16 Right Understanding to Help Others
( bhaav) and their vibrations. Humanitarian Service is an Attribute of the Prakruti
Humanitarian service( samaaj seva) is where a person binds a very strong commitment to serve humanity and serves humanity. He remains preoccupied in his service only; he does not pay much attention even in his own home. Kindness, pity, empathy, etc., are just internal feelings which will continue to manifest within a person. These are all inherent traits of the relative-self( prakruti) that a person brings forth within him or her from the past life. But in the final analysis, everything a person does is the doing of the prakruti; it all falls into the realms of the relative-self. Prakruti will vary; one person’ s prakruti will be such that he wants to make others happy while another person’ s will make people miserable. Both these traits belong to the prakruti and not the Self. Whatever traits a person has brought with him in his prakruti, are the traits that will express.
Service and Disservice are Part of the Non-Self
Helping others or hurting others, both are traits of the non- Self( prakruti). Neither involves any real effort( purusharth), yet one believes,‘ I am doing it.’ Now, to believe,‘ I am doing it,’ is an illusion. Because of your prakruti, you will continue to serve others even after having received Gnan. Such service( seva) will be pure( shuddha) service. The service that you are doing currently is associated with bondage because of your belief,‘ I am doing it.’ It is meritorious( shubha) service. Nevertheless, even a shackle of gold is a shackle that binds!
After Self-realization, you will not feel pain upon seeing the misery of others, rather you will remain compassionate and their suffering will lessen. At the moment, what you experience for others is sympathy. That sympathy will always cause you pain because it torments you with what you imagine the other person must be feeling. Where there is sympathy( daya), there is always