Speech of HH Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji to Sevadal Volunteers during SDHS Volunteers camp – February, 2004 – Nadamantapam Mysore
A true Sevak (person doing Seva) is one who offers service to servants,
servants of the servant, the members of the troupe accompanying Swamiji and
to their families, other fellow sevaks and to the assistants of these other
sevaks. A true seva is one, which is done without any selfish motive, with
a pure heart and mind. A seva done with an attitude that “I will serve only
the Lord but not His assistants” is not a true seva.
Suppose you are doing seva to a great person or a rich person or a famous
personality. You may think that since I’m offering my services to such a
great person, I am also very important or in future I may become very
famous. Then, this cannot be called true seva as it is filled with
selfishness.
On the other hand, a seva done with a pure mind and heart full of love and
compassion, irrespective of whether the person is great or not, is called
true seva. It is called Svayam Seva.
There are 3 types of Svayam sevaks. The first type of Svayam sevak does not
wait for someone else to give him directions or allot him his duties. Such
persons will always be on the look out for any opportunities for seva. They
do not wait for people to come to them and seek their help. They are the
highest type of Svayam sevaks.
In many of our branches such Svayam sevaks are operating. When there are
natural calamities in their areas like floods, cyclones etc; they rush and
do various kinds of seva without expecting any recognition. They do not seek
any publicity for their actions. They do not wait for Swamiji to give them
directions. Swamiji greatly appreciates this type of seva.
The second type of sevaks does seva as soon as they are informed about the
work. That means, when someone approaches them and seeks their help, they
immediately help without any selfish motives. They are the medium category
of Svayam sevaks.
The third type will not move even if someone approaches them and asks for
their help. They wish to serve only the great persons. They are the real
enemies of our society. Even in the ashram, there are some persons who say
that they will only serve Swamiji. They want to always be near Swamiji. They
are not bothered about others. They think that by being near Swamiji they
will get special blessings from Sri Swamiji. But Swamiji looks upon such
people as His enemies. Remember this.
There are some others who say that they will complete any job only if they
receive personal instructions from Swamiji. They refuse to listen to
instructions from His troupe or assistants. This is also wrong. If you wish
to become a true Svayam sevak as described above, then first learn to obey
and do seva to Swamiji’s assistants. Not only this, learn to do seva to the
devotees who come here for Swamiji’s darshan. Didn’t we say that those who
do seva to the servants of the servant are true Svayam sevaks!
A true example of seva bhakti is Hanuman. When he was entrusted with the job
of finding Sita, he didn’t ask, “How can I find her? How does she look?” He
had never seen Sita before. But still using his intellect and strength, he
managed to complete the job.
Take the example of Vanaras (monkeys). Except a few important ones like
Hanuman, Sugriva, the others had not seen Rama. But just by listening to
Rama’s glory from Sugriva, Hanuman and others, they were ready to give up
their life fighting for Sri Rama. They didn’t say “Who is this Rama? We
have never seen Him. We can’t believe you.”
Similarly, in Shiva Purana, in the context of Sati dahana (Sati’s
destruction), Shiva wanted to destroy Daksha’s yagna. Understanding his
feelings, Nandi immediately approached the pramatha ganas (Shiva’s
assistants) to fight. They didn’t say, “Shiva has to come and tell us
directly.” They considered Nandi’s message as an order from Shiva Himself.
Take the story of Garuda. He wanted to go to heaven and get nectar, as it
would release his mother from slavery. At that time, he was not Vishnu’s
vehicle. He was going on his personal mission. However, many maharishis,
knowing that in future he would be Vishnu’s vehicle, out of love for Vishnu,
secretly transferred their tapas shakti (spiritual energy) to him so that he
could complete his mission quickly. As a result, Garuda quickly completed
his mission and went on to become Vishnu’s vehicle. These Maharishis could
get Vishnu’s darshan after many more yugas. It was the result of their
selfless service.
Thus there are many stories in our Puranas depicting true seva. You also
should aim to do such seva.
Each one of you should learn to look for opportunities to do seva. No one
will direct you, while you are doing such work, if someone approaches you
and corrects you or directs you to do the work in a different way, you
should be humble and accept it. That is the seva method.
It is not so easy to reach the level of true seva. You can only go one step
at a time. First begin by doing seva to servants. This is the first step.
Every one comes to the ashram only to learn Guru Tattva (essence of Guru). But
there is only one way to learn Guru Tattva. That is Seva. Without seva, Guru
Tattva cannot be learnt. “O God, if there are so many conditions, then it
is better not be a Svayam sevak.” If anyone thinks like this, then you may
stay here or go away. Do as you please, but remember, you can never ever
learn Guru Tattva. So it is important that every one who comes here to the
ashram should be a Svayam sevak. You should learn to climb one step at a
time starting from the first step.
Swamiji wishes that all of you should reach the level of true Svayam sevak
and that you understand Guru Tattva.
Jaya Guru Datta !
Compiled by Bala Aati