What Is Sewa?

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh,

Seva is selfless service, thats exactly what it is, selfless service. so the ' self ' isn' t in the service, it just service alone. so, when are you doing it, do it selflessly, for you are not doing it, it is being done by you. by Karta Purkh, the Divine Doer. (from Parmjit's blog).

So is doing a good deed sewa? Nowadays I hear people saying “I want to be a doctor so I can do sewa by serving others”, or “I’m running a website I’m doing sewa”. Is this really sewa? For sure your doing good deeds and sowing good future karms, but is it really sewa?

When someone does promotes themselves through doing ‘sewa’, I do not believe that is sewa. They are using their good deeds to make a name for themselves. Guru Sahib says “koye naam na jaane mera”. (may no one know my name).

In Asa Ki Vaar Guru Sahib says;

you may give donations to charity, and perform good deeds, but without the True one, what is the use of it all?

We must realize that the world existed before we were here and so did Sikhi, and will continue to go on when we leave this world. Do not ever think that it is you that is doing sewa or a good deed. We can’t do anything, we are nothing. Everything we do is achieved by the grace of god. Guru Sahib themselves comes into us and does those actions which our manmukh minds believe we are doing. “Hukama andar sabh ko, bar hukam na koye”. Everything is happening under hukam.



Sant Jarnail Singh Ji use to do jorrian di sewa, but no one would know. When all the Singhs would go to sleep they would do jorrian di sewa, and bleach all the Singh’s kasheras and put them back before everyone woke up, so that no one would know that they did it. This is sewa. Bhagat Puran Singh when they took care of people who were cast away from society did sewa.

When you put yourself into the sewa, it ceases to be sewa. Sewa is selfless. Without Naam on your tongue it is just a good deed. Sewa isn’t just a good deed, This is where I believe many people today are confused. Sewa is much more than a good deed, it is doing a good deed believing it is Guru Sahib who is actually doing it and without Guru Sahib you have no capabilities to do anything, and than having naam on the forefront of your mind while doing that sewa.

I would also like to humbly ask all my brothers and sisters to please refrain from doing ‘mukh sewa’ (leading any sewa) if you have a dodgy past or can not commit to live up to the standards of the Khalsa. For example if you put yourself in the spotlight in the media as a spokesperson for a Sikh organization and someone see’s you on television and gets interested in what you are saying. So they go home and type your name in a search engine on the internet and come up with a list of all the bad deeds or allegations against you, this doesn’t just hurt you. It hurt’s the whole panth. Please do not put yourself in leadership positions if you are not spotless, you can potentially do a lot more harm than good to the panth. Leave the mukh sewa’s to people with a jeevan to back it up. Guru Sahib says;

Good deeds done in the pride of ego are swept away, like the house of sand by water.

So are we really just doing a good deed, or are we doing sewa?

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh

posted by Otpreka Singh @ 9:00 AM Comments: 5