Scriptures explain the essence of Seva

According to the culture of India and the traditions of Bharat, we have been told that mother, father, guests, and teacher stand in the position of God. Godly people and people who are saintly, we find such characters in our Puranas, the Bhagavatha and in our Bharath - such persons who have observed strict adherence to this saying and regarded mother, father, guests and teacher as God. In our tradition, Krishna was an incarnation and had all the powers, yet he served his teacher Sandipani and by serving his teacher, he has demonstrated to the world that the teacher stands in the position of God. Man is born with many debts. In order to discharge and liquidate such debts, man has to do service. He can thereby can liquidate his debts which he brings with him binds him. When the Rajasuya Yaga was being performed, Krishna came into the Yaga and asked Dharmaja who was the performer, "Can you give me a suitable service during this Yaga?" Dharmaja then replied, "Yes, if you can tell me what is the appropriate kind of service you can undertake, then I have no objection to give you that service." Krishna then replied, "You take cognizance of my abilities, power and training. I have a degree, an M.A. Taking cognizance of that, give me work which is appropriate to my capacity." Dharmaja did not understand these words. Dharmaja asked him in turn, "What is this M.A. degree? What is the qualification and what is it that you acquire from this M.A. degree?" Krishna explained, "'M' stands for used leaves, the leaves in which you have taken your food. 'A' stands for removing the leaves in which you have taken your food. This is the meaning of my M.A. degree." In this context, what we have to understand is in this Rajasuya Yaga, Krishna who is all-knowing, all-powerful and can do any work, yet, he undertook to do this little mean work of removing the leaves in which people have taken their food. What is the inner meaning of this? The inner meaning of this is, Krishna is demonstrating and proclaiming to the world that there is so much sacredness in the act of service. While being all-powerful and capable of doing anything, yet he has undertaken to be a mere charioteer to Arjuna. In the context of service for us to think that, some service or some kind of work is very simple, very small or very mean, that kind of attitude is wrong. Service of which we do not seek the fruit, that kind of service, Nishkama seva, service from which you do not want to get the fruit has been described as Yoga. Man's primary duty is to participate in such service and not seek the fruits thereof and go near God. This is his duty.