Amma's Amritavani

[Guest guest]

Namaste All, Amma's latest amritavani..........ONS...Tony.

 

 

Satsang Amma's Words Selfless Service

 

Question: Amma, why do you give so much importance to selfless

service?

 

Amma: Meditation and studying the scriptures are like two sides of a

coin. The engraving on that coin is selfless service, and that is

what gives it its real value.

 

A student who has just completed his or her medical studies is still

not competent enough to treat any patients. The student first has to

work as an intern for a period of time. It is the experience gained

during internship that gives the new doctor the necessary practical

knowledge, and which allows him or her to apply what was studied. It

is not enough if what you have studied remains nothing more than

theoretical knowledge at the level of the intellect: you have to

translate it into action.

 

However much you study the scriptures, whatever level of spiritual

learning you may have, you still have to train the mind to overcome

trying situations; and the best way to do this is through karma

yoga. It is when you go out into the world and work in various

situations that you can see how your mind reacts to different

circumstances. We cannot know ourselves unless we have been forced

to face certain situations. When the corresponding circumstances

arise, your vasanas will raise their hoods. As we see the vasanas

rise, one after the other, we can eliminate them. Selfless service

strengthens the mind so that you can overcome any situation in life.

 

Our compassion and acts of selflessness take us to the deeper

truths. Through selfless action we can purify the ego that conceals

the Self. Detached, selfless action leads to liberation. Such action

is not just work; it is karma yoga. Lord Krishna said to Arjuna, "In

all the three worlds, there is nothing I need to do, nothing for me

to attain, and yet I am ever engaged in action."

 

The Lord's actions were dispassionate and selfless. This is the path

that Krishna advised Arjuna to follow.

 

A worshipper needs a smooth, round stone to use for a special

religious ritual. Wandering in search of such a stone, the seeker

finally climbs a mountain, hoping to find such a stone at the top.

Finally reaching the mountaintop and discovering with a sense of

great disappointment that there are no smooth, beautiful stones up

there, the frustrated seeker grabs a rock and hurls it down the

mountainside. After climbing back down and reaching the foot of the

mountain, the seeker discovers a beautiful, smooth, perfectly

shaped, round stone—just the type sought all along—lying on the

ground! The seeker then realizes it is the same stone that was

thrown down the mountain! On the way down it struck against other

rough stones, and in this way it lost all its sharp edges. Had it

remained on the mountaintop, it would never have been polished and

transformed.

 

Similarly, when we move from the mountain top—that is, from the

plane of the ego down to the plane of humility—the rough, sharp

edges of our ego are removed, and the mind assumes an attitude of

worship.

 

If we persist in cultivating the ego, nothing will be gained. By

being humble, we gain everything.

 

A selfless, desireless attitude helps us to remove the ego. That is

why selfless actions are given so much importance.

 

As long as the ego exists, the guidance of a spiritual master is

needed. To a disciple who lives in accordance with the master's

will, each action is a way to remove the sharp edges of the ego.

There is no selfishness in the satguru. The master lives for the

disciple. The disciple should take total refuge in the master. Just

as a patient lies down without resisting and allows the doctor to

operate on him or her, the disciple should surrender completely to

the master's will.

 

Amma isn't saying that action alone is what leads us to the goal.

Karma [action], jnana [knowledge], and bhakti [devotion] are all

essential. If the two wings of a bird are devotion and action,

knowledge is its tail. Only with the help of all three can the bird

soar into the heights.

 

To be able to confront different situations in life with presence of

mind and mental poise, we first have to train the mind. The field of

action provides the ideal ground for this training. What the seeker

does when his or her mind is intent on the goal is not just work; it

is karma yoga—spiritual practice. For the spiritual aspirant, every

action he or she performs is spiritual practice; as a disciple it is

his or her way of serving the master [guru seva]; as a devotee it is

a form of worship. The master is not a person—the master is an

embodiment of all divine qualities. The master is the Light. The

master is like musk which at one moment has form and fragrance, and

in the next evaporates. The master has a form—and yet, is formless.

The master is beyond all forms and attributes. The master lives for

the disciple, never for him- or herself. Every action the disciple

performs with this understanding is karma yoga, leading to

liberation. By serving a master in this way, the disciple attains

the state of supreme consciousness.

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