What does seva-smarana mean?
Answer Podcast
Transcript
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Thank you. So, what does Seva Smaran mean? So, actually, we all have, even in the spiritual world, our service to Krishna. So, Yashodamani, she is cooking for Krishna.
You see when we are cooking some particular item for Krishna. And she is thinking, you know, I want to be excited when I see Krishna. Put this, put this, let me listen, let me listen, let me listen.
She is thinking about that item at that time. And what is happening, she is actually cooking for Krishna. So, if our Seva is for Krishna, that is also an emergence of Krishna.
So, Shri Raghupati, Krishna consciousness is very exalted and also very practical. Once in San Francisco, he was walking in the outer courtyard kind of place, in the place where we have a temple. He was chanting.
And he looked down and he saw a flatbed truck. Now, how many of us would think of making Krishna consciousness in a flatbed truck? I said, what is that? Raghupati thought, oh, we can put Jagannath Buddha’s Rudraksha on this flatbed truck and we can make that into a truck and we can have that truck. And that’s how the process happened and started.
So, we had problems thinking about how can we serve Krishna. And then in a truck, we gave a stimulus and we could serve Krishna. So, if we have particular service, while doing that service, if we are thinking about how to do that service, even learning more and more about that service, absorbing also the specifics of that service, that is also a form of remembrance.
Initially, we will be caught very much in the specifics of the service. For example, I am a writer. So, when I read something, I will look at, is this comma right? Is this punctuation right? Is this sentence well structured? And I say, initially, if I like some things that are well written, then I will find, even if something is non-devotional, I will read it, as soon as I see it.
But over a period of time, if I keep practicing Bhakti, what will happen is, that just the linguistic component, it will still appeal. But, if it is not about Krishna, it’s not assigned. So, if somebody likes music, anything that is good music, they like it.
But if they do it for Krishna, they love music for Krishna, they actually absorb themselves in music for Krishna, the service, over a period of time. So, there is the form of service and there is the purpose of service. The form of service is, say, the English language, or learning music, a particular instrument.
So, initially, we may, while remembering, we may be very caught in remembering the form of the service. Okay. How do I do this right? How do I do this right? But as we become habituated to that, then our focus will shift from the form of service to the object of service, the world view of service.
Okay, I am doing this for Krishna. If Krishna is not there, what is the use of it? So, even when we are serving Krishna, that service is meant for Krishna, the remembrance of that service is also a form of remembrance of Krishna.