By Sant Kirpal Singh, excerpts from “The Teachings of Kirpal Singh”, Vol. II, page 65 – 70
Nishkam Seva or Selfless Service to all living creatures in sorrow and distress: If one limb of the body is in torture, the other limbs can have no rest. “Service before self” should therefore be our motto in life.
Service is considered an ornament to a beautiful person that adorns and elevates his or her soul to become a clean vessel for His grace. Service of any type granted at the holy feet of the Master is beneficial and should be cherished as whatever one does must bring its fruit in accordance with the law of karma.
The secret of selfless service is to deny a reward or recognition of any type and on the contrary consider one’s self as a humble instrument in the divine hands which are the sustainers and protectors of all. All credit goes to the Master, yet the media of love are blessed with the superb divine intoxication which is of supreme magnitude.
Selfless service for the holy cause of the Master should serve as a beacon light for inner progress. It should not be a source of bright or fake ego which definitely become stumbling impediments and hurdles on the path divine.
The climax of selfless service is the annihilation of the ego, considering oneself to be a humble servant of the Master, entrusted with certain duties to be carried out through him or her and deeming it to be a fortune of the highest order.
The little self or ego within has to be eliminated by dissolving it into service of humanity. For all are children of one God, no matter how and where situated, or in what inhibitions and limitations of one kind or another they might be living.
No one can be said to have been born for himself alone, for none can be an island unto himself. To serve the needy, sick and starving, is also a sideline, more effective than mere preaching. “Service before self” stirs and kindles embers of sympathy, kindness and love. These virtues have a great purifying effect, and clean a person of all his dross, and entitle him to the highest knowledge of Divinity.
Selfless service is a great reward in itself. The more one serves silently, uncontentiously, with love and humility in a smiling, eager, and spiritual mood, the more quickly does he earn the pleasure of the Master.
When you serve others, you are serving Him.
If you attend a sick person or stand by an afflicted one, you serve the divine cause. Certainly you do not and cannot take away the sickness or affliction but surely you can help in assuaging the sufferings by your kind words and deeds.
Every sweet word uttered or helping hand extended to those in distress goes a long way in purifying the mind and the body. A loving heart is a fit receptacle for the divine Grace, for God is Love.
Service done to sincere seekers of the divine Path is of far greater value than any other service.
Insofar as you can, try to do no injury to anyone. Be good to all and you will be at peace with yourself and be a radiating centre of loving grace around you. The prayers of others to whom you may have done good will help you.
The good thoughts of others will swarm around you with a benediction. The very idea of doing good will first affect you and will draw all good vibrations from the surrounding atmosphere.
A true man is one who is truthful, leads a life of continence, radiates love to all others for the sake of God residing in them, and knows giving, giving, and always giving. We never lose anything when we give.
When you give love, do you find that you have less love in your heart? On the contrary, you are conscious of an ever greater power of loving, but no one can be convinced of these things till he has applied them in a practical way.
An ounce of practice is worth tons of theories.
So by sharing with others, our self expands. At the very moment of giving you feel a little joy within. That is the compensation you get, direct.
But whenever you give, don’t give with the hope that you will have a return. Give for the sake of sharing with others. Sometimes we give for the reward that we will get in heaven. This is not the way; selfless giving is what is needed.
Understand, the meaning and the purpose of knowledge in one single thought is service to all creation: men, beasts, and birds, etc.
The meaning of true life is service and sacrifice. So long as you want, first and foremost, to be blessed yourselves and you expect others to minister to you, you will remain strangers to the way of spirituality.
When you will wish others to be blessed, you will begin to speed on your way back to God.
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