Epilogue

tan man dhan sabh saump gur kau
hukam manniyai paa’eeyai.

Surrender body, mind, wealth,
and everything to the guru;
Obey his will, and you will find him.
_{Guru Amar Das}³⁸⁴

The soul is love. The goal is love. And the path to the goal is also love. Although at times it may seem difficult to believe, a true living master has taken us by the hand and is teaching us how to love – through service to the Lord and service to each other.

All of seva is ultimately for the mind: to bend the mind towards the Beloved. Outer seva inspires us to practise inner seva, which is the only seva that can liberate us. And seva of the mind acts as a bridge between outer and inner seva, unifying them.

We began our exploration of seva with Hazur’s beautiful teaching: “Seva is love.” And we discovered along the way his simple statement that “Love means obedience.” It follows then that seva means obedience. As we reflect on what seva means to us, it becomes clear that this is at the heart of it: obedience to the master’s instructions is everything. As Guru Amar Das says, “Obey his will, and you will find him.”

This spirit of obedience is beautifully captured in the Arabic term labbayka. One definition of labbayka is: ‘I will stick to obeying you again and again.’ At its essence labbayka means to serve with loving submission and persistent obedience to the One.

Labbayka Allaahumma Labbayk.
Labbayk La Shareeka Laka Labbayk.
Inna l-Hamda, Wan-Ni‘mata,
Laka wal-Mulk, La Shareeka Lak.

Here I am at your service, O Lord, here I am.
Here I am at your service,
and you have no partner.
Yours alone is all praise and all bounty,
and yours is all sovereignty.
You have no partner.
_{Text of the Talbiyah, (prayer performed during the Haj)}

A story in Rumi’s Mathnawi reveals how mystics exemplify the attitude of labbayka. A spiritually realized sheikh was told by the Lord that he should go to the city and beg from the rich and give to the poor. The sheikh obeyed. When he reached the city, those who had expected to welcome a grand sheikh and hear his enlightened discourses were told that he had just come to beg. Put off by this, they abused him. But despite their ill treatment, the sheikh steadfastly obeyed the Lord.³⁸⁵

Of the sheikh in the story, Rumi says:

His inward experiences were higher
than the footstool and the throne of God;
His external business was to cry,
“Something for God’s sake,
something for God’s sake!”
The prophets, every one, ply this same trade:
The people to whom they are sent
are really destitute,
Yet the prophets practise beggary,
crying, “Lend to God, lend to God,”
and perversely urging them:
“Help God!”³⁸⁶

This is what saints do! They beg us to do our seva and meditation: “Please give to God, please give to God!” When they ask us to give to God, they have nothing personal to gain from it. They ask us to give because they know how much we will gain from it.

When we serve with body, wealth, mind, and soul, we are in essence calling out in surrender: “Here I am at your service, my Lord! I commit to obeying you again and again.” Rumi showers the highest praise on such a spirit of labbayka – such unflagging obedience:

When anyone possesses the spirit of the glory of labbayka, letter upon letter and messenger after messenger are sent to him, as when the window of a house is open, sunbeams and moonbeams and rain and letters and so forth never cease from coming in.³⁸⁷

So let us give – give of ourselves to him! For when we open our window to the glory of selfless service, we too will find that messages and messengers and sunbeams and moonbeams come pouring in!

You have just to give yourself to him, and then he gives you everything…. He makes you God; he makes you the Lord.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh}³⁸⁸

satgur ki seva safal hai je ko kare chit laaye.
naam padaarath paa’eeyai achint vasai man aaye.

Fruitful is service to the true guru
if one does it with a sincere mind.
The treasure of Nam is obtained
and the mind becomes free of anxiety.
_{Guru Amar Das}³⁸⁹