Navavidha Bhakti - 3

Sri Siddharameshwar Maharaj 

The Nine Faceted Devotion

The seventh type of devotion is "The Path of Service" (Dasyam). One should always be available at the door of God or the Guru. One should rebuild dilapidated temples, reconstruct water tanks and temples, and always increase the glory of God. The meaning of being always at the door of the Guru or God is to be always concentrating on the Self (Atman) within, the awareness that I AM. The attention to the "I AM", the sense of our existence, is the door of the Guru, the door of God. The inner side is the place of the Guru, the place of God. Our awareness, our attention, is the path of entering into the temple of that God. We have to enter the inner recesses by this door. By constant Self-awareness, you can go the state where the Guru exists. We should rebuild old dilapidated temples. This means the bodies of all people. We have to try by various means to make healthy and strong the bodies of devotees that are harassed by the various calamities and difficulties, for which we should give verbal advice, or actually help them. We should reconstruct water tanks. The water tanks of the mind are broken by adverse happenings and  repeated shocks, as there is a lot of dirt accumulated in them because of wrong thinking, as well as a lot of weeds and moss in these tanks. We should remove all of this dirt, and clean the tank water. The walls around the mind tank should be strong and built to last, and we should so arrange it that the water of this tank will always be useful to others. We should like what the Sadguru likes. The Sadguru likes that we should keep away from sense objects, that we should be content without enjoyment through sense organs, and that we should remain constantly in the immortal and the blissful state of the Self. We should give up anxiety about family life, and recite stories about the greatness of God, as well as sing his praises in Kirtan. We should not have any dislike for lesser, more menial types of work. We should even be content to work as a slave for Him. We should do little jobs with enjoyments and enthusiasm so that we lose the pride of our body.  We should perform service with pleasure. If we cannot physically do these things, we should mentally along these lines.