What is Seva and Hard
Labour?
An excerpt from a lecture given by Srila Bhakti Vijnana
Bharati Gosvami Maharaja in Chandigarh, India on 10th November 2013
Hard Labour
It does not matter how much service one performs. Externally
one may look like Vaishnavas, but we cannot be Vaishnavas if we have desires
for wealth. An example of this is, Srila Raghunath das Thakur's family who were
constantly serving Vaishnavas in their homes. But they were only keen on
accumulating wealth.
If one is truly doing seva, service, then, he will have more
attraction for harikatha. Anyone can be following all the tenets of being a sannyasa,
brahmacari, grhastra etc but if there is no desire or attachment for harikatha
of the Lord, then, they have not done any service but only physical hard
labour.
The Difference Between Wanting to do Seva
and Given A Seva by Vaishnavas
Chota Haridasa brought rice from the house of Madhavi devi. Mahaprabhu was not pleased because unless and
until the person you are serving is not pleased then it is not seva. In reality
service means the person whom you are serving must become pleased with you.
There are so many devotees performing some seva according to
their own desires. There are also devotees who rely on other devotees to do
service. The first type is doing service according to their mind or desires and
the second type is begging for service and to be under the under guidance of
senior devotees.
The service performed by one according to his desire is
mental satisfaction and has no benefit to the soul.
A person, who is giving up his own desires and surrendering
to the devotees and doing seva, will become more peaceful in body and mind.
Otherwise it is not possible.
The Boat
That Did Not Move
My Guru Maharaja told a story about a marriage that was going
to take place and all the party was in a 'green boat' meaning a boat full of
facilities. Everyone took prasadam and was resting. The boatman also took
prasadam and slept. When he got up, he immediately started to row the boat using
the oars. Those who were inside the boat thought that the boat has started to
move. The boatman thought he was rowing all night.
When morning came the boat did not move. The father of the
groom reprimanded the boatman. It was found that the boat was anchored. So the analogy
is that we have to give up our own desires which we have in order to serve the
Vaishnavas. We have to take the anchor off and surrender to the Vaishnavas and
ask them what is our duty or service. Otherwise we will be like the boatman
doing hard labour and not going anywhere.
Don’t Give a Certificate
to Yourself
Even though one may say this is my nature or psychology and
this particular service fits me, it is only mental speculation and mental
satisfaction. We cannot give certificate to ourselves. One must come in contact
with a Vaishnava and surrender to him and take shelter from that Vaishnava, and
try to please that Vaishnava. Only then, there will be progress.
When to Give Up
Guru
Question: If a person comes in contact with someone who
gave diksha but not a pranayi bhakta, can the disciple retake disksha?
Answer: If the guru is still following everything,
then the disciple should accept siksa and go on. If a guru is fallen down from his position,
the guru should be given up and the disciple can come to a pranayi bhakta.
Keep On Preaching
What You Heard
Wherever we go we must preach the words of our Guruvarga.
Whatever we know we should preach what we heard from our Guru varga. If we are
preaching to a new person, we use a lot of energy. We should keep going on
because it is not only good for those people but also useful for us. We should
bring the new person to a proper place and that service itself will bring us to
a higher place. We will get Krsna prema.
Always Associate
With Higher Devotees
We should always associate with higher devotees. In this
material world we are always suffering but these things will not bother those
sadhakas who are always in the association of higher devotees.
Beat Your Mind
Don't give up our services. We have to give up the idea that
we are the doer. Whenever we think we
are doing so much due to our sadhana and bhajan, we have to take a whip and
beat our mind. More than that, we have to associate with superior Vaishnavas
and these things will not bother us at all.
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