The Fingers Five

Bhagavan Baba, in His valedictory address to the Fifth All India Seva Dal Conference, made a call to all units of the Sathya Sai Seva Samiti (organization) to work as a single entity like the fingers of one hand. He appealed to the Seva Dal members to look upon seva (service) as a continuous activity in the practice of spiritual sadhana [effort]. He urged that the resolutions passed at the conference “should not be treasured in files but should be put into daily practice.

Bhagavan said:

The cosmos has only one master, God, the all-comprehensive supreme consciousness, chaitanya. It energizes and operates the cosmos, the vishwa. It impels all the activities of man. Man is but an instrument that the chaitanya wields. God is not limited by time, space, or circumstance. But the physical body, the mind, the intellect, the senses, and their longings—these are molded and modified by time, space, and circumstance. With-out believing in this fundamental factor, man falsely imagines, “I am doing this,” “I am planning this.” It is the Supreme, all pervasive consciousness that unfolds the skills, motivates the senses, and operates the intellect.

All activities of man must result in clean sing his chitta, all levels of awareness. When these are done as offerings made to God, they advance this cleansing process a great deal. The way he works shapes the destiny of man. Work is sublimated into worship that fructifies into wisdom. The flower is work (karma), the emerging fruit is worship (bhakti) and the ripe sweet fruit is wisdom (jnana). It is one continuous and spontaneous process, this spiritual fulfillment of the sadhaka [aspirant], the sevak [dedicated to service]. They are like childhood, youth, and old age, each imperceptibly growing into the succeeding stage.

While engaged as you are in karma, seva karma, as a sadhana, you encounter many hurdles. But that is the nature of the world in which you act. It is a world of dual characteristics—good and bad, joy and grief, progress and regress, light and shadow. Do not pay heed to these. Do what comes to you as a duty as well as you can, with prayers to God. The rest is in His hands. Mohamed preached monotheism and was driven out of Mecca. Jesus preached mercy and charity and he was charged with treason.

Harishchandra refused to give up his allegiance to truth and was driven to such straits that he had to sell his wife and son as slaves. So when you stick to the path of truth and righteousness, pain and poverty may haunt you. But they are only clouds passing through the sky, hiding for some little time the splendor of the sun.

Karma is sadhana, when it is done as seva. The seva attitude is most beneficial to the person rendering it as well as to others. Seva is the best use to which the body can be put. In fact, you are not doing seva to others. You are doing it always to yourselves, to the God in you and the same God who is equally present in others.

The Seva Dal has been established to instill in the minds of youth these sublime ideals. Every one of you cannot engage yourselves in all the projects of Seva Dal. So the activities or karma have been demarcated into three categories and members are given the option to choose one or other activity as their own contribution: (1) Those who have studied up to some standards can take up educational activities; (2) They can also busy themselves in activities relating to health education and enlivening life in slums and villages; (3) Others can visit hospitals, etc. and spread cheer among the patients.

We are holding some conference or other every year during the birthday week. The resolutions we arrive at after discussions here should not be treasured in files, but must be put into daily practice. Organizations easily fall into mere publicity and fanfare. The Sathya Sai Seva Organizations should be an example and inspiration for [actual practice]. Practice alone can deepen your faith and justify the appreciation and affection that the Sathya Sai Seva Organizations have earned.

Do not proclaim that you are rendering seva once a month or three times a year! That reveals laziness, want of enthusiasm and faith. Do you take food only once a month? Your hunger is not appeased even when you have four meals a day! Your spiritual hunger can be quenched only by more frequent seva, at least for two hours or four hours a day. Each one of you wastes more hours every day in gossip and scandal mongering. Better than these barren pursuits, one can visit hospital wards or villages, or sweep and clean bazaars or bus stations.

These little acts of seva can confer on you great spiritual benefit. Firstly, it will destroy your egoism. Pride will transform friends into enemies; it will keep even kinsmen afar; it will defeat all your schemes. Seva will develop in you the quality of humility. Humility will enable you to work in happy unison with others.

We have in our organization state presidents, district presidents, state conveners, etc. etc., but these positions should not be used for enthroning oneself and exercising authority. They are allotted to people so that they can be examples in their own lives of the seva sadhana. But some state presidents are too proud to share in seva activities! Leaders must lead; they should not push from behind. State presidents must lead others by giving them instruction and inspiration. If they cannot or do not, they have no right to hold that office.

Again, you must work together joyfully as brothers and sisters. When any difference of opinion crops up between you, how can seva be done with uniform attention and enthusiasm? You have to reconcile such differences silently and with love, and place seva in the forefront of all of your activities. When seva calls you, all must come together as one. There should be no politicking in the region of seva. No trace of politics should pollute the seva you do. No idea of separateness should tarnish your thought. Do not talk harshly to anyone. Some people who are office-bearers in the organization do indulge in strong unpleasant language. You adore God when you do puja [prayer] as “mridu madhura bhashine—one who speaks soft and sweet.” This is a meaningful characterization of the Lord. Through soft and sweet speech, we can transform even demonic persons into decent individuals. From words, honey drips; words are fragrant flowers; words enshrine Vedic wisdom; words can build heaven or hell. Words can plunge you into prison; they can release you into freedom.

When any convener or president promotes factions or differences among devotees, treat them as pests, as termites on trees, and remove them. Be vigilant that they do not enter the units of the organization.

All units must work as a single entity like the fingers on one’s hand. The Seva Samiti is the thumb; the mahila vibhag [women’s wing] is the pointing finger; the Seva Dal is the middle finger; the Bal Vikas [education] is the ring finger, and the little finger is the bhajan mandali [the devotional singing group]. I find there is very little cooperation between the units now; it is mostly ‘operation’ that is happening. Have high ideals, great sevaks like Hanuman, before your mind’s eye. Service to man is service to God. In the Purusha Sukta of the Rig Veda [the scriptures], God is described as having a 1000 heads, a 1000 eyes, and a 1000 feet. That means that all heads are His, all eyes are His, and all feet are His. So seva to man is the command of the Vedas.

Teach the illiterates in the villages how to read and write and broaden their vision. Visit the slums in the cities and instruct them how to avoid disease and maintain health. Welcome the slum dwellers into your group and work together with them to make the area clean and attractive. Once you take up seva, you will discover many ways of doing good.

First cultivate humility and compassion. Then learn the knowledge and skill needed for the particular seva project. Thus you can make your life meaningful. By this means, you can add to the ananda [bliss] of the person who has given you the chance to render this seva to your fellowmen.

Source: Sanathana Sarathi, Jan. 1982