To Nanda on guru seva

[Guest guest]

Nanda wrote:

The difference in Guru Seva are sooo may - (and I list just a few)1)

it is an opportunity to maintain the connection with a higher soul

and learn by observation. How do they respond to questions /

situations /crises ? How do they interact in "everyday" life? . For

example , this may be a very simple thing, but if anyone looks at

Swamiji's office - you would see it spick and span and organized. His

"desktop" on the PC - he cleans out unwanted documents and files them

away. He is the MODEL for efficiency and organization. So by

polishing our actions - by watching, learning and doing we begin to

reflect their attitude and bhava. It starts rubbing off on us.2)This

is a chance to relieve some of the worldly tasks for the Gurus so

that they can do what they are best at - sadhana . This reminds me of

the story of the squirrel that rubbed itself with mud and ran rubbed

the mud back on the bridge that Lord Rama was building to go to

Lanka. We may be the squirrels ... but it is SUCH a blessing to

participate in somehow "helping" them focus on God instead of on some

trivial wordly tasks.3) Doing Guru Seva really is an opportunity to

learn how to do sadhana. Swamiji says "Sadhana is a privilege" .It

happens because of all the seva we do - whether we live close by or

long distance.

Dear Nanda ~ I really liked all your points, but I have a question.

You seem to define, on the one hand, guru seva as doing something

directly for the guru, at the place where the guru lives, etc. Many

of us do not have that blessing. Then, on the other hand, you say we

can do guru seva whether e live close by or long distance. If we live

long distance, how do we do guru seva as you have defined it? Do we

ask Maa or Swamiji for a task?

 

Because of my illness, I have trouble doing housework. Whereas I used

to be able to breeze through my home and get it "spit/spot" in an

hour or two, now it takes me an hour just to clean off the kitchen

counter. This morning, I was standing at the kitchen counter (I had

cleaned half of it a few days ago) and noticed the part I had not

cleaned. Then I thought, if I thought of making my home a place where

I would feel happy to invite the guru into, knowing that it is clean

and comfy, maybe that would help me be able to do housework better.

Would this be guru seva? Jai Maa ~ Jai Swamiji ~ Linda

[Guest guest]

Nanda wrote:

If you or anyone would sincerely like to participate in Guru Seva, you

can send me an email and let me know what kind of tasks or projects

that you would be willing to help in and how many hours you can

devote in a month or week and I can forward to Swamiji.

Dear Nanda ~ I will give this some thought. Does Swamiji have typing

that needs to be done? That is all I can think of at this point. I

can't do the Saturday class because I am often gallery sitting on

saturday. Thank you. Jai Maa , Jai Swamiji ~ Linda