Talk:Sevā-Bhāva: Spirit of Voluntary Service
Bhakti is not an armchair spiritual practice. The true Bhakta has an attitude of service towards others and Bhagavān. Sevā is a special type of charity in which we donate our time and labor, and not necessarily a material good or money. Bhagavān acknowledges and likes people who do Sevā. In modern society, Sevā or voluntary service is needed to run many charitable institutions, temples, old age homes, etc. These institutions do not have enough money to pay everyone whose services are needed, and therefore they rely on the free voluntary services of their volunteers. A Hindu Guru explains why we should perform service to others-
“A man can be fortunate in many ways. But there is nothing that makes him more fortunate than the opportunity he has of serving others… …We keep aloof from the outside world when we are ritually impure. We must regard any day on which we fail to do any service to others as a day of impurity. Parameshvara is the father of all creatures. By serving our fellow men we serve the Lord.”[1]
Bhakti is a loving service towards the Lord. A Bhakta who serves others becomes fit for serving the Lord, especially when he serves others as if they were manifestations of the Divine. Indeed, Bhagavān acknowledges the Sevā of even the weakest and the humblest of his Bhakta-s, as the following story narrates-
Story: Bhagavān Shiva Acknowledges the Sevā of Alagi
About 1000 years ago, the great Emperor Raja Chola, who ruled over much of South India, Sri Lanka, and parts of Burma and Indonesia, decided to construct a massive temple to honor Lord Shiva in Thanjavur (200 miles from Chennai, India). It was to be known as the Brihadeshwar temple and intended to be one of the most magnificent structures ever seen. Workmen and sculptors were brought in from all over the country. They toiled all day, digging the earth and chiseling stone. By evening they were completely exhausted. Near the site of the temple, there lived an old woman called Alagi. Although she was weak and in poor health, Alagi wanted to do her bit for her king and for God. As she wandered around the site, she saw that the laborers became exhausted under the noonday sun, and could hardly lift their heads.
Every day Alagi made buttermilk with ginger and curry leaves. She poured it into earthen pots and served the artisans with her own hands. Revived by the drink the men found energy to work better and for longer hours. Soon, many rich merchants and nobles competed with one another to contribute to the splendor of the temple. Lavish gifts and ornaments were given by the king’s sister and his four queens. Alagi, who also wanted to contribute, went to the chief mason and asked him to use a granite stone she had at the back of the house. Her neighbors laughed at her temerity, but the mason, who had seen her serving his people for many long years, agreed to use it as a coping stone (stone at the top of the temple). Six years later, the temple stood completed, resplendent in all its glory, with a tower that was 216 feet tall. The king fixed an auspicious day for its consecration and hundreds of priests, cooks, and entertainers were called up for service. The night before the ceremony, however, the king had a dream. Lord Shiva appeared before him and said he would be pleased to reside in the shelter provided by Alagi.
The king was astounded. It was he who had planned and executed the temple project. His family, friends, and allies had generously gifted money, images, and jewels. Who was this Alagi, the Lord was speaking of? The next day, the King went to the temple, thinking that she lived there. But she was not to be found there. He sent out a search party for her. She was soon found, living in a small hut. The monarch learned of her tireless efforts in taking care of the workers for several years during the hot afternoons, day after day, and her humble offering of a stone. Humbled by her devotion, the King went with folded hands to her hut and respectfully brought her to the temple himself. He honored her before the crowd gathered and started the consecration rites for the temple. He proclaimed that her simple devotion had won favor in the eyes of the Lord, over and above all the material riches that made up the temple.
Alagi accepted the recognition of her services to Lord Shiva with great humility and chose to spend the rest of her life serving the temple and the temple employees. The site of her hut came to be known as the Alagi Garden and the small tank before her home was named as Alagi Tank. A few decades back, the city of Thanjavur decided to construct its municipal office on that holy site where her hut once stood.
Some people think that it is below their dignity to work with their hands. They consider physical work as dirty, and lowly and want only the poor of their ‘servants’ to do all this work for them. They’d rather do only office work in front of a computer, and other such white-collar ‘clean’ jobs. The following examples from the lives of great Hindus show that physical work is neither dirty nor lowly. It is uplifting and elevating. The concept of Sevā therefore teaches us that physical labor is not undignified, rather, it is has a dignity of its own. Serving others also teaches us humility. An arrogant and proud person thinks that others should serve him and that it is demeaning to do physical labor to help others. But, by performing Sevā, we can overcome this attitude and become humble. Esteemed Bhakta-s have demonstrated the importance of Bhakti in their lives. Below is the example of Swami Sahajānand (Swaminarayan) whose spiritual followers even today to uphold the tradition of social service in contemporary times.
The Value of Sevā in the Life of Bhagavān Swaminarayan Sahajānand Swami used to say that he could never have too much of the following four things: Reading scriptures, conversations about Bhagavān, chanting the praises of Bhagavān, and Sevā. True to his teachings, Sahajānand Swami demonstrated the value of Sevā (helping others) in his daily life. Once, he asked a student of his named Nārāyaṇa Bhatta, who was a farmer, to come with him to a different town to celebrate a festival. The disciple said that he was unable to do so because it was harvesting season. If he did not harvest his crop before leaving with his Guru, the crop would go bad by the time he returned home. Swami Sahajānand asked, “Will you come with us to celebrate the festival if I and all the rest of us help you in harvesting the crop? If all of us help you, the work will get done faster, and then join us.” The disciple agreed. Swami Sahajānand arranged for some sickles and joined his other disciples to harvest the crop. With their help, the work was completed very fast, and Nārāyaṇa Bhatta was able to join his Guru in celebrating the festival.
In the year 1813 – 1814, a great famine hit the peninsula of Saurāshtra in western India. Sahajānand Swami was pained to see that thousands were dying due to hunger and thirst. He swung into action and asked his followers to ship grains from other parts of western India to feed the hungry and starving. He instructed that food should be distributed to everyone, no matter what religion or community they belong to. The tradition of providing help to people stuck by natural calamities (e.g. the earthquake in Kutch in 2001) has been carried on by his followers to this day. One day, Sahajānand Swami’s disciple Zinabhai went to enquire about the health of Kamalshi, a poor and elderly weaver. Zinabhai was very pained to see that Kamalshi was very ill, and dying because his son and daughter-in-law did not want to take care of their old father. Zinabhai said to Kamalshi’s son, “If you do not want to take care of your father, do you mind if I take him to my home and look after him?” The son had no objection, and therefore Zinabhai prepared to lift Kamalshi as he lay in his cot. He found three men to help him. Together, the four men lifted the cot and walked outside with Kamalshi lying on it.
Now, Zinabhai was a very well-known and wealthy landowner of that area. He had come on horseback to visit Kamalshi. As he walked carrying one corner of the cot, with his horse following him, some other people came forward to help and relieved Zinabhai. When Zinabhai reached home, he asked his sister, “Which room shall we give to Kamalshi for his recovery?” She replied, “He is just a poor man. It will be fine for him to stay in the first room you walk into when you enter our mansion.” But Zinabhai thought, “Kamalshi will get disturbed and will have no privacy if people keep passing him. Let me take him into my own bedroom.” Zinabhai took the sick old man into his bedroom, and cared for Kamalshi as long as he lived, even performing menial tasks like cleaning his stool. When Sahajānand Swami heard of his disciple’s kindness, he visited Zinabhai several times and embraced him out of affection. Many years later, Zinabhai passed away when Sahajānand Swami happened to be in that area. When his dead body was being taken for cremation, Sahajānand Swami stepped forward and helped in carrying the bier on which the corpse was placed. A disciple asked, “Gurudev, you had not carried your own nephew’s bier when he died. What was so special about Zinabhai who is merely your disciple?” Sahajānand Swami replied, “Zinabhai had helped carry Kamalshi to take him to his home even though Kamalshi was just a poor weaver. Therefore, I will carry Zinabhai’s body at least twice the distance that Zinabhai had carried Kamalshi out of respect for him.” Sahajānand Swami got several Mandirs constructed so that his followers and other Hindus could worship. One day, while a mandir was under construction, the mason shouted, “I need the pot of mortar to cement the stones. Can anyone bring it to me?” There was no one around. Sahajānand Swami heard the mason and started carrying the heavy pot containing the mortar to the laborer. One of his disciples Swami Nityānanda rushed forward and requested, “Gurudev, please do not lift this heavy pot. I can get a laborer to carry it to the mason.” Sahajānand Swami smiled and said, “By carrying this pot, I am doing Bhagavān’s work. We must serve Bhagavān through our body too, by doing physical labor.” Sahajānand Swami showed his respect and love for his disciples who were poor laborers by hugging them with affection when he met them, not bothering that they were dirty at that time and could spoil his clothing through contact.
Although Sevā can be performed in numerous ways, that performed physically is particularly esteemed in the Bhakti traditions. The following story illustrates this-
Imperfect and Perfect Sevā of Sambandhar and Appar
“….Appar and Samabdhar went on a pilgrimage with their respective retinue and reached a village called Tiruveelimalai. At that time, the village was in the grip of a famine. Unable to bear the sight of the sufferings of the people, they decided to stay in two different Mutts [monastery] along with their attendants and distribute food to the people. They had of course no money with them and so went to the local temple to pray to Ishvara. Pleased with their devotion, Ishvara gave them a sovereign [gold coin] every day. The sovereign used to be kept on the doorstep. The one given to Appar was accepted by the vendors of foodstuffs and the required articles were readily supplied. Food could therefore be given to the people before the afternoon set in. The sovereign of Sambandhar was however below the standard purity of gold and so the dealers offered to take it only at a discount. The attendants had therefore to come back to the Mutt to obtain Sambandhar’s consent, then return to the shop, buy the required articles, and then feed the people rather late, by about 2 PM every day. In due course, this delay came to the notice of Sambandhar. On inquiry, he found that it was all due to the bad coins he was getting from the Lord daily. He went to the temple and sang ten verses beginning with “Vachiteerave Kachunalguveer”, which means, “Swami, why are you giving me coins which are not pure gold?” Then the Lord, who is the embodiment of kindness, said, “Appar is worshipping me with his mind, speech, and deed, while you are doing it with your mind and speech only.” Appar was daily cleaning the temple grounds, making them neat. “It was only to point out the difference that I have been doing like this…..””[2]
It might be pointed out that Appār is always depicted as carrying a hoe – a long-handled gardening tool. In his lifetime, he visited numerous temples and other public places and was saddened to see how their pathways were dirty and overgrown with weeds. With his hoe, wherever he went, he would clean the pathways with love. The Saint’s example teaches us that we should keep our places of worship and other public places clean and must not hesitate to perform sevā to tidy them if needed.
The Sevā of Sikh Gurus
In the Sikh tradition (an offshoot of Hindu Bhakti traditions), numerous stories are narrated to highlight the importance of physical service as a trait of true Bhakti. • Guru Nanak wanted to teach his two sons why he was bypassing them and appointing a nonfamily member as his spiritual successor. He threw his bowl in a mud pit and asked his two sons to jump in and retrieve it. But both refused because they did not want their clothes to get spoiled. But Bhai Lehna promptly jumped in and fetched it for his Guru, not worrying about clothing. This was one of the several tests that convinced others that Guru Nanak was correct in selecting Bhai Lehna as the next Guru who was named by Guru Nanak as Guru Angad. • The third Guru Amar Das had two daughters. One day, he asked his two sons-in-law to construct a platform each for him to sit and inspect the construction of a water tank. When the work was complete, he complained that both the platforms were imperfect and must be dismantled and constructed afresh. The elder son-in-law did not want to put in more effort and reconstruct the platform. But the younger son-in-law Jethā cheerfully dismantled it and reconstructed it multiple times till Guru Amar Das was satisfied. The Guru was very pleased with the spirit of service shown by Jethā and appointed him as his successor. Jethā thereafter became the fourth Sikh Guru Ram Das.