THE DEVOTION TO SERVICE
----- By HARISH KUMAR HITESHI
Man can not live by and for himself alone. He has to widen the circle of his friendship and contacts to get achieve what he wants in life.
But it is quite clear that while there are countless men in this world who desire to have wealth, power and co-operation of others for their own sake; but there are hardly a few who wish to serve others without any selfish motive.
The spirit of serving others sprouts only when we attain the stare of self purification and control over our mind.
We can not truly serve if we cannot exercise control over our mind and senses. We will find ourselves weak and unable to serve; till we will waste our energy in sensual pleasures and enjoyment or in anger, jealousy, aversion, reproach and talk of vain controversies.
One who devoted to service will have to be egoless, enduring, benevolent and laborious because the service will not be entirely pure and selfless without these treasures.
We can not be selfless or dispassionate and forbearing unless the spirit of service is filled with pure love. The force of renunciation, benevolence and endurance is found in true love only. We must not forget that pride, lust, anger, attachment to pleasures, idleness and imprudence are the defects that constitute the cause of breaking the devotion towards the service.
We should also keep in mind that we can serve others in a good way in accordance with our special qualities, whether we possesses special wisdom, enormous wealth, enough of man power or excessive physical strength, we can serve the people with some extra-ordinary or some special force only. If we don't find any strength or power within us; keep only so much in mind that we should not give trouble to any body for our pleasure and comfort.
If we can do nothing else, we can still keep on doing service through our sweet voice, humble words in spirit of pure simplicity, complete or indivisible propitiousness or delight and thought of love.
When we will understand it clearly that we must do service to others for our own welfare and for the atonement of sins and offences committed due to selfishness, or forgetting rid of the indebtedness of service taken or accepted from others, we will not fall a victim to pride in time of doing service to others.
We should become the means to satisfy the desires of others through love and fairness or justness instead of utilizing the services of others for the same.
The means to our happiness should be service and help only. We should not desire honour and objects of pleasure from others because such a desire keeps us in bondage of objects and individuals.
We might have understood by now that he can do service to others, who is powerful and independent or free. We shall therefore have to get our self free from all bonds in order to loosen the bondages of others.
We shall have lessened our desires, cravings and wants for getting power and freedom. Smt. Sonia Gandhi is a perfect example of this as she showed to whole of the world that she really works for the people and not for the thorn or chair.
Man is bound in the servitude of persons and objects due to excessiveness of desires, passions and attachment to pleasures and honour, a man in the bondage of greed and infatuation look prudence and perception of truth.
We can become pure by the renouncement of greed, infatuation and pride and the purity of mind makes us intellectually more strong and determined.
While doing service to others, we should keep in mind the right of others and try to fulfill our duty, do not allow pride, greed ,anger, enjoyment of pleasures and idleness to enter within us and we should always be attentive to uproot the defects and increase the good qualities.
The more we get the opportunity to serve, the more perfect will there be the harmony of humility, simplicity, generosity, tolerance and affection. If it is not so, we should search out the defects in the service and try to remove it.
Service constitutes the proper utilization of power and wealth. If we serve others with our body physically, it will be hardworking and laborious, and our physical health will be fruitful. Service done through wealth, will increase our generosity, our wealth will be properly utilized.
If we serve others with our learning it will increase our ability and knowledge and the learning will be successful. If we render services with a sweet voice, we will be enriched with modesty and our words will be fruitful .If we exercise our rights properly in doing service to others, we will be possessed of more and more greatness and our power will be utilized in good way and proper direction.
If we serve somebody by loving and giving him due honour, our life will be successful.
The service will reach perfection only when we do not desire wealth, enjoyment of pleasures and honour in exchange for it. If we practiced it for some time, ultimately a stage will come when, we feel to be served by serving the others and we feel a spirit of satisfaction which cannot be expressed in words.
At that time we approach towards the complete devotion to the service and that moment the service of human being is not just remain the service of the human being alone, but it becomes a meditation towards the supreme power of the world and aims of all the religions and missions of the world will be fulfilled and they get the right direction; where the devotion to the service coincide with the meditation towards God.
