SERVICE OF GOD - Swami Sivananda Saraswati

SERVICE OF GOD

Padasevana is serving the Lord's feet. Actually this can be done only by Lakshmi or Parvati. No mortal being has got the fortune to practise this method of bhakti (devotion), for the Lord is not visible to the physical eyes.

However, it is possible to serve the image of God in idols and, better still, by taking the whole of humanity as God. Padasevana is service of the sick, service of the poor - service of the whole of humanity at large. Service of the Lord's feet can be done through formal worship to murtis (or idols) or to a mental image of God.
Observing the sacred feet of the Lord, again and again, with devotional and eager eyes, worshipping them, serving them, sipping the sacred water with which the Lord's feet have been washed, worshipping the wooden sandals of the Lord, meditating on them, praying to them, taking the dust of the Lord's feet and applying it to the forehead, washing the heart with the dust of the Lord's feet, respecting the holy shrines and places of pilgrimage and places where God incarnated himself for the good of humanity, regarding the Ganges as directly flowing from the feet of the Lord, worshipping, bathing in and drinking of such divine water of the Ganges - all these are different forms of serving the Lord's feet. This kind of devotion destroys all worldly attachments and allows the mind to think exclusively of God.

---

Worship God. Praise him. Seek enlightenment. Realise divine bliss. Do not put any conditions to God - worship for worship's sake. In worship the sense of individuality is lost in contemplation of the object worshipped.

To gaze at the divine pictures even for some moments daily is a great blessing. It will purify your mind. Meditation is mental worship of the Lord. Singing the Lord's name (or kirtan) is vocal worship. Service of living beings with love and bhava, is physical worship. If the worshipper of the deity thinks that he is separate from the deity, he is a beast. Devout worship of the Lord's lotus feet means perfect freedom from all fear.

***************************************************************************