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Selfless Service
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1 Selfless Service (Seva (Punjabi: )) (self-realiza tion)
(selfless service) (elders) (destitute) (insipid) (Mystic) ()
(Truth) (one Whole) (Spiritual dimension) (temple) (mosque)
(church) (synagogue of Jewish) (Gurudwara)
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2 ? (Saint Francis)
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3 ? ? (selfness) ( )
(ethic and morality) (Buddha)
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4 (The Gita Lord Krishna) Arjuna
(Krishna)
Arjuna
(Universal Reality). (Universal Soul): ()
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5
Upanishad (calculate) ! (I-Ness)
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6 !
Bhagawat Gita
(spirituality)
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7 ? !
(self realization and God realization)
Huzur Charan Singh Ji
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8
(Father)
( Mant Mat)
() () ? ?
Surat Shabd Yoga (Sound). (Father )
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o\ . . As on~e very first basic spiritual endeavour to attain
the goal of self realisation, the saints laid down the rule of
seva, selfless service unto alLcreatures, and all beings. Serve the
sick,-- serve the poor, serve your elders, serve your parents,
serve your neighbows, serve the destitute, serve all humanity.
Again and again, this was their message. They were never tired of
reiterating in their teachings that the salt of life is selfless
service; it makes life worth living and gives it a real taste.
Without it life will be dry, essenceless and insipid.
The vision of all past and present saints and mystics is that
the entire universe is pervaded by the one universal power, which
envelopes interpenetrates and pervades this entire universe of
names and forms. It fills every speck of space, it fills and
indwells and enlivens the atoms of matter. The whole world is
filled with its consciousness. This is the result of their insight
and of their experience. Generation after generation, intrepid
pioneers in the spiritual quest and exploration, there came many
illumined souls, reconfmning the experience and findings of their
predecessors . So their observations became time tested and were
given to us as the great fact, as the ultimate Truth. Out of this
awareness and experience came the knowledge of the pervasive
presence of the divine animating His created universe. The saints
perceived the presence of this essence and principle in each and
every creature, in each and every atom of the cosmos.
It is therefore, the common consciousness that meets all
existence into one Whole. They thus experienced and discovered and
proclaimed to us this unity of all life . Out of this oneness
emerged two very important and significant facts which are most
meaningful. One is that when we engage_ in service of the creation,
we are in actual fact adoring this Divine Being that is the living
Reality present in all beings. We have to open our eyes to this
vision. Service is more than a mere social process. It is not just
a social activity confined to this earth plane or to this material
world. It has significance and meaning upon a higher spiritual
dimension.
When we serve man we actually serve the God hidden in_ man, we
serve the divinity immanent in all creation. Therefore, lived in
this manner and engaged in with this awareness and in this spirit,
to serve is to adore the God present in the heart of all beings.
If, while engaged in this outer service, we have this understanding
spliit and per(orm it thus, then we become richly blessed within
the dimension of our spiritual life also. We begin to grow in the
realisation that God jr( not merely confined to the --; s temple,
the mosque, the churchj the synagogue or the Gurudwara; but He is
before us wherever we tum. From all the ten directions of the
compass, God is looking at us. He is coming to us to be served .and
therefore, it is our privilege to worship this God who comes in
human form to accept our service. We engage in servic~ .with a
spirit ofreverence, and humility; with a feeling of thankfulness
and gratitude for the being who is giving us this golden chance of
evolving spiritually through serving Him. No longer with the idea
that I apl .doing something wonderful, something exceptional,
something which is not being done by others.
The second important dimension of this act of selfless service
is something much more fundamental, much more essential. What is
that stahds between us and God what is the goal of our life, in
whom alone we ultimately find res~ peace, attaining whom we succeed
in achieving that which we are striving to reach but cannot reach?
All human ~eings are striving from birth to death-to avoid all
sorrow, pain, suffering- and unpleasan~ ex.periences of any kind .
They are tryiqg eagerly to acquire
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happiness, yet no ~ ever born succeeded in this quest. Joy and
happiness are always intermingled. It is a world of dualities. So
when we run after happiness we are bound to have sorrow also in its
way. Therefore, this quest of unalloyed absolute happiness,
unaccompanied by any reaction, without any sorrow, is a myth, which
can never be attained. It is like a horizon which can never be
reached. It is a state to be obtained not in any created
conditioned thing, limited by time and space, which has a beginning
and an end, which is changeful, perishable by its nature, thus
imperfect.
This experience for which all human beings are seeking and
struggling for; the entering into an absolute bliss, a total,
unalloyed, inexhaustible happiness, and joy. Saint Francis of
Assissi puts it as:
That is only to be experienced in God-experience.
And that is the actual deepest personal experience of saints.
They found that upon attaining God immediately the individual soul
transcends all pain and sorrow, and becomes filled with the eternal
satisfaction, free and fearless. That state is the goal of life.
They call it liberation. In the attainment of this goal, the
greatest barrier is our identification with this little temporary
personality. We are identified with this perishable cage of flesh
and bones which is the abode of so much pain, suffering, old age,
disease, decay and all imperfections.
We cling to it, we love it, we are attached to it We are also
identified with this little thinking machine, this little mental
self. Due to our intense identification with these two factors, our
body and our mind, we are -so completely bound to them that we make
them the very centre of our life. We live only to serve them we
live only to gather things in order to satisfy their desires,
satisfy their cravings, satisfy their appetites, and our entire
life becomes a little petty process confined to this body, to this
little personality, self-centred, self-seeking and selfish. This
ego is the product of ignorance, the product of identification with
that which is not our essential self, it is only an added passing
factor, and adjunct. This ego and the .~elfishness arising out of
this ego is the main barrier between man and God. This-is the
stone, iron, granite wall between us and eternal bliss, between us
and infmite peace, between us and perfect existence, between us and
deathless existence. Therefore, to break down this wall is our main
task.
At the innermost depth of the soul all are identical. It is the
same soul that is the indwelling consciousness in all beings.
Mistaking this perishable body for the real self and becoming
attached to it, developing selfishness and separating ourselves
from all other beings who are in fact equal to us; is the greatest
.ignorance. Forgetting the essential soul and identifying with the
non-essential self, the temporary body, we become self-centred and
selfish. This is the greatest blemish of human personality. It is
the root cause of all clash, conflict and hatred. This self-centred
attitude is the pain of_ human life and out of it arises all
sorrow, all misery, all the.problems of the human society within
the confines of a single family, within the four walls of a
single-household. Due to this selfishness, how much disharmpny, how
much discord, how much clash, how much conflict; how much tension
is created between brothers of the same .family? If there is
selfishness between husband and wife, the whole life becomes a
continuous conflict and a problematic affair. Hence, this
selfishness is at the basis of all real human probleins, individual
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,Selfishness is a grea! human predicament and there is only one
way of breaking down this wall between God and man, between man and
man. To overcome this problem, the application of total
unselfishness, consciously and purposefully is adopted as a way of
life. As long as we do not discard and begin to think in tenns of
the welfare of others, we cannot liberate ourselves from the
stranglehold of selfishness. And the way to counteract this; is
selflessness. Selflessness is the very stuff of true service and
right from ancient times it has been proclaimed:
0 man, refuse to bow down to this curse of selfishness. Know
that God has given you this body in order to benefit life around
you, Benefit all creature, all living beings.
The entire concept of ethics and morality is summed up in the
following: "Anything that hanns others is a sin that
is-undesirable, that will stand in the way of ou r attaining the
goal of life." Therefore, this great value of doing good to others
was placed before us as a shinning ideal, and all those who have
lived and died for this concept have become immortalised and
enshrined in our memory.
At the moment of his departure from earth, the compassionate
Buddha, gathered together all his disciples and delivered to them
his last message: Walk the highways and the byways of this great
land for the happiness of the many and for the welfare of the many,
this I commend unto you as the last parting message." Service of
parents, service of elders, service of the Guru, has been a
timeless concept which has come down to our life. In the Gita Lord
Krishna says:
If you want to attain illumination, if you want to attain divine
wisdom, 0 Arjuna, know that great Reality, by going to Great ones,
serving them and pleasing them.
This concept of service unto all living beings as a spiritual
discipline to attain self-realisation elevated this concept of
service from the dimension of social service with a higher
dimension of a spiritual process. At the basis of it is the vision,
that it is not the human individual that we are serving but it is
the divine that is enshrined within the human being. More
specifically Lord Krishna says:
0 Arjuna I am the inner Spirit dwelling within the body of all
creatures. I am the beginning, the middle- and the end. I am the
all in all. I am, therefore, present as the indwelling Spirit in
all creatures.
He does not say man alone, but all creatures. In this way,
service is not something that merely brings us into living
relationship with our fellow beings or this ht,up.an world;but
service when rightly perceived and rightly done is something that
links us with the spiritual Reality which pervades this world and
dwells within all. Thus,
s~rvice becomes a process, a method and a means of linking
ourselves with God, linking ourselves with that I?ivine principle,
the Universal Reality. Done with this deeper awareness, service
becomes a process towards union.
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Anything that puts the human individual into conscious contact
with the Universal Soul; leads to union. It is the worship of God
immanent in man. It is the love of the Divine indwelling in all
living beings. It is serving God, through the poor, the sick
an
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Oh, how rewarding would be the work of one who really understood
the divinity of man!
The essential thing is renunciation of the ego. Without the
annihilation of the I-Ness none can pour out his whole heart in
working for others. The man of renunciation
sees all with an equal eye and devotes himself to the service of
all.
In the real sense we cannot be of true help to anyone, we can
only serve: serve the children of the Lord, serve the Lord Himself,
if you have the privilege. If the Lord grants that we can help any
of of His children, blessed we are that this privilege was given to
us when others had it not. And give up the idea that by ruling over
others we can do any good to them.
Bring help to the poor; and bring more help to the rich, for
they require it more than the poor. Bring help to the ignorant and
bring more help to the educated, for the vanities of the educated
of our time are tremendous! Thus bring help to all and leave the
rest unto the Lord, for in the words of the same Lord, "To work you
have the right and not the fruits thereof. Let not our work produce
results for us, and at the same time may we never be without work."
And thank God for giving us this world as a moral arena to help our
development, but never imagine we can change the world.
The path of selfless service which eventually leads to the
attainment of the infinite bliss of the soul, cannot be futile. As
a rule, .if any task is left incomplete, it is a waste as the
performer cannot realise its fruit; but this is not so with
selfless service because every action brings about and immediate
purification of the heart.
We do not lose anything in doing service, whether the service is
big or small, of great or small importance, it has its own
advantages and benefits. It prepares the mind for the reception of
the knowledge of the soul. The impressiQns of these good actions
are permanently imbedded in our subconscious mind. -The force of
such impressions will again propel us to do more good actions.
Sympathy, love and the spirit of service will be gradually
developed. Nothing is lost when the candle burns.
In agriculture we may manure and plough the field. Our efforts
may be rendered futile if there are no rains. This is not the case
with selfless service. There is no uncertainty here regarding the
results of any effort. Further, there is not the least chance of
getting any harm by practising this discipline. If the doctor is a.
little careless and administers medicine in over doses, some harm
may result. This is not so with selfless service. Even a little of
it in any form, will save us from the great fear of worldly
existence with its pains, and sorrows.
The wise, possessed of knowledge, have abandoned the fruit of
their actions, and freed from the fetters of birth, go to the place
which is beyond all evil
Bhagavat Gita
For our own and for the . benefit of others, we must keep busy
doing ~onstructive selfless service. For whoever would enter the
kingdom of God must try also to dG
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good for others. If we follow this pattern, we will feel the
mood-dispelling joy of knowing we are advancing, physically,
mentally and spiritually.
Happiness lies in making others happy and forsaking
self-interest to bring them help and joy. Giving service to others
is tremendously important to our own well-being, and a most
satisfying experience. Some people think only of their own family.
"Us four and no
more." Others think only of their ego~ "How am I going to be
happy?" But these are the very persons who do not become happy! To
live for one's self is only the source of all misery.
In being of spiritual, mental and material service to others, we
will find our own needs fulfilled. As we forget the ego in service
to others, we will find that, without seeking it, our own cup of
happiness will be full.
When we came into this world, we cried and everyone else smiled.
We should so live our life so that when we leave, everyone will
cry, but we will be smiling.
Worship and selfless service are necessary to take away the
veil, to lift off tlte bondage of illusion. They do not give
freedom; but lead to it. All the same, without effort on our own
part we cannot open our eyes and see what we are.
Merit and demerit do not affect that sevadar who has evenness or
equanimity of mind, for he rejoices not over the good fruit of the
one nor worries over the other. He has composure of mind in success
and failure. He" mind is resting in God all the while. Service
which is of a binding nature loses that nature when thus performed.
The self1ess sevadar has no attachment to the worldly objects. He
has purified his mind by the means of constant selfless service. He
has given up all idea of reward. He treats the body as an
instrument of God given to him for the fulfilment of God's purpose
and attributes all activities to the divine actor within.
He who works merely for God's sake becomes karmaless. Then even
acts like eating, walking, talking, breathing, sleeping are
transformed into divine activities. Work will then become worship.
This is the great secret. When all actions are performed for God's
sake in fulfilment of His purpose without desire for fruit, the
service becomes a channel to self-realisation and God-realisation.
Such a sevadar attains knowledge of the Truth, and ultimate
liberation.
God has given this marvellous machine of the human body to man
to enable him to go back to Him and thereby, for the attainment of
an immortal life. If man uses this body only for the satisfaction
of petty desires and small selfish ends, he becomes an object of
pity and condemnation and remains forever caught up in the wheel of
births and deaths:
He who has developed a pure, poised reason and who restshis
'mind in God is aware that all actions are performed by the divine
actor within. He is perfectly conscious that God really moves and
operates ~his body-machine. .
Huzur Charan Singh Ji sumineq up the whole principle of selflesf
service saying:-
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"We do seva with the body so that we may be able to eliminate
the ego from within ourselves. We f~l more humble when we are
working shoulder to shoulder with the masses. We work with our body
for the congregation or for our fellow human beings, we try to be
helpful and useful to them just to create humility within us. We do
seva of wealth because accumulating wealth usually leads us towards
vices, and attachment to wealth creates an inflated ego, a sense of
superiority or a sense of possession in us. If we use wealth for
the well-being of the masses, for the congregation, it is to our
advantage. If some people are filled with love and devotion for the
Father directly or indirectly by means of their wealth, that is to
their advantage.
We do seva of the mind, which means withdrawing our
consciousness to the eye centre with...the help of simran and
dhyan, and being steadfast on the principles of Sant Mat.
Any seva that anybody can do is most welcome, it will lead to
humility and the destruction of the ego. All necessary steps, and a
help for meditation, but the real seva is to attend to meditation,
to connect our soul with the Sound. These sevas of body, wealth and
mind are the means to that end. If we forget the end, the means
will only be to clean the vessel but not fill it. Real seva is to
clean the vessel and also to fill it. Some give emphasis only to
the means without worrying about the end, which is wrong. We clean
a cup or a utensil not to see it clean, but because we want to use
it- we want to put milk in it, we wa~t to put coffee or tea into
it. We want to use that clean vessel. That is the purpose of
cleaning the vessel. If every day we go on cleaning a vessel but
again it gets dusty, and again we clean it, then why clean it at
all? What is the use if we do not use it, we do not fill it?
So all sevas are the means to an end and the real end is the
seva of S urat S h abd Yoga, that is connecting our soul to the
Sound. That is the seva that is the most pleasing to the Lord and
to the Master. Meditation is the only worship that pleases the
Father."
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