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The next morning I was down on my knees in the temple, scrubbing the marble floor again,
emanating (I imagined) a holy radiance of silence, when an Indian teenage boy came looking
for me with a message—that I needed to report to the Seva Office immediately. Seva is the
Sanskrit term for the spiritual practice of selfless service (for instance, the scrubbing of a
temple floor). The Seva Office administers all the work assignments for the Ashram. So I
wandered over there, very curious as to why I’d been summoned, and the nice lady at the
desk asked me, “Are you Elizabeth Gilbert?”
I smiled at her with the warmest piety and nodded. Silently.
Then she told me that my work detail had been changed. Due to a special request from
management, I was no longer to be part of the floor-scrubbing team. They had a new position
in mind for me at the Ashram.
And the title of my new job was—if you will kindly dig this—“Key Hostess.”
Eat, Pray, Love