Seva

Seva, or selfless service, to the guru is recommended numerous times throughout the scripture, as an expression of love. Seva is by definition different from work in which compensation is expected and agreed upon beforehand. The highest form of seva  is when we go out of our way to add value to another persons life without being asked to. There is a difference between seva and karma yoga. Yoga means to unite the individual consciousness with the universal consciousness, the ability to cease the any change of modification in the objects of consciousness. It is any action which induces a state of complete absorption in consciousness. This is karma yoga. The Vedas contain jñana kanda, the proscriptions of wisdom and proclamations of the souls inherent unity with the Divine, and karma kanda, the practices by which that Divinity can be realized. These are specifically called Siddhantachara, behaviors suggested by scripture. They are seven in number: worship, recitation of scriptures, sacred fire ceremonies, music, dance, philosophical discourse and offering. These actions have the capacity to induce the cessation of the modifications of consciousness or samadhi.

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