Serving Others, an Expression or a Transaction

I often hear people especially in religions and spirituality talking about serving other people and I find myself thinking about it. Then I question myself, serving whom? A particular society or community? Who are these people who need to be served and why? Why am I concerned about serving others? If I am really concerned about them, are they still "others?" YES, read the previous line again. 

This I feel is the whole point of doing selfless action for others(Karma Yoga). "Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;" When the service is performed because, on a deeper level, somewhere, you have realized that they are no "others" but your own people(I would restrain myself from using the term your own "Self" since I'm not enlightened yet;). Then whatever you do for them becomes sacred. When their joy becomes your joy, which further means that when you have crossed the boundaries of your worldly identities, then the service that you perform for others is Karma Yoga.

But because of the concepts of virtue and sins, we unconsciously start to expect something in return for the good that we do. There is an expectation from others or from God, there is an expectation even to get noticed or praised, then that becomes a transaction. Then there is no element of spirituality left in that action. It has just become a mere worldly action. 

I believe that the thoughts of the welfare of all must arise from within. If you have imposed such good thoughts on yourself just because of your religions or masters, then at an unconscious level there will always remain a resistance for such knowledge and it is going to find its expression in this or that way. It is only by your own realization that it can become your nature. Of course, this is a very powerful way that the master can crack up the shell of the identities, but the identities must be transcended. A realization must happen and it eventually will. 

But since I am a fierce Yogi who always insists on keeping the idea of the final goal in mind while doing anything, I would say why not doing the service consciously? It becomes spiritual when you do it consciously when you bring a certain sense of awareness to it. When you start to observe your mind while you do it and why you do it. When you acknowledge even the mud of the mind covering the sacredness of such action and just don't resist it but let it be, then it would start to get washed away. 

Now you see even extremist organizations are volunteering. They are also serving. But what is the reason for their service? Have they transcended their identities or they are reimposing their identities with all this action? The whole difference lies in the state of awareness. They are doing it unconsciously, just because a scripture or a master told them to. That is why they even start to commit the biggest of the biggest crimes on the name of serving others. 

If you are full of Joy you would naturally overflow with it. But if you are miserable and to escape from your misery you decide to do serve, your misery is going to find expression even in your actions and this is surely gonna make them impure. 

That is why I am very particular about the state of awareness in which the action is being performed. When you reach a certain level of awareness all your actions would naturally start to include the welfare of All. This is going to happen naturally. You wouldn't need anyone else to remind this to you, again and again, it would be manifested in your own self. And this is the goal. This is the way too. But for this, you have to pay attention to your own state of mind first and be very clear about it. 

Someone told me, "Live for others." and I thought within myself, why? Are others incapable of living for themselves? I choose to live for myself first, I choose to make myself Joyous enough so that I would overflow with it and it would start to include others as well. Then there is no limit to it. But it must start with me and expand to limitless possibilities.

At last, I would end this conversation with a quote from my guiding light, Swami Vivekananda, "First, let us be Gods, and then help others to be Gods. "Be and make." Let this be our motto. Say not man is a sinner. Tell him that he is a God. Even if there were a devil, it would be our duty to remember God always, and not the devil."