Inner Truth: Be Grateful for Seva

We all have another 40 - 50 years to live. Life should have a direction. We need to think, what do we want to do in life? Other than eating, sleeping, thinking, reading newspaper, watching television, we need to do something more, and what could that something more be that we can do? How can we bring more light to the world and make people happy? The only way to make people happy is to bring them to knowledge. So, in life, there needs to be a direction, and that direction is – how we can bring the ancient wisdom to everyone, how we can further it in our lifetime so that the eternal flow continues for eternity. If someone is unhappy, that means they have not received knowledge; they have not digested the knowledge. 

Suffering is different. People suffer because of natural calamities, or due to drought, or flood. In these circumstances, you should do seva (service). And any seva is the best seva if it is done with 100% attention. Seva is doing what is needed to be done at that moment. Right now somebody is in dire need of a glass of water. You may say giving a glass of water is not a big seva, instead let me build a house for them. Right now he is dying of thirst; he needs a glass of water. That is the best seva you can do. When you do seva, don't think you are doing a favor to somebody. The seva you have done has rewarded you immediately. Its reward is for sure and is always more than your doing. Your expectation of reward for the seva turns the seva into labour. If you think you have done a lot, you will do very little; if you see you have done a little, then you will do more. Even when you don't see an immediate reward and there is no complaint, that is seva. Labour is when even after an immediate reward, there are complaints. Be grateful for any opportunity to do seva.

The author is the founder of the Art of Living movement. www.artofliving.org 

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