What is seva? “selfless service”, work or service performed without any thought of reward or personal benefit. I learned Seva is one of the most profound and life changing of practices. However we chose to express our own unique seva practice, when we do so, we ultimately test our altruism and put our knowledge of the divine spirit into action. Seva can be as simple as providing directions to someone in need or as difficult as feeding and caring for hundreds of people in need.

At the ashram, I have personally been involved in different kinds of sevas: sweeping, cleaning, taking out the garbage, teaching the preschool kids, painting and healing. All of these tasks allowed me the opportunity to express my divine love to the community.  Sri Vasudeva often says “Seva is an opportunity for you to express the qualities of your soul. It is not what or how much you do that matters so much as the quality of the consciousness in which you do”. The secret is to perform this work with love and compassion, while living in the moment. Even if not at the ashram, when performing seva on a regular basis to our community, friends, family, and our  daily activities, we attain that height of realization whereby our mind becomes absorbed in the inner source, in God. It is very powerful thing and it should be done regularly. This practice becomes a path to self-realization, self-identity when done with no expectation of a return or acknowledgment/recognition. It is not hard and it does not take long!  Let’s use seva to create a better world wherever we may be!