One byproduct of service is personal satisfaction accompanied by increased happiness at having fulfilled part of your Vikarma—your life’s allotted task.
Rather than bemoaning the state of the world or even of your neighborhood, why not direct your attention and energy to “making the world a better place” or “being the best you can be,” or allowing—pursuing, in fact—the next avenue of service awaiting you?
Public service rarely makes headlines and never is the lead story on cable news…never!
In the light recesses of our minds, though, ‘We are one’ takes on the tone of ‘This is what life was meant to be. This is why I’m here.’
I may still have questions, doubts or even moments of despair. But followers of Fivefold Path from the top echelon were told to “have no fear, no anxiety, no worry.” This, of course, is not accomplished overnight. Yet, even though it may have taken longer than one day for Rome to be built, laying some bricks certainly is preferable to worrying about where your next trowel is coming from.
Service is the epitome of win/win, a non-zero sum game in which others can be served at no loss to ourselves.
In fact, server and servee benefit and you have made the world a better place. I can feed my sister’s soul and still take time out for breakfast. I can feed my own soul while simultaneously turning the process into a full-on buffet for the masses.
We may have different styles, different personalities, different methods of acting, but the bottom feeder fish in my fish tank is doing what it was designed for. My service may take a different form than yours.
But let us start with ATTITUDE. Do I want to serve? Am I in touch with feelings of empathy and compassion for those less fortunate than I? Am I able to go beyond my comfort zone, if necessary, to help a situation?
Instead of feeling less able and less powerful, can I see the truth in what Shree Vasant wrote in 1976: “On the day we are born as humans, we inherit all that is required to be happy, but we have forgotten this inheritance. It is like the son of a millionaire begging for a dollar, not knowing his father.”
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if there were a way to help us access or increase such feeling and perspective?
And wouldn’t it be great if we could access this ‘On Demand’–like HBO shows.
Agnihotra copper pyramid fire can be accessed twice a day everyday–not ‘On Demand,’ but at each and every sunrise and sunset. Because of its benefits to MIND, our feelings, thoughts and intentions are much more in the spirit of service. I experienced this during a group psychotherapy session the first time I was in the room with Agnihotra. I noticed my self-indulgence, accompanied by self- concern, took a back seat to my wanting to help the others in the group. That was 47 years ago and unlike many phenomena in life, Agnihotra does not ‘get old.’
“Sharing is caring,” is a catchphrase my granddaughters taught me some years ago. I think it had to do at that moment with some food at dinner. Through a confluence of planetary situations—including wars, pandemics, and environmental concerns (big ones)— humankind finds itself, if not at a crossroads, at least at a time of monumental choices.
We are not quite at the point of no return—though Climate Change may be closing in on that—but to deny the imposing situations would be counter-productive.
So ‘What Others?’ (the answer Ramana Maharshi gave when asked how to balance serving OTHERS with personal needs), takes on serious measures when weighed against today’s global truths.
If others suffer on mass scales, is it not my job to assist if possible? Yes, ultimate outcomes are in the hands of a power greater than I. I can just make the effort.
After that, “NOT MY WILL BUT THY WILL BE DONE,”—IDAM NA MAMA.