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Pucchijja pañjaliuḍo, kim kāyavvaṁ mae iha? Iccham nioium, Bhante! Veyavacce va sajjhae |
Veyāvacce niutteṇaṁ, kāyavvaṁ agilāyao, Sajjhāe vā niutteṇa, savvaduḥkha-vimokkhane |
- Uttaradhyayana sūtra, 26.9, 10.
The disciple asked the Lord, "Bhagvan! What should I do, Should I serve or should I study?" The Lord replied, "One who is engaged in service must serve without another thought and one that is engaged in self-study must devote himself to the study, both of which liberate him from all troubles.
Vaiyavṛtya is also included in the twelve types of penance that cause separation from earlier bonded karma matter. As nirjarā is dharma, so is vaiyavṛtya or service. It is very important from the karmic separation point of view.
Like this, service is that highway which carries the vehicles of physicality as well as spirituality both towards culmination. It is that highway that has no pitfalls either on it or even nearby it. Therefore, the aspirant practitioner that wishes to walk on the highway to spiritual emancipation and liberation, the highway of service is the best highway. Service also results in karmic stoppage as well as karmic separation. To give satisfaction by giving food and water, clothing and pots, education and medication, etc., is the practical aspect of service. The path of service is the highway that ensures both kinds of progress physical as well as spiritual. Through physical service the servant gains the divine pleasures while through volitional service one gains spiritual emancipation and liberation. That is why the great sages have said of service that the duty in the line of rendering service runs very deep and its greatness is difficult even for the accomplished sages and yogis to gauge (Sevādharma paramagahano yoginām api agamyaḥ).
The meaning behind depicting the duty of rendering service as very deep and unfathomable, even by the yogis, is that as a yogi maintains his equanimity in the face of pleasure and pain, honour and insult, praise and criticism, profit and gain, etc., so does the servant
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