Steer Your Mind to Selfless Service

Steer Your Mind to Selfless Service

Be engaged always in the service of people. The human body is anyway impermanent, so it is better it wears out in service. Constant effort and hard work are absolutely essential. If ten rupees is earned by hard work, we must return a thousand rupees to society through more hard work.


Prayer and worship are not enough. There is no difference between the Creator and His creation. Do you need to show a candle to the sun? Similarly, you do not need to worship God. He is within you and in everybody around you. In service to His creation you establish contact with the Creator. Krishna, even though he was complete in himself, still worked relentlessly.

Arjuna however wanted to run away from the scene. You cannot run away. You have to do your bit. Not always will the situation be to your liking. You may not be able to change it. You can only change your mind, your attitude. If your neighbour makes too much noise, you can complain to the police. If your street is noisy, you can move elsewhere, but if your mind is creating all the chaos, what do you do? Recognise those circumstances we can change and those we have to accept.


A king got pricked by a thorn when he was out hunting. He was furious and ordered that his entire kingdom be carpeted. His ministers were in a fix. Wherefrom would they get so many rolls of carpet? A senior minister offered the suggestion that the king wear shoes and thankfully the king appreciated him. Similarly, we too should be able to change our attitude, we cannot expect the world to change.


How can we change our attitude? For that, mind control is important. Our mind is like an old car that stops only after colliding against some object, for its brakes don’t work well. Modern cars come to a standstill the moment you apply the power brakes. The mind is like a supermarket with many thoughts. In a supermarket we do not buy everything and anything. We take only that which we want. Similarly, we should let only some thoughts develop and let the others disappear.


The mind is like an elephant. An elephant, along its path, keeps plucking, tearing at any branch or leaves that come its way. But when the mahout keeps it on track, it is focused and walks a straight path. To still the mind and to have its remote control in our hands, we need meditation.


However, people meditate, do japa while their mind is travelling elsewhere. To steer the mind you need to be aware, to be mindful. If someone were pointing a gun at you, how conscious you would be of yourself ! It is that kind of alertness or awareness that we should have all the time. If we are close to fire, how careful would we be!

That is how careful we should be with every moment of our life. The mind is like water, it is always turning downwards weighed down by our many desires and worldly aspirations. Water always flows downwards. But look at fire, it always leaps upwards. If you put fire under water, it sends water also upwards in the form of steam. We should be like that. Our mind should be able to be light and alert.




Lovely Thoughts for Lovely People Just Like You