Every member of the Gunatit Samaj undertakes seva in one form or another. Some seva are clearly seen, others may be less obvious but all are important in there own right. Some people donate money, some do physical seva, others do pujan or spiritual discourses and so on; each serves a purpose. Pappaji says that we get the seva that suits us, however the type of seva itself is not important. The thought, the sincerity and the desire to serve fellow haribhakto in a spirit of oneness are what are important. Seva gives peace in our hearts and material desires gradually fade away; all our shortcomings are eventually overcome.
Aram Pujya Pappaji is always pleased when the needs of the Jyot beno and fellow haribhakto are looked after, especially during festivals and spiritual meetings or congregations. This is the lifeblood of bhakti to Pappaji and His swaroopo.
Nevertheless, the purpose of seva still goes further than this. As once Pujya Dilipbhai Bhojani had explained in a sabha that without our seva, that work would not be left undone. That which needs doing will be done by whatever means; that is, its completion is not dependent upon us. Once Shastriji Maharaj told a haribhakta that He didn’t need money to build temples and that by His own spiritual strength He could have erected temples by Himself; He gave the seva to people so that they would be purified [1]. The haribhakta was so offended by this that he left the satsang. The point is that we should not think that the seva itself is so important and that we are doing a big deal by doing that seva.
Pappaji had said that when there were festivals, they were not there for him to enjoy but rather to be tested and be purified [2] He had to do His seva and wait and see what problems or crisis Yogiji Maharaj would bring in order to test Him. Would Pappaji behave as Gunatit and maintain the divine vision that it is Yogi Bapa at work, and that fellow devotees are totally innocent being controlled by God? Or would Pappaji loose His composure, blame others and make accuses for the problem? In other words, would Pappaji forego His ego and accept the crisis as being God inspired? Indeed, at times Pappaji had to endure criticisms and even insults from fellow haribhakto when things went wrong during these festivals. But Pappaji dissolved His ego and truly believed that it was Bapa who was inspiring everything and everyone; accordingly Pappaji showed us the path to how to become a Param Bhagwat Sant.
Param Pujya Didi has taught us that when someone acts or says something that we dislike or would offend us, then we should take a step back and think to ourselves, ‘What if it were Pappaji who behaved like this?’ We certainly would not take offence but would accept the incident as a divine act! Therefore in any seva in the midst of difficulties, tensions, criticisms or blame (no matter how big or small) if we keep the awareness to efface our ego in a mood of complete submission, and in every circumstance to concede and declare to ourselves that ‘Pappa it is only You’, then our ego will be destroyed and that seva becomes a furnace for our supreme purification; God will certainly then live in us and act through us.
Author: S Gandhi
Sahajanand Swami Maharaj ni Jai.
[1] Akshar Purushottam ni Nishta, Anoopam 5, Param Pujya Pappaji.
[2] Fragrance of devotion, Param Pujya Pappaji.