Swami has always exhorted us to do selfless service, saying, “Manava seva is Madhava seva”, but He has also given another perspective of how service should be regarded by the person who renders the seva.

It was the evening after one of the service camps organized by the Sai Students in the mid-1990s. We had all assembled in the Sai Kulwant Hall after completing our service activities, eagerly awaiting Beloved Swami’s Darshan and His Divine Blessings. After a brief while, soft, mellifluous music came over the PA system, indicating that Swami would be in our midst soon. Craning our necks, we could catch a glimpse of our Beloved Swami, gliding ever so gracefully across the hall, graciously accepting a letter here, throwing a benevolent smile there, creating Vibhuti for a devotee, sometimes stopping in the center of the path with the Divine forefinger scripting something anew in His Mission and the Hand waving in slow circles, Eyes lost in trans-universal Vision…..Time stands still…..and now He starts walking again, approaching us! At last! 

The anticipation amongst the Sai Students group grew as Swami approached us. What was He going to do? How would He respond? Would He light up the place with His charming, Divine Smile and say a few encouraging words to us? 

Swami spotted His eager boys trying to catch His attention and slowly came to where we were sitting. The boys sitting in the front kneeled and proceeded to “inform” Swami about the day’s service activities back in the village. Swami was all attention and was indeed very happy, and graciously acquiesced to our prayers for Padanamaskar. Darshan and Sparshan over, Sambhashan remained, and when it came, it was a great eye-opener. Because perhaps in our heart of hearts, there was still a very teeny, tiny vestige of the feeling, “We have done a lot of service today.” The serpent – ego – was raising its hood! And Beloved Swami, being the Antaryami and Supreme Mentor, must have felt that we should introspect and embark on seva activities with the correct spirit, and thus become worthy instruments in His Hands.

In His inimitable and characteristic way of expounding the greatest of truths in very simple language, Swami said, “Do you think you have done great service to the villagers or to Me? What you have done is just service to yourself,” and walked on…

What a lesson, at least for me, for life! I have heard and read this message of Swami’s earlier, but then the truth behind Swami’s utterances sometimes does not sink in the very first time that one hears/reads about it. This was the case with me too. As Swami Himself put it, this is precisely the reason He keeps repeating His Message! In a matter of a few seconds, Swami drove home a great truth – if we do an act of service, we are only serving ourselves. That the recipient of the act of seva has benefited is purely incidental. The one who renders seva is the true beneficiary. When this truth is realized, would there be any place for ego? No. And where there is no ego, there God is. The meaning and the lesson really sunk in that day, indelibly I should say, for the rest of my life, and I am eternally grateful to our Beloved Swami for the same.

Grateful Pranams at His Lotus Feet!

V. Nandagopal Grade 9 up to M.Sc. Biology in Bhagawan’s institutions, 1983 – 1990. Currently working in the localization domain at an MNC in Healthcare and IT industry in Bengaluru, Karnataka.