Self-Realisation by Sri Swami Paramananda

[Guest guest]

3.

 

It will not be out of place to mention here an extract from the

writings of Sri Swami Sivanandaji on the Yoga of Service: " There is

no Yoga or Yajna greater than the service of poor and sick persons.

Service of poor and sick persons is service of the Lord. Service

alone is quite sufficient to get Mukti. When the heart is purified,

knowledge of the Self dawns by itself. To stop the breath by

Kumbhaka for two hours, to roll beads for twenty-four hours, to sit

in Samadhi for forty days in an underground cellar without food, by

cutting frinum linguae of the tongue and practising Khechari Mudra,

to stand on one leg in the hot sun, to do Trataka in the sun at

twelve O' clock, to chant Om Om Om in silent forests, to shed ocean

of tears while dooing Sankirtan, -- all are of no use unless one

combines burninglove for Him in all beings and fiery spirit of

service in serving Him in beings. Most of the aspirants are lacking

in these two qualifications. Hence they do not make any progress in

their meditation in solitude. They have not prepared the ground, the

Antahakarana by protracted practice of love and service in the

beginning. I have seen several Bhaktas with half a dozen of rosaries

on their necks and wrists and Malas in their hands frequently

muttering Hare Rama, Hare Krishna. They will never approach a sick

man while he is in a dying condition and give a drop of water or

milk and never ask: 'What do you want, brother? How can I serve

you? " Out of curiosity they will be looking at him from a distance.

Can you call all these people as true Bhaktas? Can there ba an iota

of benefit in their meditation and Bhajan when they do not know how

to serve a Jinda Narayana (living Narayana) in the form of sick

patient in a dying condition? They have not got the heart to serve

him a bit or even to speak a few kind encouraging words at a

critical juncture when his life is trembling in the balance. How can

they expect to have Darshan of the all-merciful Lord when they have

such a heart made of flint, when they have not got the eyes to see

the Lord in all beings and the spirit of service to serve Him in all

these forms? "