Balance

Whether the body be
motionless in meditation
or moving in the thick of life,
Let the mind stay in the middle,
forever still, pure, and free –
This is a yogi, says Eknath.
_Eknath²⁶³

Sant Mat is a path of balance. Mystics tells us that liberation can be found neither in indulgence nor in renunciation, but in the path between the two. The Buddha referred to this as the Middle Way. Kabir Sahib advocated the path of moderation in his unique metaphorical style: “Too much speaking is not good, nor is too much silence; excess rain is no use, nor is excess sunshine.”²⁶⁴ And Guru Nanak Dev tells us to rejoice because we have been given an opportunity to serve the Lord while we live in this world:

vich duneeya sev kamaa’eeyai.
ta dargeh baisan paa’eeyai.
kaho Nanak baah ludaa’eeyai.

In the midst of this world, do seva,
And you shall be given a place of honour
in the court of the Lord.
Says Nanak, thus alone one lives in a state of joy!
_{Guru Nanak Dev}²⁶⁵

Sevadars face the challenge of keeping three things in balance: meditation, worldly life, and seva. Keeping a balance doesn’t mean giving equal time and priority to each one. Meditation is clearly our number one priority. We also have to do justice to our worldly life, which includes earning an honest living; fulfilling responsibilities to family, friends, and community; taking care of our health, and occasionally enjoying leisure activities. Physical seva has immeasurable value, but it is something extra that we do, without compromising on meditation and worldly commitments.

There was a sevadar who would do his seva with great efficiency and dedication. His attitude towards seva was soon noticed. One day he was asked by another group of sevadars if he could take on an additional seva with their group. Believing that one should never say ‘no’ to seva, he accepted it. After some time, his own team leader asked him to work on a new project. The sevadar accepted this task as well. He was sure that if the master had sent him some seva, he would also give him the ability to do it. He got rid of distractions and improved his time-management skills, and soon he was juggling all three tasks and doing an excellent job.

Then he was given a fourth responsibility. The sevadar quietly said, “Of course,” and accepted it with folded hands. But this time, although he did all his tasks well, he was pressed for time and began to compromise on meditation – on some days it got done, but on others he used meditation time to complete his physical seva.

Finally his team leader asked him to help out with a complex assignment. The sevadar knew in his heart that he had no capacity to do more, but he couldn’t say ‘no’ to seva. It turned out to be the straw that broke the camel’s back; he was completely overwhelmed, and none of the five tasks was getting done properly. He was also neglecting his meditation and family and job responsibilities. In the end he lost his balance and no one was happy with him – not at home, at work, or at seva.

Nothing earthly succeeds by ignoring heaven.
And nothing heavenly succeeds by ignoring earth.
_{Marcus Aurelius}²⁶⁶

Some of us make the mistake of taking our seva to an extreme, at the cost of meditation and worldly work. We also may have the misconception that one should never say ‘no’ to seva. There are circumstances when it may be wise to say ‘no’ to seva. If we don’t have the health or the extra time, or if it would be at the expense of our work or family harmony, then we should say ‘no’ rather than overextending ourselves and risk losing our balance.

We have to keep a balance in life…. You have to discharge certain responsibilities and duties in life…. And while doing that, you also do your meditation. You have to keep the balance.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh}²⁶⁷

Balance between seva and worldly work
It is not always easy to maintain the delicate balance between seva and worldly work. Sometimes we may get consumed by seva. We may even become ‘addicted’ to our seva and lose our balance. But if we don’t fulfil our responsibilities, we will have to face the karmic consequences. The master frequently reminds us that positive actions don’t cancel out negative ones – positive actions bring their own rewards, and negative actions bring their own consequences.

It’s appropriate to ask ourselves: are we using seva as an excuse to escape our worldly responsibilities? Do we believe that seva and meditation are master’s work, but worldly work is not? Baba Jaimal Singh once said to the Great Master:

Whatever official or worldly work you do, all is the satguru’s work.²⁶⁸

So often Baba Ji answers a question with this advice: Be a good human being and serve your parents. He says that even if we were to spend the rest of our lives serving our parents, we would not be able to repay our debt to them.

We are part of a chain, and we have to remain part of that chain. You can’t run away from the world. You have certain obligations, certain duties towards some people, towards your country, towards your family, towards your children. You have to discharge all those duties and responsibilities.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh}²⁶⁹

If we don’t fulfil our responsibilities to our family, they will become unhappy with us. If there is no harmony at home, we won’t be able to concentrate at seva or during meditation. And if we cannot meditate properly, what purpose has been served by doing so much seva? Similarly, if we neglect our health because of seva, over time our health will deteriorate and we won’t be able either to meditate or to do seva. And if we neglect our job because of seva, we won’t be able to earn a proper living, and that will have its own impact on meditation. So worldly work cannot be neglected. In a letter to a disciple who had lost this delicate balance, Hazur advised:

I understand your emotions and appreciate your one-pointed love for your master. But you have certain commitments and obligations towards others and your family members…. Love the master, but give them what is due to them.²⁷⁰

A life of balance means we attend to all our responsibilities, both worldly and spiritual. It also means we should take some time out to relax; life would be very dull and routine otherwise. When the mind is completely suppressed, without some time to relax, it reacts negatively. Each time we cross the line and start to go out of balance, our own conscience speaks up. We should always listen to that inner voice and never ignore it. When we give up control, we give up balance.

Whatever you do, keep your destination and purpose in view…. Work in this world, live in this world, and enjoy yourself in this world, but never forget that destination nor leave the path we have to tread in order to get there.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh}²⁷¹

Balance between seva and meditation
Physical seva and meditation are both seva, but they are not equivalent or interchangeable. Each seva serves a different purpose and has a different value.

The purpose of physical seva is to help ‘clean the vessel,’ to create an atmosphere that is conducive to meditation, to make us receptive to the Shabd. If we only work on cleaning the vessel but never fill it with the nectar of Shabd, the purpose of cleaning the vessel is not achieved.

Seva should help us to meditate…. Seva cannot take the place of meditation.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh}²⁷²

Sometimes we may do physical seva for hours and hours, then find ourselves tempted to rationalize: I didn’t complete my meditation today, but I did all these hours of seva. I was busy with master’s work, surely seva will make up for the missed meditation.

But can outer seva ever compensate for inner seva? The goal of our life is to withdraw our attention from the world and from our own body and bring it to the eye centre. To achieve this we have to become absolutely still. But in physical seva there is constant motion, constant talk. How could our goal to go within ever be achieved with physical seva alone? If the busy work of physical seva was all that was necessary to attain liberation, wouldn’t our master have given us this shortcut?

If we are doing so much outer seva that we are unable to find the time to meditate, or we are too exhausted to meditate, we might ask ourselves if we have imbibed the master’s most basic teaching:

Everything is secondary to bhajan (meditation).
_{Baba Jaimal Singh}²⁷³

As we try to balance meditation and seva, there may be times when we swing to extremes. A sevadar once told the master during a question-and-answer session that her seva was disturbing her too much. She said she had to deal with complex personalities, and it was beginning to affect her concentration in meditation. She asked the master if she should prioritize meditation and give up seva. Baba Ji replied that our attitude makes all the difference. He told her that if she felt she couldn’t handle it, it was okay to take a break and then later resume seva. But, he added, if our attitude towards seva is right, then it can never be a hindrance. He asked: Isn’t it easier to just change our mindset?

At the other extreme, we may think that – isn’t ten or twelve hours a day of seva more than equal to two and a half hours of meditation? Can we not express our love for the master just through our seva? But the master has made it clear: there is a channel through which he gives and through which we receive. Meditation is that channel.

The master has given us four kinds of seva and each one serves a unique purpose. To the extent that our circumstances allow, why reject any one? Why not engage in all four and let the love flow?

tan man dhan arpi sabho
sagal vaareeyai ih jind.

I dedicate my body, mind, wealth, and all to him.
I totally sacrifice my soul to him.
_{Guru Arjan Dev}²⁷⁴

Hazur used to call physical seva an “adornment of meditation.”²⁷⁵ One disciple reminisced about a sevadar who served everyone with great dedication. She recalls: “He did so much, and with such a wonderful attitude, but you couldn’t thank him, you couldn’t compliment him; the words just bounced off him.” It was as if he was not there. This can only come through meditation,” she added. “Such an attitude to seva, such humility, can only come through meditation.”

This anecdote reveals that while seva supports our meditation practice, the reverse is also true – meditation strengthens and deepens our seva. If we were to spend our whole lives doing seva, but didn’t pair it with meditation, that seva would be incomplete, its purpose unfulfilled. This is because we can only give to others what we ourselves have, and without the inner connection to love, how much love do we have to give? Meditation fills us with love and happiness, and we bring that joy with us into seva.

You always give what you have. If you are happy within, you will radiate happiness wherever you go. If you are miserable within, you will share misery with others.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh}²⁷⁶

At times seva may be both physically and emotionally demanding. Dealing with our own needs and the needs of the sangat, being always on our best behaviour, resolving problems and the occasional conflicts with other sevadars – all this can leave us feeling drained. At such times meditation rejuvenates us and brings us back into balance – it fills us with the power of Shabd. In essence, when we meditate we begin to bring our higher self into seva.

So even if we feel our meditation is inadequate, even if we feel we haven’t achieved anything within, if we diligently do our meditation every day, it will gives us the strength to keep coming back to our seva with renewed love and energy.

Finding balance
At a practical level, we can consider a two-part approach to keeping a balance between our inner and outer work. First, we can practise keeping our mind focused with consistent daily meditation. Second, we can create a paradigm shift in our attitude towards day-to-day tasks.

With regard to the first approach, Hazur was once asked a question about finding balance, and he replied:

When you are below the eye centre, your mind is your master. When you are above the eye centre, God is your master. To keep a balance in the world, you should hold your attention at the eye centre. If you do this and you are attached to the spirit within, you will be able to keep your balance in this world; you will be able to discharge your worldly duties and achieve that goal for which you have taken this human form. That is keeping your balance.²⁷⁷

Meditation is the practice that brings our attention to the eye centre and attaches us to the spirit within. So achieving balance begins with making meditation our priority. Each day we do our meditation for a minimum of two and a half hours and then give time in the day to seva and worldly matters – such focus will ensure that nothing gets neglected.

Different stages of life bring different challenges and opportunities, and each stage calls for a different approach to balance. Up to a certain stage, many of us need to give worldly work priority over seva. Later in life, worldly work eases and seva can get more time. But through it all, our commitment to meditation holds us steady.

In short, meditation is the fulcrum on which our life-balance pivots. Instead of struggling to create balance, we should simply prioritize meditation. Meditation then will keep us from swinging to extremes, and the balance between seva and worldly work will automatically follow. Only meditation has the power to centre and anchor us:

Well, sister, if you are tied to a strong chain, you can move only within a limited area. So if we are tied to our meditation every day, no matter how much we’re involved in other things, we will always remain within the circle – we will not be able to get out of the circle. If the chain is broken, then of course you are absolutely gone, you’re involved. So the chain of meditation should not be broken.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh}²⁷⁸

The second part of our quest for balance is to shift our perspective on day-to-day work. If we think of meditation, physical seva, and worldly work as three separate streams of activity, we are likely to experience dissonance – a tension between the inward focus of meditation and the outward focus of seva and worldly work. And we may swing between extremes as we try to keep them in balance.

But the master doesn’t see a separation between the mundane and spiritual, and he encourages us to shift the lens through which we view our life as a whole. One of the themes that weaves through Baba Jaimal Singh’s letters to Maharaj Sawan Singh is that both inner and outer work are the master’s work:

All work is his work; remain happy wherever he keeps you, and take on whatever work you do as the satguru’s work.²⁷⁹

When we view life through this lens – that all work is his work – we discover a paradigm shift in our attitude towards everyday tasks. When we approach every task as the master’s work, it automatically becomes seva.

Hazur was once asked if there was a way to approach worldly tasks as a form of seva, and he responded:

If you keep the Lord and the master in your mind for all twenty-four hours, whatever you do is seva.²⁸⁰

The caveat is the word ‘if.’ If we put aside our ego and act as his agent, if we keep the Lord and master in our mind when we do our work, then it’s possible to live a spiritual life not just for two or three hours of the day when we meditate, but also while we engage in worldly activity.

We can picture our daily life as two nested spheres – spiritual work is the inner sphere, while seva and worldly work form the outer sphere that surrounds it. Both spheres coexist simultaneously, as an interconnected whole, and we weave in and out of them throughout the day. The master’s presence then radiates from the inner sphere into everything we do in the outer sphere, and this is what gives us equilibrium.

In The Practice of the Presence of God, the author describes how the monk Brother Lawrence meditated regularly, then brought that prayerful attitude into his life and seva, suffusing his daily activities with a deep spiritual ambience. As a result, he was able to connect with the Lord as much during mundane tasks as during meditation. The author says:

He believed that it was a great mistake to think that the time of prayer should be different from other times. We should be just as close to God when we are involved in our daily activities, just as our prayer unites us with him in our quiet time.²⁸¹

Similarly, a close associate describes Sardar Bahadur Ji’s attitude towards the activities of his life: “Everything he did, all his duties, whether spiritual or temporal, were all done in the master’s name. When we were young, he repeatedly advised us after initiation that whatever we did – whether it was our simran and bhajan, or whether we were studying for an examination or doing any kind of official work – we should do it in the name of the master or for the master. It must be regarded as the master’s work and not our own. If we regarded any duty as the master’s work, we could not but do it with the fullest love and devotion, and therefore to the very best of our ability. And this was the way he did it.”²⁸²

When the satguru is remembered with love, all spiritual and worldly work becomes pleasing and the mind does not feel any distress. Then even worldly activities yield spiritual fruit.
_{Baba Jaimal Singh}²⁸³

From all of this, a clear theme emerges: there is no line that separates our outer and inner work. In fact, the master uses our seva and worldly tasks as the vehicle for revealing deep spiritual insights.

As our understanding of its potential expands, we begin to realize that seva embraces everything: physical seva is seva; meditation is seva; and when we learn to infuse our worldly work with seva of the mind – doing it as master’s work and with the right attitude – then our worldly work becomes seva as well. Slowly, our life becomes a life of service.

Over time, the inner and outer aspects of our life begin to merge, and we forget to distinguish between them. Hazur often referred to all of it as meditation – not just the two and a half hours, but all of it:

Meditation is a way of life. You do not merely close yourself in a room for a few hours, then forget about meditation for the rest of the day. It must take on a practical form, reflecting in every daily action and in your whole routine…. Everything you do must consciously prepare you for the next meditation. So meditation becomes a way of life, as we live in the atmosphere we build with meditation.²⁸⁴

From the mystics we learn this amazing truth: if we lead a balanced life, then even as we engage fully with this world we can attain liberation:

hasandiya khelandiya
painandiya khaavandiya
viche hovai mukat.

While laughing, playing, dressing, and eating,
one is liberated.
_{Guru Arjan Dev}²⁸⁵

Like everything else on the inner way, balance comes slowly. Through trial and error, through meditation, through living life, through carefully observing how the master lives his own life – slowly we learn the delicate art of balance.

Observe these two qualities –
contraction and expansion –
in the fingers of your hand:
Assuredly, after the closing of
the fist comes the opening.
If your fingers were always closed
or always open, you would be afflicted.
Your work and action are regulated
by these two qualities.
These two conditions are as important for you
as the bird’s wings to the bird.
_Rumi²⁸⁶

Rumi explains that balance means understanding the ups and downs of life as a necessary part of the whole. He says that if the hand were to swing to either extreme – always open or always closed – it would be paralyzed. The hand can only get things done by opening and closing over and over again. The hand doesn’t think it is juggling tasks, some welcome, others not. It just does what is needed when it’s needed. The same is true with the movement of the wings of a bird. For the bird to fly, the wings must be alternately spread and gathered in. This change from one activity to the next and from one state to its opposite is natural and essential. Being aware that life involves such alternation – of work and rest, comfort and discomfort, joy and sorrow – is critical to keeping our balance.

The master epitomizes this state of balance, this state of effortless effort. With conscious practice, perhaps the day will come when we too can move seamlessly from meditation to seva, from seva to a worldly activity, and from a worldly activity back to meditation, giving each task our complete awareness – our deepest presence – until it is time to move effortlessly and naturally to the next task.

If body, mind, and soul operate in harmony and balance, the result is peace, happiness, and an ideal life.
_{Maharaj Sawan Singh}²⁸⁷