I volunteer for the Sri Bhadrika Ashram Youth Scholarship team. One of the activities I do is to interview some of the most beautiful children in rural North India to see if they fit the criterion for our scholarship. It's truly one of the most enjoyable and humbling experiences. Many of these little kids have almost no means and some heartbreaking life stories. It’s very hard to imagine that missing one lunch in a five-star hotel every month would enable you to change a child’s life. The Program Lead was checking if I could volunteer for the next few weeks since they were running short. Swami was conducting Sri Sukhtam Sadhana, and everyone wanted to focus on it. I smiled and confirmed my availability.

After the conversation, I started thinking about my first experience of Seva and how it shaped my life. I volunteered at the Vinayaka Temple in Delhi as a teenager. They were conducting a havan, and my friend's mom was in attendance. As the sun rose to its zenith, she summoned me with a look and whispered if I could serve her water. It was tricky because if I served her water, other people could ask the same. We had made arrangements for people to go to our water booth, but since the temple was packed, no one wanted to abandon their seats. I served her water but took the jar and glasses to serve other people too. Before I knew it, I had spent the next twenty minutes serving everyone at their seats. However, as I saw the water descend down their throats, I could see the exhaustion leave their faces. I think I got more blessings and heartfelt thank you’s that day than the rest of my life put together. That was the first time I experienced the joy of service. Even today, if you ask me to choose between service and Sadhana, I would always choose service. I remember during one trip to the ashram, I spent almost two hours peeling potatoes. It was just me and one volunteer who helps run the kitchen. We did not speak a single word. We just peeled potatoes to feed two hundred people in silence. That was the best moment of my trip.

The most beautiful example of service I have read is the one rendered by the legendary Swami Saradananda to Sri Ramakrishna and the Holy Mother.

In January 1886, Sri Ramakrishna went into a trance and started blessing anyone who came in contact with him. Devotees went into an altered state of consciousness and experienced the divine in a myriad of ways. However, Swami Saradananda and Swami Adbhutananda were performing duties allocated to them. When they were informed of Sri Ramakrishna’s state of trance, they refused to abandon their duty and take blessings from the master.

When he was quizzed about his decision to stay away, Swami Saradanada’s response demonstrates his stature.

Almost everyone I know wants to experience states of elevated consciousness and witness miracles. Yet when you serve people and ease their pain, the greatest miracle occurs as, for a few moments, they forget their pain. Some people even remember the divine grace that sent them this help, and that makes their journey much easier.

Swami Saradananda’s second act of service was even bigger than his first act. He took on enormous personal debt to build the Udbodhan house. He worked on the ground floor and create a shrine and residence for the holy mother on the higher floors. He wrote Sri Ramakrishna Lilaprasanga to repay the debt, and the book is a Bengali classic even today. He took such beautiful care of the Holy Mother that in her last days, he was the only one who could coax her to eat. Ma used to say, “ I shall have no difficulty so long as Sarat lives. I do not see anybody else who can shoulder my burden.” She used to speak of him as her Vasuki, the mythical snake, who protected her with a thousand hoods. In her last days, she remarked, “I am tired of this life. I shall now depart, taking Sarat in my arms and carrying him wherever I go.”

We often talk about Seva, but even after doing the slightest bit, we immediately expect praise and rewards. Swami Saradananda has shown us that the greatest reward of service is the joy you find in doing it.