Serving Without Self

Our entire personality runs on fear and greed. Whatever we do, we need to be motivated either by fear or greed! For example, to do our work at the office, we need to be pushed by either the desire to earn money, or the fear of losing our job. Of course, it is usually a mix of both! We are so used to moving our body only with either a reward or a punishment in mind, we have forgotten how to do anything for the pure joy of it. As long as we are swinging between fear and greed, we can never enjoy anything for its own sake. We think, how is it possible to work without any motivation? Understand that when we go beyond fear and greed, we start working out of inspiration! Instead of motivation, we run on inspiration. We start acting from our being. Selfless service does not mean making some big sacrifices, it only means serving without self, without the goal-oriented ego getting involved. When this happens, not only will we become more productive, your work becomes effortless and the joy of the work becomes its own reward.

Instructions

It is difficult to suddenly get into the mood of serving selflessly, especially at the office! So just try this simple technique in the beginning. Just for half an hour a day, offer your services in some place where you don’t get any monetary benefit or name and fame. Choose a place where you cannot show your arrogance and ego, where you don’t have to establish yourself as a great person. Do some small social service without any expectation whatsoever. Especially, do something where your body is involved – do physical labour. It is very easy to give money to a charitable cause, fairly easy to offer intellectual support – but very difficult to bend the body! And don’t have the idea that you are doing some great social service!
Actually you are doing only a personal service – to yourself. This is your sadhana – your spiritual practice. Till now, your attention has always been on the object of the work – the goal, the end result. Now, shift your attention to the experience itself. Take responsibility for the work you are doing – but not a responsibility based on fear or greed. Do whatever you are doing simply because it has to be done. When you work like this, you will find that you can take up much more responsibility without feeling the load. Understand, the work itself is never the load, it is always your expectations and fears which make it a load!
When you work like this, suddenly you will see that your body and mind can run without the fuel of fear and greed. It is a tremendous liberation! A new centre will be awakened in you. A new energy will start radiating in you. Just try this for 10 days and you will experience an expansion like you have never imagined. Once you experience the joy of serving without self, naturally it becomes your way of life.