Serving others voluntarily, by offering physical help, emotional support or spiritual guidance is laudable, but there is a difference between serving and serving with the right awareness. If we are focused entirely on the effort – planning, arranging and doing things – we may achieve good results, yet our state of mind might not be the best.
We may be very well-informed, intelligent and understand how to use our knowledge, but fall short of our goals because of not paying attention to the kind of awareness we have the whole day.
Having an elevated awareness means remembering that we are an instrument to bring benefit to others. It is a blessing to have the ability and opportunity to serve. Service brings satisfaction, adds value to life, and earns us the goodwill of those we serve.
But when we forget that we are God’s instruments to assist our fellow humans, we lose sight of the lofty nature of our work and get caught it its mundanity. It may soon start feeling like drudgery, and instead of a sense of fulfilment, we may experience stress. Or service ceases to be a calling and becomes a career, or a means to showcase one’s inflated sense of self-worth – “I serve more than others”, “No one can do it better than me”.
Self-respect not balanced by humility can change into arrogance. When our efforts yield success, happiness is natural, but it helps to check our awareness at that time: “I did it”, or the correct awareness that “It is a fortune to have been a part of this”. Service accompanied by the right awareness creates a balance of humility and self-respect, which facilitates success not just in the task but also in our relationships with colleagues and those we serve.
The consciousness of being an instrument also allows us to fulfil multiple responsibilities without stress, as there is passion for the task, but no attachment, which keeps us light. In addition, we are saved from hubris. Success does not lead to the conviction that one has achieved perfection, and we do not rest on our laurels. Instead, the joy of attainment, balanced by the zeal to go further, keeps us progressing.
B.K. Atam Prakash is a Rajyoga teacher at the Brahma Kumaris headquarters in Mount Abu, Rajasthan.