PADASEVANAM Explaining the meaning of Padasevanam, Bhagawan Sri Sathya Sai Baya says: "Pada means feet. Seva means service. This is when you blend your practice of karma yoga with bhakti. In doing your duty and serving humanity, develop the bhava that you are serving and worshipping the Lord's Feet." But why do the Feet assume such importance? In a discourse, Swami explained that the head is the most important part of the body and that it why it is crowned. But even this head cannot go anywhere without the help of the feet and so the feet must be respected. Goddess Lakshmi used to offer devotion to Lord Narayana by offering Padasevanam. She always massaged the Lotus Feet of Lord Narayana. However, even though she had the boon of being the Lord's wife, it is said that even she was envious of the Tulsi leaves which were placed at Lord Narayana's Feet, for the leaves remained there whereas even Goddess Lakshmi had to go to answer the prayers of Her devotees. Like Goddess Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, our devotion should be such that we wish only to be close to the Lord. She is an example to us to dedicate our lives to worshipping and serving the Lord's Lotus Feet.
How does one become close to the Lord? By going to live in Prashanti Nilayam? No, for one can be very far away from Him even though one is living physically close to Him. And one can be extremely close to Him even though one is living at the other end of the earth. It must always be remembered that the Lord is omnipresent and is close to all no matter where we live. He has shown this to us on innumerable occasions by appearing at various parts of the world to help His devotees in distress. Each one of us is close to Him. In fact, He is closer to us than even our spouse. The fault lies in our vision if we do not feel Him to be so. Baba says He is the resident in every heart. But do we believe Him? Do we feel Him in our heart? How do we then proclaim ourselves as His devotees? A devotee is one who listens to his beloved Lord's words carefully and practices the advice given. If we do that then we will also come to see the Truth that He resides in every heart. And like Swami we will be able to serve all. Swami says that all service done anywhere and to whomsoever reaches Him alone, for He is the resident of every heart. If we serve with that attitude that would be Padasevanam. We must selflessly serve humanity, nay the whole creation, with whatever is required, be it food, clothing, good counsel, labour, encouragement, or even a smile. There should be no expectation of reward. Service done with this attitude will bring the Lord close to us, for that alone is the reality which will be revealed to us. Padasevanam truly means serving the very cause on which the Lord stands. And what does He stand on? What are His Lotus-feet rooted in? They are rooted in TRUTH. Hence, devotees must take up the holiest of all duties, of serving the Truth and never leaving it's side. What is that Truth? Lord alone is, is the Truth. So love all and serve all must becomes our sadhana and goal. There was once a king who was very devoted to his subjects. He considered his subjects like his own children. Every night he would disguise himself and go out to see for himself whether his subjects were happy and comfortable in his rule. One such night, while he was roaming around, he saw a beautiful lady, well dressed in fine jewellery, trying to leave his kingdom in the dark of the night. He approached her and asked "Who are you, o mother, and why are you leaving at this late hour?" She replied "I am Laxmi, o king, and I am bored to be in the same place. I have served you quite long and now wish to go else where." The king saw no point in stopping her since she had already made up her mind, so he thanked her for her services and bade her farewell. The next day the king saw another strange scene. This time it was a plainly dressed woman trying to leave his kingdom in the dark of the night. He asked "Who are you, o mother, and why are you leaving the kingdom at this hour?" She replied "I am Charity, o king, and I like to live near Mother Laxmi. Since she does not live here anymore, I would like to follow her. I have enjoyed living with you because you took great care of me, but I think it is time to move on." The king also bade her goodbye, a little sadly. The next night the king was in for another surprise. This time it was a young man trying to leave the kingdom. The king approached him and asked "Who are you, young man, and why are you leaving us?" He answered "I am Name and Fame, o king. You do not have Laxmi anymore and you do not do charity so how can you have name and fame? Therefore, I have decided to leave. I am sorry, I used to be quite busy here but I think there is no more work for me here. Good bye, o king, and take care." The king also bade him goodbye and returned home. The next night the king saw another gentleman leaving and this time it did not surprise him. He was curious to know who this man was so he approached him. He asked "Who are you, my good fellow, and why are you leaving me?" Upon which came the reply "I am Good Behaviour, o king. I do not desire to leave you but what can I do? You do not have Laxmi, you are not charitable, you do not even have a good name, so how can your behaviour be good? I think I must also go else where. Goodbye, o king." The king said "Goodbye my good fellow" and moved on. The following night the king thought "I wonder who will leave me today. Lets see." When he went out sure enough there was someone ready to leave. This time it was an old man. The king asked "Who are you, o grandsire, and why do you wish to leave me?" He answered "I am Truth, o king. And I wish to go too. You do not have Laxmi, you are not charitable, you do not have a good name, and your behaviour is also not good. How can such a person uphold Truth. I must go where I am respected. Goodbye, o king, I enjoyed being with you. You took great care of me, but I think you cannot continue to do so. I must leave now." On hearing these words the king fell at the old man's feet. With tears in his eyes he begged him to stay. He said "I will die but I will not let you go. You are my very life breath, how can I On seeing the king's love, Truth decided to stay. The next night when the king was at his usual rounds, to his surprise he saw Mr. Good Behaviour returning. He said "O king, you have Truth with you, how can your behaviour be bad?" The king welcomed him. The next night the king saw Mr. Name and Fame returning. He said "O king, you are truthful and your behaviour is good so you are bound to have a good name." The king welcomed him . The night after that the king saw Ms. Charity returning. She said "O king, you are honest, your behaviour is good, and you have a good name . Such a person is bound to be charitable. Even if you have little you will still part with it to help others if their needs are greater. So I have decided to come back." The king welcomed her warmly. The night after that the king saw Mother Laxmi returning. She said "O king, you are charitable by nature, and you have a good name, your behaviour is impeccable and, most importantly, you worship and honour Truth . My beloved Lord, my Swami, my Narayana, lives in Truth, and I can never stay away from Him. Whosoever upholds Truth is upholding my Lord. For one who so loves my Lord, I serve such a one like a dasi (servant). I would want you to use me in His service, for that alone would please me the most." If one holds on to the Truth, every thing else that is required in life is granted. Laxmi is where Narayana is. Narayana is where Truth is. Hence, the Lord's insistence on holding on to truth. If one runs after Laxmi, Laxmi will make one run more for she is very restless. But if one seeks her in His service, she lays down every thing for such a person, for she is a bhakta and she always wants to be close to her Lord. Swami loves all and serves all . He is rooted in Truth. Hence, whatever work He takes up Laxmi never runs far behind. He has taken up massive projects, like the water project and the two hospital projects, which require huge amounts of money which never seems to run out. Such is the power of Truth. No where in the world selfless work like this can be seen. That work which our Lord Sai takes upon Himself should become the devotee's priority too. Does the Lord not tell us to follow the master? Following Him the devotee reaches Him alone. Swami also tells us to face the devil. This is where karma yoga comes in. There is no devil outside, the biggest devil is inside each one of us in the form of our vasanas, i.e. likes and dislikes, which are the cause of our sorrow. We have to get rid of this sorrow producing devil with the help of karma yoga. And what is Karma Yoga? It is doing every action for the sake of the action, not letting our likes and dislikes affect the doing of the action. Normally we want to do what we like to do and we do not want to get involved with that which we do not like. We choose actions according to our likes and dislikes. This is the cause of our bondage. Swami says that happiness lies in liking what one has to do. The thought might arise here 'how can I like to do that which is unpleasant?' If every duty of ours is seen to emerge from the Lord then it becomes easy for the devotee to take it up, be it pleasant or unpleasant. How? Wherever we are placed in life, the Lord has put us there, according to our karma and for our own evolvement. The people that are in our lives (good and bad) are the ones that we need to evolve. Understand very firmly that the Lord gives us what we need for our evolvement (for example people, situations). He never makes a mistake so we must trust His wisdom in everything. Since He has placed us where we are and with the people we are with, we must realise all duties come from Him. And since all duties come from Him, we must do all our duties for Him. We must do all that is needed by those around us for His sake, because He gave these people to us to look after (be they good or bad). When action is done with this attitude, all personal likes and dislikes will get flushed out of the mind and we will be able to act for the sake of acting. In other words, work for work's sake. We should take up that activity which is important, which is our duty and not just that which we like doing. This is no doubt easier said than done but with practice and perseverance it can be achieved. That is exactly what Krishna asked Arjuna to do. He asked Arjuna to do his duty, even though Arjuna found his duty to be very unpleasant. Because the Lord has put us in the right place according to our vasanas (likes and dislikes) doing our duties purifies our minds. Our vasanas get exhausted when we do our duties sincerely and happily. A purified mind finds happiness. A purified mind works with happiness, not for happiness. It becomes easy for such a mind to see the Lord as the indweller of every heart. The devotee worships the Lord with all his actions. He readily serves the Lord in whichever form the Lord chooses to come as, be it human or animal, without any thought of personal gain. Which means whosoever needs his help, he readily and happily gives it, because it is the Lord which is perceived in every form. That is truly serving SAI. It is seva done with this attitude which will immensely please our beloved SAI. Even the smallest of seva done by seeing the Lord in the recipient will greatly please SAI. That is Padasevanam, serving the Lotus Feet of the Lord. Once the great teacher Adi Guru Sankracharya went for a pilgrimage. He wanted to offer the holy water of the river Ganges to a famous Shivalingam many hundreds of miles away. After walking many miles and for many days with the pot of water, his group of pilgrims were nearing the temple when they saw a donkey lying on the road dying of thirst. The pilgrims were only too eager to pour their holy offerings, which they had so carefully and lovingly carried, for their beloved Deity. No one wanted to waste their precious offering on a useless animal like a donkey, except of course the noble Sankracharya who saw his beloved Lord suffering. He poured the entire pot of water into the donkey's mouth. He considered the act greater than offering the water on the Lingam. It is said that Lord Shiva was so pleased with him that He granted him HIS DARSHAN. That is exactly what the devotee achieves when he feels he is serving the Lord in each one. He gets the real darshan of the Lord. This real darshan is constant, and more real than the vision of the world. In fact, the world is the manifestation of the Lord only. Working with the Padasevanam attitude helps one to see that Lord hidden every where.. And every action of such an aspirant becomes service of that Lord. That is truly Padasevanam. In the Ramayana, Bharata went into the forest to plead with Lord Rama to return to Ayodhya so that Rama could assume the throne. True to His father's words, Rama refused. Sage Vasishta then advised Bharata with the following words: "Rama has come to the forest to carry out the command of his father. It is not right on your part to ask him to change his mind. Let us take his padukas (sandles) to Ayodhya. Those padukas will reign over the kingdom." Thus, whilst Bharata performed his duties in the kingdom, in his heart he accepted Lord Rama as the ruler. The padukas in Ayodhya came to symbolise the reign of Lord Rama over the kingdom even though the physical form of Lord Rama was in the forest. In the same way our beloved Swami's padukas should reign over our hearts. We must perform our duties (serving) the Lord in all beings] accepting Him as the ruler. The padukas should come to symbolise the reign of the Lord over the kingdom of our body and mind, even though the physical form of the Lord is in Prashanti Nilayam. Lord Rama returned to His kingdom after the agreed term. When we do our duties sincerely and happily, the mind undergoes a terrific transformation. Its inherent purity invites the Lord to manifest in that heart. He takes over that body-mind completely. That heart becomes His kingdom, it becomes His Prashanti Nilayam. JAI SAI RA
