VAISHALI GILL
Selfless service or Seva is a service which is performed without any expectation of result or award for the person performing it.Selflessness basically means that you’re more concerned about others’ feelings and wellbeing than your own. It’s safe to say that the world would be a much better place if we were all a little more selfless. It starts at the individual level, so you can start making that change today! There are tons of easy ways to start being more selfless in your everyday life. To truly perform selfless service, one must act without any desire for a reward or recognition. It is given freely, motivated by an innate desire to help another. At the time of giving, one forgets one’s own needs and wants, as well as one’s comfort and safety, to help someone else. There are even those who give their own lives to save others. Truly selfless people do not expect anything in return for their deeds. The underlying paradox of selfless service lies in the fact that while wanting no reward, selfless service elicits the highest reward – the pleasure of the Lord. This benefit may seem to be intangible. But for those of us who are interested in our spiritual development, it is the highest gift we can receive in life. Every religion extols the importance of giving of one’s self for the good of others. There are anecdotes from different religions that relate how someone has found favour with the Lord because he or she has helped one in need. Even if a person is not a saint or a holy one, his or her status is raised in the eyes of God due to a noble gesture that leads to the relief of another’s suffering. If we just think about our own response to examples of service that we witness we can get an inkling of why it is such an important quality. Seva (also transcribed as sewa), in Hinduism and Sikhism is a selfless service that is performed without any expectation of result or award for performing it. Such services can be performed to benefit other human beings or society. Seva means "service", referring to the selfless efforts for the welfare of all. Seva has been said to provide good karma which facilitates the atma (soul) to obtain moksha (emancipation from the cycle of death and rebirth).