Charity & Volunteering 02 (Mar 11 - Jun 16)

[winston]

When does our service to others become true service?

You are under the mistaken notion that you are rendering service to others. You should give up such a feeling. Only then does the service you perform become real service in the strict sense of the term.

Service does not merely mean helping others. The best way to love the Divine is to love all and serve all. Your acts of service should be suffused with the spirit of love.

Without the positive aspect of love, all service you render becomes negative in nature. All bodies are like bulbs and love is the main switch. Only when the main switch is pressed, will the bodies radiate light and happiness to one and all.

You are switching off the main switch and trying to enjoy happiness. It is impossible! Hrid + Daya (compassion) = Hridaya (heart). Your heart should be filled with compassion. All your activities should be suffused with love. There is no strength superior to love.

- Divine Discourse, Jan 1, 2003.

Remember that whomsoever you may serve, wherever you serve, you are serving the Divine.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

How can we sanctify time, which is the most precious gift from the Divine?

People worship the Divine with devotion and sincerity, but He is not satisfied with external worship.

You should serve society. Only service can confer bliss on you.

By rendering service to society, you can alleviate the sufferings of the people, and also bring about transformation in their lives.

Yad Bhavam Tad Bhavathi (as is the feeling, so is the result). When you serve with sacred feelings, it is bound to yield sacred results.

Serve society to your utmost capacity. The satisfaction that you get by participating in bhajans is temporary, whereas service confers permanent satisfaction.

Time is the most precious gift of the Divine but you are wasting it in vain pursuits and unsacred feelings.

Sanctify the time given to you by serving society. Through service alone you can get rid of worries, ego, pomp and show, and other evil qualities.


- Divine Discourse, Aug 22, 2000.

Share your joy, your wealth and your knowledge with others less fortunate. That is the surest means of winning divine grace.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

..:. generosity .:..

More blessings come from giving than from receiving.

Acts 20:35


Source: Life Changing Words

[winston]

..:. friendship .:..

Don't get tired of helping others. You will be rewarded when the time is right, if you don't give up.

Galatians 6:9


Source: Life Changing Words

[winston]

"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who sought and found out how to serve."
-- Albert Schweitzer, Humanitarian

[winston]

The positive quality to focus on to break up problematic energies is service to others. If you do service with a pure heart, it comes back to you multiplied a thousand-fold. You are capable of doing more than you think to help others, and this generates positive energy.
~ Dr. Pillai

[winston]

How do we know if we are rendering service in the right way?

With regards to service, you must be clear on what is Rajasik service and Satwik service.

You may go to clean streets, build roads, dig wells or build houses, and do them all as service to the community. You may also go to a hospital and visit patients. Doing service in the name of ‘social work’ is not real service.

Satwik service is that which gives real happiness. It requires that you serve any and every person as an embodiment of the Divine.

Divinity (Narayana) is present in two forms amongst all people – wealthy (Lakshmi Narayana) or poor and needy (Daridra Narayana). A rich man may have any number of people to attend to him. But there would be no one to serve the destitute and disadvantaged.

Treating the poor and needy as Divine embodiments and serving them lovingly is Satwik service.

- Divine Discourse, 'My Dear Students', Vol 2, Ch 3.

Service must spring out of Love and scatter Love in profusion.


Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Who should we serve? And how should we perform it?

Always help the poor and those suffering and in distress.

Once upon a time, in Tamil Nadu, lived a poet saint who squatted on the small veranda of his hut and chanted beautiful songs to the Divine.

One day, it was raining heavily. Another man came and asked him if he could also take shelter there. The devotee said, “There was place just enough for me to stretch out, but now that you are here we will both sit erect.”

Later, another man stopped by and asked for shelter. The devotee again agreed saying, “There was place for the two of us to sit. Now that you also have joined, let us all stand.” He thus taught the principle of helping everyone and not sending anyone away who needed help, even when the means are limited.

Cultivate this attitude of sharing with others any good thing you have. Thus you can practice daily, the great principle of finding the Divinein every being.

- Summer Showers in Brindavan: 1972, Ch 21.

Service must spring out of Love and scatter Love in profusion.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

Service is best rendered when it is suffused with the feeling of humility.

There was once an old woman in Paris. It was winter and December was around the corner. Many poor people were sleeping on the streets and shivering with cold. She went around the streets and covered them with a blanket. She completed the job without any fuss or noise.

Over time, the people in the town came to know about it. They wondered why this humble old woman who was herself struggling to make her ends meet setting out to help others!

When children used to ask her, “Grandma, why are you walking with your head down? You are a great person!” she would respond humbly, “The Divine is giving us everything with many hands, and I am giving with a single hand. Is that not a shame for me?”

Many great people world over, have placed before us the high ideals of charity.

- Divine Discourse, 'My Dear Students', Vol 2, Ch 4.

Have constructive thoughts, consoling words and compassionate acts.

Source: radiosai.org

[winston]

..:. action .:..

If you know someone who doesn't have any clothes or food, you shouldn't just say, "I hope all goes well for you. I hope you will be warm and have plenty to eat." What good is it to say this, unless you do something to help?

James 2:15-16


Source: Life Changing Words