Selfless Service

Selfless service is not to be done only for the sake of others or only to please others. It should be done because it liberates you, because it makes you happy. It’s a great joy – the highest of all joy in the world. Selfless service is more helpful to the person who performs it than to the person for whom it is performed. Not all service is selfless. People are charitable for three reasons. Some people give to charity so their name will be known all over and thus their business will flourish because others will think that they are very good – not only rich but generous. Other people give, thinking that if they give now, they will receive in the next world. But very few people give with the knowledge that holding onto anything only creates problems and so they should offer all they have in order to be free. This third kind of charity gives freedom, but the first two only create more bondage. The actions are the same, but the motivations are different.

If you do an action that is not helpful to you, it will give your fruits that are not helpful. When you understand this, you will realize that selfless service is the highest of all worships. No prayer can be compared with such action. Yet merely realizing this truth intellectually is not enough. Many people understand this truth, yet they do not worship through selfless service. We must practice this truth in our lives. In doing this, we should constantly be aware of the fact that other human beings are like shrines, and that the inner dweller in each of us in God. Thus by serving others we serve God. When we understand this, then instead of building temples, churches and mosques, we can use our time, energy and money to help others in practical ways. Selfless service is the finest of all prayers.

Swami Rama

(Excerpts from Inspired Thoughts of Swami Rama)