Selfless Service: NonViolence in Action

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Selfless Service Non-Violence in Action
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Light Meditation
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Discrimination Review

• Spend the first 10 minutes to review the
  discrimination study circle and supplemental
  materials.
• What were the techniques you used?
• Spend a few minutes to share experiences from the
  last weeks Sai challenge. Share any insights as
  well as difficulties encountered in the
  challenge.
• Introduction to the Selfless Service Study Circle
• "Ahimsa Paramo Dharma Sri Sathya Sai Baba says
  by following non-violence, one achieves Love.
  Nobody should be harmed by mind, body or speech.
  By purity of thought, word and deed, one should
  serve even one's enemies. Humility is the main
  quality of those who want to don the mantle of
  non-violence. What does Ahimsa signify? It is not
  merely refraining from causing harm or injury to
  others. It implies also refraining from causing
  harm to oneself.

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What is Selfless Service? A thought from the
Prema Vahini

• People say that the service of man is the
  service of God that Manava Seva is Madhava Seva.
  That is a true statement. But though the service
  of humanity is holy, unless it is merged in the
  bigger ideal, men will not benefit, however huge
  the service. Mere repetition of the slogan is
  useless if service is done without faith in the
  divinity of man and with an eye on name and fame
  and the fruits of ones action. Whatever actions
  one undertakes, if one has constantly as a
  companion the contemplation of the Lord, and if
  one has faith in the essential divinity of man,
  then, the statement about Manava Seva and Madhava
  Seva being the same is justified.

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What is Selfless Service?

• Service with a spiritual foundation.
• Love more and more people, love them more and
  more intensely transform the love into service,
  transform the service into worship that is the
  highest spiritual practice.
• Seeing God in all beings.
• You are not doing service to others, you are
  doing service to yourselves, to the God in you,
  the God who is equally present in others.
• Service resulting in elimination of ego and
  purification of mind.
• In service, you devote all your energy and
  attention to the task at handyou forget your
  body. you give up your status, your conceit,
  your name and form and all that they demand from
  others. This process makes the mind pure.

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What is Selfless Service?

• A response to a real need, but without attachment
  to results.
• "Do not believe that you can by means of selfless
  service reform or reshape the world. You may or
  may not. That does not matter. The real value of
  selfless service, its most visible result, is
  that it reforms you, reshapes you."
• A pure offering to God.
• "God will not ask when and where you did service
  he will ask what your motives and intentions
  were. ... The attitudes of mutual help and
  selfless service develop the 'humanness' of man
  and help the unfoldment of the Divinity latent in
  him."
• A constant way of life.
• "So move among your sisters looking for
  opportunities to be of help, with the name of God
  on your tongue and the form of God before the
  mind's eye."

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Why do Selfless Service?

• It helps us control and purify the mind.
• It puts a ceiling on our desires.
• It erases our karmic burden.
• It removes the ego.
• It brings love into our lives.      
• It helps us experience the Unity of all.
• It makes us aware of the God within all.
• It aids us in winning the Grace of God.
• (Service Guide for American Centers, p.8)  

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Questions for Discussion

• Is there a difference between service and
  selfless service?
• Do you think selfless service is one of the most
  important spiritual practices?
• Why do you think service would make God happy?
• How do we lead a life of constant selfless
  service each day at home, work, and recreation?

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Some Qualities for Practicing Selfless Service

• Love
• Love for God must be manifested as love for man,
  and love must express itself as service.
• Pure Heart
• When you go into the qualifications needed for
  service, you will know that pure heart
  uncontaminated by conceit, greed, envy, hatred,
  or competition - is essential.
• Charity
• Charity will, in turn confer purity upon you.
  Once you have purity, there will be unity. And
  once you have unity, you can reach Divinity.

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More Qualities for Practicing Selfless Service

• Selflessness
• If we have filled ourselves with selfishness,
  jealousy, and such ill feelings, we will not be
  able to do any good service. If there is nothing
  in a vessel, it is possible to fill it with some
  good things.
• Purity
• Members of the Sai Organization should be
  simple, selfless, and non-egoistic. They should
  cultivate sacred love, the Divine spirit of
  sacrifice, patience, and compassion. These are
  the qualities of the truly service-oriented
  members and officers.

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Techniques for Practicing Selfless Service

• Serve with Love in our heart.
• Offer our time, energy and talents from a spirit
  of free, unattached giving, rather than from a
  feeling that we should serve.
• Serve others without the expectation of anything
  in return. 
• If you do an act of kindness and do not receive a
  thank you or a smile in return, do not be
  discouraged. Be assured that, when love is
  freely given without strings attached, love is
  doing its job.
• Serve God in others.
• In whatever act we do at home or in the
  community, imagine and recognize that the
  recipient is God standing before you.
• Begin with our families.
• If we are living with our parents, and even if we
  are married, look around and see how we can
  contribute to the smooth running of the
  household, i.e., do the dishes unasked, sweep the
  floor, take out the trash.
• Call our parents and family members regularly and
  be a good listener. Swami says that is why we
  were given two ears and only one mouth.

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How does this DiagramReflect Selfless Service?
Humanity
Country
Community
Family
Spouse
Expansion of Service
Oneself
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Stories on Selfless Service

• When the Rajasuya Yagna (a sacred ceremony) was
  being performed, Krishna came and asked Dharmaja
  (the eldest of five brothers who was devoted to
  living with a high level of integrity) to allot
  some work to Him. Dharmaja turned to Krishna and
  said that there was no work appropriate to
  Krishna (Krishna) patted him on the back and
  said that He has a special qualification and that
  He would like to do work appropriate to His
  qualification. So Dharmaja asked Krishna to tell
  him what His special qualification was so that he
  can find suitable work for Krishna. Krishna said
  that He was fit for removing the leaves in which
  people ate their food and which have been used.
  -Baba

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Discussion Questions

• What does it mean that the Lord Himself chose to
  do something so insignificant?
• If the Lord can do this simple and seemingly
  unworthy task, what simple and seemingly unworthy
  task can we do for someone on a daily basis?
• Does the person need to be present, or do we even
  need to know the person?
• What similar service can we do for our family?
  For our friends? For our community? For society?
  For the nation?

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Another Story

• Baba tells the story of how a young girl, who was
  poor at math, asked Einstein to tutor her.
  Einstein agreed. Sometime later the girls mother
  apologized to him that her daughter was taking up
  so much of Einsteins time. Einstein replied,
  this has been an opportunity for me to learn
  from your daughter several things related to
  everyday life. Now I understand how ignorant I
  have been about matters related to actual life. I
  must really thank your daughter. Chinna Katha
  II, page 83

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Discussion Questions

• Like Einstein did, we too can make a
  significant difference in anothers life with a
  small act of kindness.
• Can you think of an act of yours, seemingly
  minor, that significantly impacted another
  person? If not something that you did, can you
  recall a similar story in someone elses life?
• On the flip side of that same coin How did a
  simple act of kindness you received impact your
  life? How did it feel? Is it worth mirroring this
  act for another person?
• Are we motivated to do something nice for someone
  because we want to feel good? If so, why?
• Do we ever serve out of guilt? If so, why, and
  how can we avoid it?
• What motivates us to do a simple act of kindness?
  

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Sai Challenge

• After assessing the needs of your community,
  undertake one selfless service activity or
  project in your region and maintain that
  commitment monthly at least until July 2007.
• If there is someone at home, work or school with
  whom you have exchanged unkind words or thoughts
  recently, the next time you see them silently
  say, "Baba, how can I serve you in the embodiment
  of this person today? Then make the effort to
  say a kind word or apologize for your previous
  comment.
• Try to spend two hours per week or perform one
  act per day of selfless service.
• Try to serve before being asked to - at home, at
  school, at work, or at the Sai Center.

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Sai Extreme Challenge

• If you lift the hand to serve, to help, to
  console, to encourage another man you are lifting
  it for God, because in every man is God. Be of
  service to others, for that is giving yourself to
  Me. For whatever you give, I will repay you
  thrice. Nay I shall repay you ten-fold. Try Me
  and you will see.
• What extreme service challenge can you challenge
  yourself with to warrant Babas promised ten-fold
  return?  
• Can you do an act of service, even a simple one,
  every day until the WYC?  
• Keep a private diary of what you felt after doing
  the service. Sincerely reflect on your writings.
  How did that act of service affect the rest of
  your day? Did that feeling carry over in the
  home, office, or in the center?  
• Identify or create a list of the most important
  things in your daily life and observe where
  selfless service fits in. Can you move selfless
  service up two places on the list?

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Next Steps

• Take first 10 minutes during the next study
  circle to recap selfless service.
• Practice sense-control, leadership, unity of
  thought, word, and deed, discrimination and
  selfless service and build from the previous
  study circles.
• Share experiences on how the week(s) after this
  study circle was different by practicing Sai
  challenges. Ensure that a holistic picture is
  obtained by sharing both challenges and
  successes.
• Try to incorporate the unity of thought, word,
  and deed and discrimination sub-values in your
  efforts to practice selfless service and discover
  similarities between these sub-values.
• As Ideal Sai Youth with the goal of uniting with
  Sai Baba and His mission, an ideal step on this
  journey would be to practice selfless service on
  a daily basis, even in small, unnoticed ways.

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Do not worry about the result. Help as much as
you can, as efficiently as you can, as silently
as you can, and as lovingly as you can leave the
rest to God, who gave you a chance to serve.
Jai Sai Ram