will be occasions when we experience stressful times, sometimes things will seem as if they are heading for total disaster and there may be situations when we will be criticised or blamed. Because of our sincerity to do our best when doing seva, we sometimes become so entwined in that seva that we forget what the real purpose of the seva actually is. Gunatitanand Swami had said that we should constantly take stock and ask ourselves,”What have I come to do and what is it that I am doing?”
When in 2002 there was a major earthquake in Gujarat, the main supporting pillars in the Vidyanagar Jyot, were badly damaged. As a result beno were evacuated from that part of the Jyot. A number of architects were called to assess what was required to solve the problem. There was one such architect who was a follower of Shri Arvind of Pondicherry. After surveying the damage he went to Prabhu Krupa where beno were waiting for him with Pappaji. But the architect sat down next to Pappaji and started to meditate. After several minutes the architect opened his eyes but by this time the beno were anxious for his expert opinion. The architect said, “Why are you worrying? Pappaji is so powerful that he only needs to raise his hand and the whole Jyot will rise up.” This is to say that we should do our assigned seva to the best of our ability but whether we succeed or fail, or whether we come across numerous obstacles we should understand that it is all for our purification; we are not responsible for the outcome of that seva, only Pappaji is. We should maintain our faith that whatever happens only good will come from it.
This is what Pappaji has explained in Anoopam 6 – Concorde; it is the purpose of our sadhana for Maharaj to contrive difficulties for us to face in order to get rid of our swabhav, vasana and ego. During these times we should remain alert, should not become unhappy and should maintain spiritual equanimity. If we fail one test then we will have to retake it until we pass.
If we face these trials with devotion, maintain our courage and surrender to Pappaji completely then like King Bali (Vach G I 61) who offered his body to Bhagwan Vamanji in complete submission, Pappaji will be moved by our devotion and he will be bound to us eternally; from that point on he would not be away from us even for a second. We should pray sincerely, whole heartedly and submit to him and him alone, “I am your puppet and you are the Master Puppeteer. My fate is in your hands. You can save or destroy me. I am at your Will’.
Maharaj says that we should be pleased when we have to face more and more difficulties because we will be purified in the process and if we keep God during those trials then he will be bound to us with complete love. This is what Pappaji himself practiced towards Yogi Bapa such that he received blessing from Bapa, ‘Swami Shreeji akhand rahese’. If we keep such a divine vision in our sadhana and seva then we will definitely be purified and reach that highest spiritual stage of Param Bhagwat Sant.