Seva — selfless service — purifies us and retrains our mind to think of others instead of our own desires.  Similar to the way a parent models the behavior that they want their children to have, Amma is constantly showing us that the path to enlightenment begins with Seva.  Her tireless work with the poor and homeless as well as providing years of Darshan for anyone who comes to Her in need is the embodiment of self sacrifice.  You don’t see Amma telling us that She needs a break from all those egos or that hugging us is beneath Her dignity or that we are too smelly to work with.

She is a paragon of patience listening to our wants and desires without complaint.  Can you imagine Her complaining, “What is it with these devotees?  Why can’t they just do a little work once in a while?  Why do I have to do it all?” or “Well, I’ve worked for 2 hours; now it’s time to think about me.  Let’s go shopping for a new sari” or “I’ll go to the programs and give darshan when I feel like it, I don’t want to commit myself in case there is something more fun to do.”

Amma doesn’t have time to shop or eat or even to go to the bathroom; there are too many people who need Her love and attention.  Instead she will ask at the end of a long evening of Darshan, “Is there anyone else who would like Darshan?  Anyone?”  We should emulate our beloved Guru and ask ourselves if we can possibly stretch ourselves and do more for Her.

Have you ever wanted to give Amma the greatest gift of all?  Give of yourself — give your time to seva and realize that doing more and more seva allows Her Grace to flow ever stronger through you. Start opening yourself to the River of Love that we call Amma!

– Unknown

( we received this via email, author unknown)