Selfless service is God

The devotees who were present there said it was one of his most powerful discourses in recent years. Swamiji said that we must tread carefully in the world of action as every single action of ours has implications that we are not necessarily aware of. The key to successful engagement in the world lies in seeking God’s grace before the commencement of any activity.

 “You should secure God’s consent and blessings before engaging yourself in any activity. We usually pray to God by looking upwards and raising our hands in a gesture of worship.  But once we commence any activity, we should look down toward the earth and act vigilantly and compassionately. The field of our activity (karma kshetra) is the earth and every activity that we indulge in is going to do some good or harm to other beings. It is therefore essential that we tread cautiously and act with full awareness of the outcomes of our actions.”

Our daily actions are sanctified only when we take the consent of biological parents and our spiritual parents (Lord Shiva and Parvathi Devi). Such consent protects us from negative consequences. It helps to instill awareness, heighten our discriminatory powers (between good and evil) and be vigilant.

He then went on to add: “Perform your actions as you perform worship. God is omnipresent and omniscient. We water the plant and add manure at the bottom. This does not prevent the leaves that adorn the plant on the outside to get nourishment. Similarly if we serve the poor and the under-privileged as a form of worship, the result comes back to us in the form of God's grace.”  “This is the only genuine path and constitutes the secret of living in the world with joy and happiness.”