sevā [service, servitude, hommage, devotion]
In mundane experience sevā, or service, is a common notion. In its simplest form it is the name of a transaction. If I do something for you in exchange for som reward, be it material or immaterial, this called a service.
In material form this reward could be money or perhaps som object of value, or even another service. sevā is often done under material constraints or coercion. We render service under the power of another pressed to do what we otherwise would not do.
But in immaterial form the reward might be some form of recognition, a moral reward, or some kind of immediate satisfaction that only the recognition of another can give.
In the Bhakti tradition sevā is practice. It is service to another at thehighest level. It is the greatest gift the greatest giving of oneself, and therefore the greatest form of spiritual relation. Every spiritual relation is sevā, every sevā is spiritual relation.
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