1 Service
A small task performed in sincerity is worth far more than a great task performed with motivation for oneself.
Life is made to give and not to take, for it is in giving that we really receive. As we receive the true knowledge which is inherent within us, we use that knowledge wisely in service.
Everything serves in life; everything except the cunning mind that devises things for its personal glory. What glory does the flower take upon itself in giving its beauty and fragrance to the world? The wind through the trees whistles its beautiful symphonies. The sun shines, the moon reflects light. Such service! The tides of the ocean keep on flowing to and fro, the rains come, food grows. Look at the service nature provides for us all the time.
When you dedicate your life to a cause that fits in with a plan not created by you yourself, but by a power higher than you, then you could safely say, “I have faith in that power, and the mission I have to accomplish will be accomplished.”
As you give service to humanity what is happening is that you serve yourself. This service, or the desire or yearning for service, that is within you, is not being objectified for personal gain or ego building.
All service performed in total humility will rebound back to you tenfold, because there is a sincerity of purpose.
Divinity is there as all the scriptures tell you; it is nearer than you think. It’s closer than your very own breath. It’s there: just open up and let it flow. Teaching and serving are two of the ways which quicken the opening up, and when the blood races and the heart is quickened, love pours in us and through us. When you water a garden remember that even before the garden receives the water, the hose is cleaned first. So when we teach or serve in this purity, that divine energy flows through us first before it goes to the student.
To the true humble person there is no praise nor blame: he keeps on working. For nothing can inflate him or deflate him. He rises above it all and nothing can distract him from the path of service.
What is the motivation? Is it self-aggrandizement, or is it the expression of ego: “I must be held on a pedestal because I am doing this.” That kind of service has no value for the person himself. You will always find that people who try to serve others in this manner have many kinds of sufferings and imbalances. The reason is that they are not thinking of others, but of themselves. That kind of service is not humility, it is vanity.
If service is performed as an offering, then praise or blame will not affect you at all. Because once you find that inner joy of serving, you become like the lotus flower growing amidst all the mud and yet untouched, forever remaining pure. Your very offering is joy, and joy is the essence of purity.
People fail to serve because it is not natural to them. Because of karmic values, wrong thinking, or wrong action they have lost the art of service. Service has not mechanics, it must be allowed to flow. If we apply a mechanism or a pattern, service becomes a drudgery and service ceases to be service, for service is an art. All offering is an art.
The offering of service does not mean martyrdom. Martyrdom is a kind of imbalance. Martyrdom generally originates from a fanaticism, a purpose which is conjured up by the mind. That is not service or offering. The martyrdom of great saints was for an entirely different reason altogether, where through sacrificing a life many thousands of others were benefited. For them, the sacrificing of life, or martyrdom, had an altruistic purpose and therefore was an offering. But in daily life, some people try to become self-suffering martyrs, which is not necessary at all.
Service is an art, and art is freedom. So when we serve in the spirit of an offering, it is a freedom that is expressed from deep within ourselves. Service does not bind, it frees a person. That kind of freedom has its own reward. It requires no payment. It has its own reward in the self-satisfaction that is gained in the whole repatterning, remolding and restyling of our lives. This is the great benefit. This repatterning, remolding, and restyling can only lead to greater happiness.
Service is performed by everything in nature. Observe a flower, how well it serves us in its beauty and its fragrance. Observe the rain, how well it serves us in giving the water for things to grow. Observe the sun, how beautifully it serves us, giving heat and light. So, what constitutes service is to express our real nature. And our real nature is nothing else but an offering. This very offering is the real basis of service.
When we serve for the sake of serving, when it is motiveless and egoless, then service has value and is evolutionary. It is never stagnating—if it stops growing it dies. Genuine service, like the life of the flower, consists of its flowering, for that flowering is life and life is never stagnant. It forever flows all the time, because it is serving without motive.
Self-forgetfulness does not mean to become unaware of oneself, because it is only in developing a greater awareness of oneself that one really forgets oneself. What we mean by self-forgetfulness is forgetting our own personal needs, our own personal wants, and our own personal selfishness. We come to think not of ourselves only, but also of others. It is only when we know ourselves that we can be aware of the needs of others, and in the awareness of the needs of others, a kind of forgetfulness takes place. This is the kind of forgetfulness that brings about the true awareness of ourselves. True awareness of ourselves means that we accept and recognize the real Self within.
The desire which is entirely for serving humanity does not form attachment, and therefore it creates no impressions or samskaras in the mind, because that desire is without motivation. All desire for service is without ego.
By serving humanity, we are flowing with the laws of nature. When we flow with the laws of nature, all our needs are automatically and spontaneously fulfilled, without our knowing it.
The secret lies in trying to gain integration within oneself, where service to humanity becomes automatic and spontaneous, not schemed.
When one accepts oneself at one’s true value, then service is performed for the sake of service; and that service is just another name for devotion.
The service of mankind is the service of God. It is the internal God that is externalized in His varied names and forms.
Non-attachment leads one to perform a greater service because we realize that, “I am not the doer. I am the instrument.” It is not the pen that writes—the writer writes with the pen.
If we remember that we are forever bowing to the Divinity in another, then service assumes its truest form. Service is the offering. How beautiful to be able to offer oneself in bowing to and becoming the other.
True service is always offering without motive. One who truly knows how to serve, works for the sake of work without wondering about or anticipating the result thereof. That is the karma yogi.
Service is a spontaneous offering to Divinity. And everything else is taken care of by itself.
The service of Divinity is the service of mankind—in his physical form, in his mental form, in his spiritual form. See that Divinity even in the leper, even in the cripple, even in the blind. It is easier to see it in your beloved. Start there!
Service
A small task performed in sincerity is worth far more than a great task performed with motivation for oneself.
Life is made to give and not to take, for it is in giving that we really receive. As we receive the true knowledge which is inherent within us, we use that knowledge wisely in service.
Everything serves in life; everything except the cunning mind that devises things for its personal glory. What glory does the flower take upon itself in giving its beauty and fragrance to the world? The wind through the trees whistles its beautiful symphonies. The sun shines, the moon reflects light. Such service! The tides of the ocean keep on flowing to and fro, the rains come, food grows. Look at the service nature provides for us all the time.
When you dedicate your life to a cause that fits in with a plan not created by you yourself, but by a power higher than you, then you could safely say, “I have faith in that power, and the mission I have to accomplish will be accomplished.”
As you give service to humanity what is happening is that you serve yourself. This service, or the desire or yearning for service, that is within you, is not being objectified for personal gain or ego building.
All service performed in total humility will rebound back to you tenfold, because there is a sincerity of purpose.
Divinity is there as all the scriptures tell you; it is nearer than you think. It’s closer than your very own breath. It’s there: just open up and let it flow. Teaching and serving are two of the ways which quicken the opening up, and when the blood races and the heart is quickened, love pours in us and through us. When you water a garden remember that even before the garden receives the water, the hose is cleaned first. So when we teach or serve in this purity, that divine energy flows through us first before it goes to the student.
To the true humble person there is no praise nor blame: he keeps on working. For nothing can inflate him or deflate him. He rises above it all and nothing can distract him from the path of service.
What is the motivation? Is it self-aggrandizement, or is it the expression of ego: “I must be held on a pedestal because I am doing this.” That kind of service has no value for the person himself. You will always find that people who try to serve others in this manner have many kinds of sufferings and imbalances. The reason is that they are not thinking of others, but of themselves. That kind of service is not humility, it is vanity.
If service is performed as an offering, then praise or blame will not affect you at all. Because once you find that inner joy of serving, you become like the lotus flower growing amidst all the mud and yet untouched, forever remaining pure. Your very offering is joy, and joy is the essence of purity.
People fail to serve because it is not natural to them. Because of karmic values, wrong thinking, or wrong action they have lost the art of service. Service has not mechanics, it must be allowed to flow. If we apply a mechanism or a pattern, service becomes a drudgery and service ceases to be service, for service is an art. All offering is an art.
The offering of service does not mean martyrdom. Martyrdom is a kind of imbalance. Martyrdom generally originates from a fanaticism, a purpose which is conjured up by the mind. That is not service or offering. The martyrdom of great saints was for an entirely different reason altogether, where through sacrificing a life many thousands of others were benefited. For them, the sacrificing of life, or martyrdom, had an altruistic purpose and therefore was an offering. But in daily life, some people try to become self-suffering martyrs, which is not necessary at all.
Service is an art, and art is freedom. So when we serve in the spirit of an offering, it is a freedom that is expressed from deep within ourselves. Service does not bind, it frees a person. That kind of freedom has its own reward. It requires no payment. It has its own reward in the self-satisfaction that is gained in the whole repatterning, remolding and restyling of our lives. This is the great benefit. This repatterning, remolding, and restyling can only lead to greater happiness.
Service is performed by everything in nature. Observe a flower, how well it serves us in its beauty and its fragrance. Observe the rain, how well it serves us in giving the water for things to grow. Observe the sun, how beautifully it serves us, giving heat and light. So, what constitutes service is to express our real nature. And our real nature is nothing else but an offering. This very offering is the real basis of service.
When we serve for the sake of serving, when it is motiveless and egoless, then service has value and is evolutionary. It is never stagnating—if it stops growing it dies. Genuine service, like the life of the flower, consists of its flowering, for that flowering is life and life is never stagnant. It forever flows all the time, because it is serving without motive.
Self-forgetfulness does not mean to become unaware of oneself, because it is only in developing a greater awareness of oneself that one really forgets oneself. What we mean by self-forgetfulness is forgetting our own personal needs, our own personal wants, and our own personal selfishness. We come to think not of ourselves only, but also of others. It is only when we know ourselves that we can be aware of the needs of others, and in the awareness of the needs of others, a kind of forgetfulness takes place. This is the kind of forgetfulness that brings about the true awareness of ourselves. True awareness of ourselves means that we accept and recognize the real Self within.
The desire which is entirely for serving humanity does not form attachment, and therefore it creates no impressions or samskaras in the mind, because that desire is without motivation. All desire for service is without ego.
By serving humanity, we are flowing with the laws of nature. When we flow with the laws of nature, all our needs are automatically and spontaneously fulfilled, without our knowing it.
The secret lies in trying to gain integration within oneself, where service to humanity becomes automatic and spontaneous, not schemed.
When one accepts oneself at one’s true value, then service is performed for the sake of service; and that service is just another name for devotion.
The service of mankind is the service of God. It is the internal God that is externalized in His varied names and forms.
Non-attachment leads one to perform a greater service because we realize that, “I am not the doer. I am the instrument.” It is not the pen that writes—the writer writes with the pen.
If we remember that we are forever bowing to the Divinity in another, then service assumes its truest form. Service is the offering. How beautiful to be able to offer oneself in bowing to and becoming the other.
True service is always offering without motive. One who truly knows how to serve, works for the sake of work without wondering about or anticipating the result thereof. That is the karma yogi.
Service is a spontaneous offering to Divinity. And everything else is taken care of by itself.
The service of Divinity is the service of mankind—in his physical form, in his mental form, in his spiritual form. See that Divinity even in the leper, even in the cripple, even in the blind. It is easier to see it in your beloved. Start there
This is a collection of quotes from satsangs given by Gururaj Ananda Yogi