by SS Charansev Kaur Khalsa from Viña del Mar, Chile
Seva is the greatest gift Guru Ram Das has ever given me. Truly, it is the only and most meaningful gift He has left me. Throughout different stages of my life, service has shaped me, guided me, and revealed itself in many forms. Over time, I have learned to witness and experience the multiple facets that service can take. I deeply feel that service is the most fundamental tool we have as human beings.
What makes this even more sacred to me is that service is also embedded in my spiritual name. I remember receiving my name on a cold winter afternoon and bursting into tears while reading the email. My mind could not explain it, it was not logic but something deep within my heart knew: this was my name. At that time, I believed service had to be tied to an official non-profit or organized institution. But slowly, I began to understand that service can live in the smallest gestures and quiet moments of daily life.
It can be as simple as when my husband comes home exhausted from work, and instead of immediately sharing my own struggles, I pause and ask what he needs: a warm meal, or perhaps a cup of tea. It can be calling my mother just to check how she is or offering a genuine smile to a stranger on the street. We often have no idea how these seemingly small acts may deeply impact another soul—how they might change someone’s entire day. It has taken me years to understand, and I am surely still learning, what service truly means and how it manifests. For a long time, I believed service had to be something extraordinary—something big, structured, and significant, requiring great effort and time. But now I see that true service is found in simplicity. It lives in that quiet decision to say: I will offer my time, my energy, my prana, my breath, for you—for something that will uplift your spirit.
I have also come to realize that serving oneself is as divine as serving another. When I take time for rest, self-care, or stillness, I am serving the Divinity within me. That, too, is sacred seva. Understanding that service begins with the self, in whatever form it takes, has been a long and sometimes challenging process. But little by little, I have come to see that this is the best strategy to have a balanced and conscious life.
Here in Chile, there are several langar kitchens that selflessly serve food to homeless people. This group of sevadars is a profound source of inspiration for me. Whenever possible, I participate, support, and help sustain their seva. One of them is led by Guru Updesh Kaur, whom I met many years ago when the langar seva was still very small. I have personally witnessed her devotion, her sacrifice, and her unwavering commitment to offering a plate of food to those who have nothing.
Seva has the power to transform us entirely. This is why I say that service is a deeply impactful kriya and meditation—not only because it works on a spiritual, energetic level, cleansing the aura, the chakras, and the subtle bodies, but also because it purifies karmas, layer by layer, at the deepest levels of the soul.
I’ve been working on a video to support Guru Updesh’s Langar kitchen to help them generate resources to sustain it. We released it a few weeks ago for Guru Ram Das’s birthday, believing it was the perfect moment to offer something so meaningful—especially a project so intimately connected to His teachings. We shared it during an online “Breathe Global” class led by SS Gurubachan Singh Khalsa. After the class, we showed the video, and people were deeply moved. Many reached out to me afterward, people who didn’t have any connection to our community telling me that the story of the langar kitchen really touched their hearts. This is why I believe that, whether or not someone is a Sikh, a Kundalini Yogi, or even whether they follow a spiritual tradition at all, witnessing the seva of langar awakens something within the human heart. It makes us remember our essence. It reminds us of who we truly are. In the end, service is our purest state as human beings. It is our deepest nature, our most basic tool, and perhaps the only thing that truly makes us human: the willingness to be present, to offer ourselves, and to sacrifice our ego for another.
When I think about it, I imagine what this world would be like if each of us, as human beings, remembered our selfless essence and took even a few moments every day to offer one small act of kindness or service to another. I am certain the world would be a very different place—filled with more joy and compassion.
The Siri Guru Granth Sahib speaks deeply about reciting the Name of God. My personal practice today is rooted in chanting the Divine Name so that I may live in my highest potential—my most neutral, centered, aligned self. From that place, I can intuitively recognize where I am called to serve throughout my day. To serve is an act of complete sacrifice of the ego. Placing service first, above all else, becomes the most powerful technology. Its results are immediate. The moment we offer an act of service, our spirit rises, and we remember who we are. We remember our identity—our Sat Nam—and we automatically bring Heavens to Earth.
sevaa karat hoi nihakaamee ||tis kau hot paraapat suaamee ||One who performs selfless service, without thought of reward, shall attain his Lord and Master.
~ Siri Guru Granth Sahib, Ang 286
*As shared in the 2025, 4th Quarter Sikh Dharma Ministry Newsletter
About the Author
SS Charansev Kaur Khalsa became an ordained Sikh Dharma Minister on November 21, 2020. She lives in Viña del Mar, Chile with her husband Agya Akal Singh, her son Harpreet Singh, and their beloved dog. She has recently graduated as a marketing engineer and is currently working in a real estate and construction company. She serves as a board member at Sikh Dharma International, Sikh Dharma Chile, as an administrative assistant at Naad Academy, and as the chairwoman at Breathe Global. By Guru’s Grace, she launched her first mantra and shabad music album with the band, Nam Deva in 2019 and has recorded multiple other albums since, as a gift to uplift the sangat. You can find her music here.
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