Difference between Seva and devotion
Devotional activities are of nine types. The focus of devotion is divided among these nine types of activities. While Seva is of only one type. The focus of Seva is only to please Maharaj.
Devotion could be done even if you have interests in other things or people. Seva can only be done if you have no other interest in other things or people other than Maharaj.
Seva is performed by keeping a person (Maharaj or Saint) as the destination. Devotion may not be so. Devotion could be performed even to pass the time.
Seva is more important than devotion. All the nine types of devotional activities are to enhance your seva to Maharaj.
How to do Seva
When performing Seva, we need two qualities to best perform it: First is to remember God always while performing Seva. Second is Selflessness in performing the Seva. i.e., not expecting any gain for ourselves.
If we don’t remember God, we don’t get the pleasure of performing Seva. If we are not selfless, Seva would not be pure.
We should have the desire to perform Seva. At the same time we should always remember Maharaj while performing Seva. And at the same time we should be selfless about Seva. If all these three elements combine together, your Seva would be very strong.
Nishkulanand Swami says that if you want to do Seva, it must be done only to please Maharaj. Seva should not be done to please the world, to boost your importance, to raise your name and fame. Seva should not be done with jealousy on others. Seva should not be done by keeping results of the Seva in mind.
Seva without self-praise
We think, “what for me in Seva?” “I should do the Seva before he does it?”
Maharaj says that we don’t have so much interest in Seva like we have interest in self-praise. If you do Seva for the whole year and you were praised once, then you forget all the Seva. If you do Seva for the whole year, you would hate it if you don’t get any praise for it.Is Seva great or is praise great?
Maharaj says that we are always living with self-praise. Maharaj says that the Seva of Ratanji and Miaji is perfect as they don’t have the taste for self-praise while performing Seva.
We may start Seva with pure intention of pleasing Maharaj. But to continue the Seva with the same level of intention is very difficult. And the reasons to fall from that intention are infinite: self-respect, self-interest, worldly benefits, etc., We lose track and move in a different direction.
Kotari Swami performed same Seva for more than eighty years. If intentions are not right, Seva would not continue for so long.
There was a devotee named Bhaskar. He gradually became Bhagatji. After some days he said that if he gets monthly-salary he would continue to be Bhagat. In Seva if we keep changing intentions with time, that makes us fall from Seva.
If someone praises you, scolds you, we may change the focus on Seva. We might get praises and scolds even while performing Seva. There is no limit on disturbances Kotari Swami encountered while performing Seva. Yet he continued the Seva for more than eighty years.
In general Shastriji Maharaj would arrive on time for lunch. But sometimes Shastriji Maharaj would be very late for lunch. Some devotees doesn’t eat lunch unless Shastriji Maharaj arrives. And they never knew when Shastriji Maharaj would come.
One day when Shastriji Maharaj arrived late, Kotari Swami said to Shastriji Maharaj, “If you want to eat hot food, you should come on time. If you come late, You would have to eat the cold food. Understand?”
Shastriji Maharaj said, “Okay.”
If you are not so much attached to Seva, you can’t tell those words to Shastriji Maharaj. Otherwise, no one can dare to say a word to Shastriji Maharaj. The Sevak gains the right to say when things are not right.
First rule of Seva: Only to please Maharaj
Nishkulanand Swami says that the first rule of Seva is to perform it only to please Maharaj and His Saint. Whether you do Seva or you do devotion, you must perform it only to please Maharaj and His Saint. Only such Seva could continue for longer time.
If you have other intentions while performing Seva, those intentions make you blind, and are obstacles for you to enjoy the pleasures of performing Seva. If intentions are not right, you won’t enjoy the Seva and you lose the interest to perform Seva.
If you don’t perform Seva/devotion with the intention to please Maharaj and His Saints, they become equal to worldly activities.
Second rule of Seva: Passion to Seva
Nishkulanand Swami says that the second rule of performing Seva/devotion is to perform it with enthusiasm and spirit.We should get pleasure while performing Seva/devotion. If we don’t get pleasure, then there is something wrong in the methods we follow in executing Seva and devotion.
You should enjoy the Seva. Only then you are said to be following proper methods of Seva.
The work you do even for a living would be full of pleasures if you perform it with passion. You don’t even remember the salary or give importance to it if you are performing something with passion. If you have passion, it becomes devotion.
Without passion, any work just becomes an activity. It doesn’t give you peace.
So, Seva should be done with passion and with submission to Maharaj.
On the other hand, if you perform Seva without much thinking, instead of pleasing Maharaj, you might displease Him.
Third rule of Seva: Timely Seva
Seva needs to be performed with patience and should be timely. We should be alert and should be aware of what Maharaj or His Saint might desire now. We should think, if Maharaj or His Saint is present now, what might he like me to do.
Nishkulanand Swami says that we should be very timely and alert in finding the Seva, and in executing the Seva.
Draupadiji tied the bandage to Lord Krishna with her saree while the queens of Dwarika couldn’t do it even though they were attending Lord Krishna and serving him for their whole life. Draupadiji was just visiting Dwarika. The queens were living there forever. Draupadiji acted timely and tied the bandage to Lord Krishna and thus served him.
Always be ready to attend to them with folded hands and with humility that, “Maharaj/Saint, I’m ready to do whatever you say or wish.”
The best Sevak should always know what his master expects from him. Only then he could please his master. Sevak would know it and execute it even before master could order.
If we do what is said, we are called a “bull”. Bull goes wherever you take him. It stops wherever you stop him.
‘The task at hand should be done without delay, and as per the wishes of master. Not just doing. Doing exactly what is wished and carrying out the task exactly at the time it is required.
Nishkulanand Swami again says that in performing Seva, we should give importance to only the wishes of the master. To please him is the only goal. All your selfish wishes are to be kept away. To suppress other wishes is really hard. Yet, they should be suppressed.
References :
Sarsiddhi Katha Part 18