INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

everyday social life performing seva implies moral values and cultural conventions of
keeping respectful behaviour towards elders and parents in particular, treating visiting
guests “like Gods”, and in general behaving decently and humbly to people in the
society. A middle-aged shopkeeper in Varanasi compared seva to customer service:
even if a client does not buy anything he should treat him with respect and politeness,
because “maybe he will come back to my shop and buy some other time, and
that would be the benefit of my seva,” he said.
An inventory of the activities that the notion of seva may encompass within the
religious framework would be endless. When Sikhs are representing the significations
and manifestations of seva in the Sikh tradition, they quite often resort to the
social and philanthropic aspects of Sikhism. A wide range of institutionalized forms
of seva in the Sikh life today, such as public food distribution, orphanages, schools,
medical services, relief work and other charities, exemplify the various ways in which
doctrines of egalitarianism and philanthropy, intrinsic to the Sikh religion, are embodied
in social institutions and practical work. Emic elucidations will quickly point
out representational or symbolic aspects of Sikh ethics: performing seva signifies
equality between humans, irrespective of social, religious or ethnic belonging, and the
moral obligation of Sikhs is to strive for justice and betterment of the whole society. In
Sikh discourses seva as selfless action to the community and the wider society are
framed by references to key doctrines in gurbani and narrative anecdotes on the Sikh
Gurus and devout disciples to validate implementations of these doctrines. The practice
of seva is seen as an embodiment of the oft-quoted credo and guiding principle of
Guru Nanak: nam japo, kirat karo, vand chakko ‒ “recite the name of God, work hard,
divide and share with others”. Although scholars in general would agree that the
Sikh perception of seva involves orientations, actions, and discourses to be understood
within a larger historical and religious framework, the various religious meanings
Sikhs may attribute to seva in thoughts and deeds have been fairly understated in
scholarly studies. 576 To be content with symbolic interpretations would be to neglect
the religious aspects embedded in contemporary practices and perceptions of seva.
In a local setting like Varanasi seva is considered to be far more than social activities
in a philanthropic spirit for the purpose of representing Sikh ethics and doctrines
in action. The various types of seva which people perform individually or collectively
are means to realizing and manifesting the Gurus’ teaching in the social
world and are nonetheless acts of worship and complete surrender to the Guru and
God. When the respondents of the structured interviews described the most significant
acts to do during festivals and in the daily life of a gurdwara all of them mentioned
seva as a religious action they attached with various spiritual and soteriological
significations. To be a humble servant for the Guru and the congregation or do altruistic
work for the society is the paradigmatic way to shield and purify the human
mind/heart from the five vices (vikar) ‒ lust, wrath, avarice, worldly attachments, and
particularly arrogance, which persistently seduces humans from remembrance of
576
One exception is Murphy 2004.
336
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008