The Yoga of Selfless Service

When the Lord comes in our midst there are two important aspects to His descent that stand out among others. One is His powerful and enchanting presence, which has the potency to transform and raise all who comes to Him. Everyone who comes to Him benefits, some considerably and few immensely, depending on one’s receptiveness. The other aspect is the message that He brings, and this has some unique benefits of its own. Adherence to the message has the power to manifest the Lord in one’s life. A tryst with Divinity could be a blessing for good acts of the past, but it is in loyalty to the message that one completely benefits and finds redemption, and also a means to express one’s devotion to the Lord. So it is indeed of paramount importance for each of us to dwell on His message.

As part of the 90th Birthday offerings, we will begin every month from the present one with excerpts of a discourse from the Golden Jubilee Birthday Celebrations of Bhagawan. During the grand 50th Birthday celebrations, Baba gave discourses specific to the Seva wing and the Bal Vikas wing, apart from discourses revealing His own message and mission. Let us listen and re-listen, read and re-read even as we imbibe the essence contained.

In man’s life, it is only when there is a relationship, connection and communion between different components of the community that life will be happy and pleasurable. Man cannot live in isolation from society even for one moment. So to take notice of the problems of the society and through the efforts to resolve that if we seek peace and perform our Sadhana, that would be the best and sacred path to tread. Man’s good and bad are inextricably tied up with the society. It is only when the society is good that man can also be good and do good to his environment, but if the society is bad, man can become bad and can do harm to his environment. So, the proper path is for us to find out the ways in which we can do service to the society and through service to the society, we should acquire the right path of action for ourselves.

In the Gita, Arjun laments how the mind is ever flickering and agitating, strong and stubborn, and controlling which is more difficult than controlling the wind. Lord Krishna acknowledges the same and replies, “Abhyasena tu Kaunteya vairagyena ca grihyate” (But oh Kaunteya, it is possible through detachment and practice.) What we hear from Swami in this discourse is a clear elaboration of the same message. That this herculean task of controlling the mind can be achieved through Vairagya or detachment that comes from selfless service, and Abhyasa or constant practice of sublimating our thoughts and using them to solve the problems in society. Clearly Seva is beneficial as much for the giver as it is for the receiver, if not more. In fact Bhagawan goes on to declare that Sadhana without service to the society we live in is futile.

Path to no goal of substance will be without tribulations. Shouldn’t we expect them when the goal is the ultimate one of self-realisation and the path is that of service? But Bhagawan explains with what attitude we must take on these tests, and what can we do to prepare ourselves to face these challenges.