Guru Seva

[Guest guest]

Dear Raj Winand,

I´ll try to answer you, but I may be wrong.

1) I think that eating meat, as well as smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol,

taking drugs etc, is caused by over attachment to one´s gross body, and that

this is a vicious circle, you do it because of over attachment, and your doing

it itself causes new over attachment.

So perhaps you could apply the "Swamiji says" story of March 20th (Over

Attachment to the Stomach) to this question, not only to eating, but also to

smoking and taking drugs. (over attachment to the senses in general)

As far as meat is concerned, of course there is also the point of ahimsa, of not

hurting other beings.

Yet you could also say that by drinking alcohol or taking drugs you are likely

to hurt others, as you lose self control. E.g. if you drive after drinking

alcohol or taking drugs you might cause an accident, others might be hurt or

killed in that accident. In a discussion you might offend someone just because

you drank alcohol before etc.

Meat, alcohol and drugs overstimulate Rajas and/or Tamas and keep Sattva away.

This goes for too much coffee, too, although coffee is probably less dangerous.

(I myself drink coffee and even eat fish every now and then, I am far from being

a saint, I am just trying to explain.)

2) Some people say that marihuana does cause genetic defects. I don´t know. I

personally consider it neither better nor worse than alcohol, but just the

same. Try to avoid both unless you need marihuana for a medical reason and your

doctor prescribes it to you.

3) In my opinion Satsang is only part of Guru Seva. Puja, Homa, Prayer,

Namasankirtana, Meditation etc are also Guru Seva, aren´t they?

In a Sookti Manjari of Bhakti Mala I´ve read that Guru Seva is like a house that

must be built on the foundation of virtues and of fullfilling one´s daily

duties. Without foundation the house collapses.

On the other hand, as far as I know Sri Swamiji said that whatever help one

gives to any other person, this is also done for Him, so helping others should

be also Guru Seva.

As for Satsang, I don´t know how exactly it is done.

In Bavaria, around Munich/Germany we don´t have any satsang or regular meeting.

One devotee from another part of Germany asked me whether I would like to hold

meetings in my home.

Yet I don´t think that the other devotees from around here would come to my

home, even if I asked them to. They have been devotees much longer than I have

been, so why should they come to me?

And as for chatting: I even doubt whether it was good to share my personal story

here in this newsgroup some time ago.

In a short story like this I couldn´t tell about all the pain I felt during my

life, nor about all the mistakes I made and so on. So my story may have given

the impression of only one "side of my life" and some people may have become

jealous or angry, who wouldn´t want to be in my place if they knew all about my

life.

E.G. I have one single child, my fifteen year old daughter, and despite all I

tried I couldn´t convince her of any of my values in life. I warned her of so

many things, yet I couldn´t keep her from any.

And all this is breaking my heart at present, despite my theoretically knowing

that according to Inana,

I as an individual don´t even exist, so I can´t feel any pain, can´t even ask:

what was it that went wrong, why did I fail as a mother?

I personally feel at present that meeting other devotees or chatting with other

devotees would not help any other person. I couldn´t even help my own daughter

whom I love so much, and despite my trying so hard, so how can I think I can

help anyone else? -

But yes, Satsang may be a good thing for persons who are able to give something to others.

Being good to one´s body I wouldn´t consider Guru Seva in a strict sense. I

would consider it rather an everyday duty to keep one´s body in a good

condition, as a healthy body helps you to fulfill your duties. So your body is

an instrument, but you shouldn´t get over attached to it.

Sri Guru Datta

Carolin