“You have to project your purity and piety to uplift and raise people’s consciousness. Reach out. Give them the spirit. Show them there’s a better thing than maya. It’s time for you to serve people – humanity. Our main job is to be together and inspire each other to reach for the golden light. Let us be one in the oneness of each other; love and reach out, make life happy. I hope you will live this day with these words deep in your heart.” Yogi Bhajan

Service is a very powerful word but it doesn’t necessarily mean you have to go deep into the forests of some foreign land, or give your life up to a cause. Many people also feel called to serve within the realms of their normal everyday lives. Yogi Bhajan often spoke of the concept or tradition of seva, selfless service, as the way to integrate service into our daily lives. [breakout quote – source AW calendar] “That’s what you are here for. You are here to serve, here to lift, here to grace, here to give hope and action, here to give the very deep love of your soul to all those who need.”

Those in need are everywhere and sometimes service is something that happens very subtly, the tangible attributes may not be plainly visible, yet the service is powerful just the same. Our mindset, our intentions, our devotion, our desire to serve and uplift, these are what make seva one of the highest traditions we can embrace.

“Our main job is to be together and inspire each other to reach for the golden light. Let us be one in the oneness of each other; love and reach out, make life happy.” Yogi Bhajan

Yogi Bhajan also spoke of seva as one of the ground stones to achieve prosperity in our lives. The first step of prosperity is giving. Giving of ourselves is a mindset, a place of selfless action that actually becomes the preparatory stage for receiving. The selflessness itself releases us from the attachment of expectations, and that, in return, opens the space, allowing for that which can come to us, to come.

During his lifetime, Yogi Bhajan founded 3HO, Sikh Dharma International and other service organizations to uplift humanity. He always believed that serving in the smallest ways, over time, would create the largest impact. Through his teaching on Kundalini Yoga and Sikh Dharma, Yogi Bhajan shared tools with people so they have a chance to heal their inner pain; to find peace in themselves; to find a place in the world; and to have cozy homes and healthy families. It was this commitment to serving the soul of every human in the most humble ways that gave birth to a global movement.