Spirit of Service

The Master, one afternoon spoke of the manner in which Radha Rani rendered service to Lord Krishna. We always revere Radha Rani for her insuperable love and devotion to Krishna. But this particular description of her service to the Lord, conveyed how one ought to savour the blessing of service to Guru. The Master, in a tone of intense veneration, elucidated that Radha Rani would always think of novel and new ways of serving Krishna.

Made us, the listeners ponder, isn’t She, The JaganMata, the quintessence of seva too? She was gripped by Her love for Krishna, that she always thought of new ways to please Him. She relished Krishna Seva that passionately. Much as we worship Her for Her devotion and love, we must also take a leaf out of Her in our service to The Master.

We understood that this is possible only when we constitute Guru Seva, and nothing else, as the foremost factor of our life. The lesson learnt was that every passing day, in our mind, or rather in every cell of our being, in every heartthrob of our system, and in our very essence, it is the yearning to please The Master, which should be our driving force. And to keep it this way is doable, only when we do not have a mind of our own. Only then, would everything that echoes in our system be His Purpose, which is in every way far beyond us, and far bigger than us.

Only when the ruling factor of our lives is our love for Him, can we awaken to each day with the heartiness that would induce the ‘what_new_ways_can_serve_His_Purpose’ thought. And only when this thought, and the action that follows it, is propelled by our Love for Him, that we can ‘do’ it without being the ‘doer’! Only then we realise, leave alone the action, even that thought was impelled only by The Master’s Grace.

Constantly thriving in the ‘what_new_ways_can_serve_His_Purpose’ thought brings in a stillness that heals and invigorates. That silence brings profundity and gives creativity and resourcefulness. That silence generates a sense of belonging. That silence makes us realise that the thought, and the action is His, and we are just instruments in His Divine Hands for His Divine Purpose – ‘aham yantro hrusheekesha tvam yantree kila keshava’. That silence gives us the true sense of humility, which is the spirit of Guru Seva. That silence keeps us close to The Master. Absence of that silence, would exhaust us, would make us shallow. Deeper the inner silence, more vibrant the seva.

Prayers to The Lotus Feet of Madhuri Sakhi, to bestow that thought, and that silence!

acaryasya priyam kuryat, pranair api dhanair api

karmana manasa vaca, sa yati paramam gatim

~Vishnu Smriti

Do things that are pleasing to your spiritual master with your life and your wealth, with your work, your thoughts and your speech, and you will go to the supreme destination.