3 types of Seva

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Seva is rendered to Sriman Narayana in ways:

 

(1) Bhagavat Seva:

 

This is the type of seva rendered to Bhagavan directly, such as to

Vigrahas or Salagramas in temples or in houses. For those fortunate

enough to be born during an avatAram, rendering seva to the avatAram

also comes within the category of Bhagavat Seva.

 

JatAyu and Draupadi are two of the best known examples of devotees

who excelled in this type of Seva. JatAyu fought with RAvaNa when

all types of living entities including the river Godavari would not

tell RAma who had kidnammped Sita out of fear of RAvaNa.

 

Draupadi is another example of a very great, though often

unrecognized Bhakta. When Krishna killed SisupAla, He pretended to

be injured and started bleeding as a result of sending the Sudarshana

chakra at SisupAla. Seeing this Draupadi ran to Him, tore her own

sAri and tied it around His finger.

 

Draupadi laughed at Duryodhana for not being able to see the

differnce between land and water inside the palace built by Maya.

Even though the Upanishads say "atithi devo bhava" in this instance

Krishna wanted Duryodhana insulted, since He restrained Yudhishthira

from stopping Draupadi and the other queens from laughing at

Duryodhana.

 

Draupadi paid a heavy price for this laughter. She was insulted in

front of the elders of the Kuru dynasty. In her previous life she

prayed that she wanted a husband who was very wise, the embodiment of

Dharma, the greatest archer, the strongest human being, the most

handsome and the wisest among men. Since all these qualities could

not be accommodated in one human being, she got five husbands. In

her life as Draupadi it was shown to her and the whole world, that in

spite of having 5 husbands possessing these qualities they were

powerless to help her when she needed their protection from being

stripped and raped. She finally had to turn to the only person who

could help her and everybody else. Lord Krishna responded instantly,

but only after she gave up attempting to stop DushAsana from pulling

her sAri with her feeble hands.

 

As if this insult were not enough, she had to spend the next 12 years

in a forest. While in the forest Jayadhrata attempted to rape her.

She had to spend the 13th year as a maid to a queen. This shows the

fate of the person who was the empress of the whole world only 13

years before]

 

Right after that came the war in which she lost her father, brother

and all her 5 children.

 

While Gandhari is praised for her devotion to her husband, she

supported two people who were spiritually blind, her husband and her

eldest son. When she lost all her 100 sons because of their adharma,

she cursed Krishna that His kula should meet a similar end. However

even though Draupadi was repeatedly met with material misfortune, her

devotion to Krishna never wavered. Never once did she think of

cursing Him for subjecting her to such a life, but instead remained

attached to Krishna all her life and was the first to reach Sri

Vaikuntha after that life, among all the Pandavas.

 

(2) BhAgavata Seva or service to a devotee of the Lord.

An episode posted by Sri Dileepan about the life of the 43rd Jeer of

Sri Ahobila Mutt, in which the Jeer in His PoorvAshrama called in a

person asleep on his patio, gave him a sumptuous meal and then did

Pradakshina to the guest and presented him with a silver coin, is one

of the best examples of BhAgavata Seva or service to a devotee of the

Lord.

 

BhAgavata Seva is considered so important, that one may forego

service to Bhagavan if it is not possible for both to be done within

the time frame available. Pundarika exemplified this by refusing to

interrupt his pressing of his father's feet when Sri Krishna appeared

to him and wanted His divine feet pressed. This is because by

serving the devotee of the Lord, one automatically serves the Lord as

well.

 

(3) AchArya Seva:

 

This is the highest form of service possible among the 3 types of

bhagavat kainkaryam. Ramanuja visited Tirupati and was continuing on

his pilgrimage when he arrived at a village in which lived two of his

disciples. One was very rich and the other was very poor. Ramanuja

and his travelling disciples chose to visit the house of the disciple

who was very poor. He was not in the house when they arrived, but

since the door was ajar, Ramanuja understood that somebody was in the

house. When he announced his arrival, a mat was thrown out from the

room, indicating that Ramanuja was welcome but that whoever was in

the house was unable to present themselves. Ramanuja understood from

this that the lady of the house was so poor that she could not even

cover herself. He threw in a shawl that he draped Himself with and

the lady came out draped in the shawl.

 

There was absolutely nothing for her to offer her illustrious guests.

She went to a local merchant who had been making passes at her for

years and promised to fulfil his lusty desires if she would provide

her with groceries to feed her guests. The merchant agreed and the

poor couple were able to sumptously feed their Guru and God-brothers.

When Ramanuja left, the lady went to the merchant to fulfil her end

of the bargain, but by merely having provided the grain that was

eaten by Ramanuja, the merchant was now purified and he fell at the

feet of the chaste lady and begged forgiveness.

 

AchArya Seva is considered to be highest of the 3 kinds of seva

because it includes Bhagavat Seva (since Bhagavan being the antaryAmi

is the recipient of the seva, BhAgavata seva, since the AchArya is

also a great BhAgavata as well as AchArya seva, since only our Guru

can be our Guru.

 

Postings in the net consistent with the views of our Poorvacharyas is

an example of BhAgavata Seva while, Sri Dileepan, Sri Sampath, Sri

Murali and Sri Sadagopan's support to Sri Ahobila Muth's causes is an

example of AchArya seva.

 

Srimate Srivan Shathakopa Sri Vedanta Desika Yateendra Mahadesikaaya

thiruvadigale saranam.

 

Srimate Sri Lakshmi Nrsimha Divya Paduka Sevaka srivan Shathakopa Sri

Narayana Yateendra MahaDesikaaya thiruvadigale Saranam.

 

Jaganath.

While the above examples may