Swami Sivananda always emphasized that serving others is the stepping-stone to spiritual life. Nishkama seva, selfless service, is necessary for self-transformation, to clean the rajo and tamo gunas of the mind. It is like detergent. Selfless service doesn’t just mean work; you should have a feeling for it in your heart. People are so busy running after money that there is no time for selfless service. The nuclear family is the beginning and end of all selfishness. No one worries about anyone else’s family. You should not earn money just to indulge your own children, but to take care of others as well. In India, if you visit forty houses, you will come across scarcity, suffering, poverty, darkness and dejection. For millions and millions of people the state of affairs is abysmal. They have no shelter, no food, no cooking facilities, no toilet, not even water to drink.
What have you done for such people? You are wasting your time if you just wrestle with your own mind twenty-four hours a day. To find peace of mind you must serve the poor, destitute, disabled, sick, hungry and helpless. You don’t have to go to a temple or church. You don’t have to become a sannyasin or yogi. You don’t have to practise asana, pranayama or meditation. Just do whatever you can with your mind, knowledge, influence and strength to help the underprivileged. God loves those who love Him in this form.
Mother Teresa was so blessed by God that she could serve the most neglected, condemned and despised members of society till her last breath. She picked up those people whom nobody even dared to look at. But nobody wants to spend money on the underprivileged. Nobody wants to help out a poor boy or get a poor girl married. You are ready to spend on yourself, but if you are not prepared to spend one paise on a poor person, do not talk about God!
Selfishness must be renounced in order to attain God’s grace. Start working for the benefit of the deprived. You owe them a share of your time and assets. Most leaders talk a lot, but do nothing to uplift the needy sectors of society. However, those who are dedicated to spiritual life can do something.
Include everybody within your own heart. Have the same intensity of feeling and compassion for others as you have for our own self.
I have practised every form of yoga, but ultimately I found that when I began to think about others, God began to think about me. The mandate I received from God to care for my neighbours led me to ask myself how the world could benefit from my spiritual gain and self-realization. A metamorphosis took place in my personality, way of life and destiny. I changed my teaching and my way of thinking. Then God began to show me the path. Now helping others has become my obsession.
My only teaching now is to practise satkarma, selfless, positive actions. Do good acts and earn divine merit. When you serve your husband, wife and children, it is just karma. If you feed the hungry or help a poor person, that is selfless or divine karma. Satkarma is any act that helps somebody physically, mentally, spiritually, monetarily or in any other way, or all ways.
Serve mankind, those who are sick, who are poor, who are bad, who want spiritual life, who want your love. Your dharma is to work for others. Until your heart is open to the suffering and misery of others, your sadhana will be in vain. Selfless service acts as a detergent and washes away the dirt of karma. In order to experience spiritual life while living in the world, enlarge the scope of your sadhana from asana, pranayama, japa and meditation to include serving those who are in need.
Does a river drink its own water? Do fruits and vegetables eat themselves? No, they give it all to us. This is paramartha, the highest service. Serving others selfishly, doing good works for others without any ulterior motive will become the social philosophy of the twenty-first century. It will be an age in which everyone will have a thought for others. To think about others is to think about God. To worship others is to worship God. This is the lesson those who are travelling on the spiritual path have to learn. Selfless service is a complete spiritual sadhana. It is the simplest and easiest path to God.