Seva has brought me here!

[Shaunji]

Hey everybody. It’s nice to be here and to start looking into Sikhism.

A true, short story follows of what has got this Gora interested in delving into Sikhism (hint: it’s Seva!):

“How do you feel about that?” sounds like an innocuous question and you’d never guess that so few words could shake the foundations of a person’s world but that’s precisely what happened to me a little while back. The context was simple enough; my partner’s fifteen year-old niece, Kiran, had been excluded from school and had been placed in a referral unit owing to her anti-social behaviour and it was obvious that her cultural milieu wasn’t going to improve any time soon. We decided to bring her out from the British inner-city to live with us here in our beautiful sierra in southern Spain.

The above question (“How do you feel about that?”) came instinctively from a friend upon being informed of the situation. In that very moment I saw that instead of viewing the opportunity to help a fellow human being as a positive occurrence, my friend’s perspective was all about how such a course of action would impact negatively upon her own life. She wasn’t the only person amongst my friends who had difficulty understanding how we could possibly contemplate interrupting our paradisiacal existence here in the foothills of the majestic Sierra de Grazalema by introducing a troubled teenager into our lives.

I found it hard to believe that anybody could even ask that question. Surely when a family member, especially a fifteen-year-old child, is going off the rails it’s one’s responsibility as an adult to intervene and help in whatever way necessary; however, in these self-obsessed times that’s no longer the default response for a lot of people. It is obviously, and tragically, more important to concentrate purely on oneself and turn away from those in need.

I began ruminating on whether this disinclination to seva is a timeless phenomenon and something merely exacerbated by the recent emergence of the social media, face-in-phone existence we all inhabit. Were we formerly more given to offering selfless service or has it always been a relatively rare offering?

What was particularly interesting about this dialogue was that the person in question was far from the stereotype of a "heartless capitalist"(or however you'd like to cast an obvious bad guy). Her group of friends are very central in the local yoga world and she constantly speaks of meditation, Ayahuasca and other “spiritual” practices…but, crucially, she seems to have missed the most significant side of spiritual life: dedication to others less fortunate than oneself.

The million-dollar question is how do we make seva as popular in the west as yoga and meditation? Is it possible to create a society (or perhaps enclaves of selfless compassion) where seva becomes central to more people’s lives? Or has the self-absorption of our narcissistic, neo-liberal ways destroyed any possibility of this occurring?

Anyway, nice light question to get myself acquainted with y'all!

 

 

 

[harsharan000]

Welcome Shaunji.

Thanks for  starting and sharing  this beautful topic. 

Seva is most needed to become better human beings, but sewa as per teachings has to be "nishkam", means selfeless and without any expectations or recognitions, other than to be helpful to others, to the best of our ability, this attitue gets us nearer to the divine, irrespective of caste, color, class, creed, gender  or nationalities.

Mostly think, that to do seva, is only accomplished if done at a particular place of worship, though that idea is not wrong, for that is also seva, but let us not limit ourselves of being real human beings, from cultivating and developing this blessed attitude towards other beings. 

That much can be added also, if we do not become good human biengs, no true spirituality can be ever achieved, thus we shall remain far from our goal in merging and becoming one with that Primal, Changeless and Eternal Truth, which our Guru Sahiban, right from the begining have called it as Sat Nam.

That supraconsciouss power Sat Nam, is an Infinite Ocean of  bliss, love and mercy, and unless we implement these qualities within ourselves for others, we can not  move further even an inch into spirituality.  For hatred, anger, ego, wickedness, are  nothing but negative  huge thick barriers which we create ourselves, between us and Him, thus get distanced away from Him.

In Sikhee, though all sevas are welcomed, the highest and most valuable is when we do seva of Guru Jee.

And what is that seva? 

It is when we devote ourselves to Him, through keertan, katha,  Nam japna, for then, in that time being, we forget being self centered, means egoistic, and we imbue our mind and heart with the praises and positive vibes  which emanate from that  Sat Nam, or as most of us call it  Wahiguru Akal Purukh , thus we start dyeing ourselves with the color of His virtues and qualities, which if we keep practicing regularly, one day with His Grace, we shall blend and merge in Him.

In the end, that is the real purpose of Sikhee.

So seva, whether of Wahiguru, or of any other beings in need, has no side effects, but is the start point  of one day  fulfilling our goal, which is none other than to become one with Him.

 

Stay blessed.

Sat Sree Akal.

 

[Shaunji]

Thank you so much for your answers, @MahadrasSingh and @harsharan000 and I look forward to looking around the forums here to learn more.

[jkvlondon]

On 8/5/2018 at 4:31 PM, Shaunji said:

Hey everybody. It’s nice to be here and to start looking into Sikhism.

A true, short story follows of what has got this Gora interested in delving into Sikhism (hint: it’s Seva!):

“How do you feel about that?” sounds like an innocuous question and you’d never guess that so few words could shake the foundations of a person’s world but that’s precisely what happened to me a little while back. The context was simple enough; my partner’s fifteen year-old niece, Kiran, had been excluded from school and had been placed in a referral unit owing to her anti-social behaviour and it was obvious that her cultural milieu wasn’t going to improve any time soon. We decided to bring her out from the British inner-city to live with us here in our beautiful sierra in southern Spain.

The above question (“How do you feel about that?”) came instinctively from a friend upon being informed of the situation. In that very moment I saw that instead of viewing the opportunity to help a fellow human being as a positive occurrence, my friend’s perspective was all about how such a course of action would impact negatively upon her own life. She wasn’t the only person amongst my friends who had difficulty understanding how we could possibly contemplate interrupting our paradisiacal existence here in the foothills of the majestic Sierra de Grazalema by introducing a troubled teenager into our lives.

I found it hard to believe that anybody could even ask that question. Surely when a family member, especially a fifteen-year-old child, is going off the rails it’s one’s responsibility as an adult to intervene and help in whatever way necessary; however, in these self-obsessed times that’s no longer the default response for a lot of people. It is obviously, and tragically, more important to concentrate purely on oneself and turn away from those in need.

I began ruminating on whether this disinclination to seva is a timeless phenomenon and something merely exacerbated by the recent emergence of the social media, face-in-phone existence we all inhabit. Were we formerly more given to offering selfless service or has it always been a relatively rare offering?

What was particularly interesting about this dialogue was that the person in question was far from the stereotype of a "heartless capitalist"(or however you'd like to cast an obvious bad guy). Her group of friends are very central in the local yoga world and she constantly speaks of meditation, Ayahuasca and other “spiritual” practices…but, crucially, she seems to have missed the most significant side of spiritual life: dedication to others less fortunate than oneself.

The million-dollar question is how do we make seva as popular in the west as yoga and meditation? Is it possible to create a society (or perhaps enclaves of selfless compassion) where seva becomes central to more people’s lives? Or has the self-absorption of our narcissistic, neo-liberal ways destroyed any possibility of this occurring?

Anyway, nice light question to get myself acquainted with y'all!

 

 

 

Unfortunately western values have sheared away from the original family-centric and community based model  so it is not surprising that you did hear the selfish minded comments you did . Yoga buffs may just do it for the feel goods not necessarily for an internal transformative experience .
Glad to hear that you think on a deeper level and see helping a youngster as an important sewa , it is , what could be as impactful as helping a person get their footing and ensuring her descendents having a good role model ? Good luck with task , glad to see you here brother . Keep in Chardikala

[Shaunji]

Thanks @jkvlondon for your response. Yes, I agree, we have to try and help youngsters as best we can. We've actually set up a small foundation here where we not only help inner-city youth, bereaved kids, mental health organisations etc but also stray dogs. It's the least we can do taking into account all of our blessings in life. Thanks for the welcome and best wishes to you