INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

of action and remain unmoved by evaluations and comments of other people. “Your
right hand should not even know what your left hand has done,” an elderly man
phrased.
To keep this internal disposition does not mean that the human mind/heart is
totally emptied from feelings and thoughts in the ideal performance of seva. Quite on
the contrary, successful seva is founded on other cognitive and affective capacities of
humans which have power to remove selfishness and shield from evil vices. A young
Sikh woman said:
If you make chapatis, but your thoughts are somewhere else, that seva
would not be considered as successful (safal). You have to make chapatis
with the feeling that God will eat them. Seva should be done with
feelings, but without any desires.
Foundational for all kinds of manifestations of selfless service is kindness and affection
‒ the very root of charity. It is to act with affection, and to feel joy and honour in
work to help others. Love and compassion (daya) for all humans and animals in the
world is from a Sikh point of view especially regarded as a godly virtue which becomes
epitomized and embodied in seva. The actor’s individual dedication and commitment
are held crucial for the quality of seva. Selfless service can never be performed
by external force but are acts of volition that emerge from feelings in the human
mind/heart. In discussions on this theme many informants utilized the word
bhavna, a noun which in this conversational context signifies “feeling” or “devotion”
that generates interest in seva. This feeling is located in the human heart, which
should be truthful and sincere. To decide upon performing seva is often explicated in
terms of an inner commitment that people do to themselves and in front of God: “I
say, today I have to do this in front of God. My heart is telling me to do this,” a young
Sikh man said. It is to be mentally and emotionally sincere in action and commit to
the task at hand. Devotional people continually engaged in worship and selfless services
are reckoned to have developed seva bhav, the “spirit of seva” and are delight in
conducting seva for its own sake. The spirit of seva is driven by dedication: “I just feel
that I have to do seva, I go to the gurdwara and do seva by my heart. In that I do not
keep any limitation,” an elderly woman said. Many talked of seva bhav as a spiritually
progressed disposition of the human mind/heart from which action and feelings
emerge and make you “offer everything to God”. From this viewpoint the validation
of the religious values of seva is more affective rather than cognitive. An intellectual
understanding of the qualities which seva should have is not considered enough. The
perfect devotee will instead conduct successful seva and derive full benefits from it
because he or she has completely surrendered to the Guru and the will of God and
intuitively feels love and compassion for humanity. True devotion and submission to
the Guru and God makes people take honour in selfless acts to society, and the more
joy the worshipper takes in seva the more awakened his or her soul is considered to
be. Quite often Sikhs will couple the notion of seva with that of simran, remembrance
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008