The Third Diya: Guru Pada Seva (Service to the Teacher)
The third flame came to life as Dadi chanted:
“Guru pada pankaja seva, tisari bhagati amana” (गुर पद पंकज सेवा तीसरि भगति अमान)
“Service to the teacher’s lotus feet, without pride,” she translated. “But first, understand what a true guru is.”
She reached for an old photograph tucked behind Lord Ram’s picture. It showed a man in simple clothes, his face deeply lined but radiating peace.
“This was my guru,” she said. “Mohan Baba, they called him. He was a Dalit, an untouchable in the eyes of society. When I first went to him in 1970, my own family was horrified. How could a Brahmin woman touch the feet of an untouchable?”
Tarkik studied the photograph. “But you did anyway?”
“The moment I met him, I knew he had something I desperately needed—peace despite suffering, he radiated such joy. I asked him once, ‘Baba, how do you not hate those who treat you as less than human?'”
“What did he say?”
“He laughed—such a beautiful sound! He said, ‘Daughter, hate is a luxury I cannot afford. It would poison my own heart while leaving them untouched. Instead, I serve. I teach their children to read, I help in their fields, I show them through action that their beliefs about me are false.'”
Dadi’s eyes grew moist. “For ten years, I served him. Not because he demanded it, but because near him, I learned that service transforms the server more than the served. When you serve without ego, you discover that the separation between helper and helped is an illusion.”
“But how does this relate to suffering?” Tarkik asked.
“When Mohan Baba was very old and preparing for his final journey, I visited him one last day. His face was peaceful, almost luminous. He took my hand and smiled, ‘See how beautifully this body that faced so much discrimination will soon merge back into the panchabhutas—the five elements? This is the ultimate teaching—all distinctions are temporary illusions. Serve this truth with joy, not sorrow.”
Dadi touched the photograph gently. “Arjun’s father was a teacher too, wasn’t he? Think of all the students he guided. That service doesn’t die with the body. Every child he taught carries forward that light.”
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