INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

Although the perfect devotee should ideally perfrom seva from mind/heart
(man), body (tan) and money (dhan), the three different categories of services are adjustable
to the individual ability and life situation. In case a person is wealthy but
lacks time he or she may donate money and employ paid labour to do the physical
work. Contracted seva can be used for larger enterprises which require expertise
knowledge or large workloads and will grant benefits to the donor. Even though it is
certainly more merit-bestowing to conduct work with one’s own body, people would
argue that they do another type of seva for the society by providing poor people with
jobs. The religious value of seva is, as we shall see, not merely determined by the type
of work conducted, but also the location of work and for whom it is directed.
FOR THE GURU, SANGAT, AND SOCIETY
Seva can be conducted anywhere and be directed to anyone as long as it contains the
element of selfless deeds that in some way or another benefit other humans and even
animals. 582 But there are certain types of seva regarded to be charged with more spiritual
values than others.
Gurseva, or seva for the Guru enshrined in Guru Granth Sahib, is held to be the
most virtuous and merit-bestowing kind of action. On elderly man asserted that seva
conducted without greed in guru-ghar, or “the house of the Guru”, will release humans
from the cycle of births and deaths and safely carry the soul to the abode of
truth after death. 583 During my fieldwork an aged Sikh man from Sonapura used to
come daily to Nichibagh Gurdwara at five in the morning to perform this seva. After a
customarily respectful prostration to the Guru-scripture, he brought up fresh water
from the well, dusted the four-poster bed in tapasthan and cleaned all doors, windows
and the floors in front of the chamber. The final stage was to wash the tray on which
582
Seva may be addressed to animals. I Varanasi some families commemorate the death of Sant
Sundar Lal Singh, a saint who ran a dehra in Alibeg (East Punjab) before the partition. Apart
from his devoted work for the community, manifested in prachar and arrangement of Akhand
Path among other things, Sant Sundar Lal Singh took special care of animals, which he called
“gentlemen” (bhala admi). His affectionate relationship with animals was so strong that when he
passed away the animals sacrificed their lives too.
583
People may have dreams in which God gives instructions on seva in the Guru’s place. A
middle-aged woman said: “There are many people who dream about God. In their dreams they
hear God telling them to do seva. Already from the next day they will start to do seva without
accepting anything for the work. One lady I know had a dream like this. God told her that she
must take care of a gurdwara in Punjab. She moved to Punjab directly.” Seva for other religious
shrines is also valued. During the celebration of Ravidas birthday in February 2001, for example,
the local Sikhs assisted the Ravidas community with the transportation of pilgrims and lent
scriptures, palkis and reciters for the two weeks long series of Akhand path at Ravidas Mandir.
One Sikh informant said he always participated in the yearly seva of whitewashing the walls of
the Hindu temple Sankat Mochan Mandir.
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Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008