2. Sri. B. Narasimhulu

Revered sirs, dear brothers and sisters,

A serf viewed with respect to worldly angle, claims service as his only possession, his sole ambition is to see his capacity to serve is increased, his ego is transformed into humility and looks upon his object of service as God Himself and considers his own self as his perpetual servant, Service is ingrained in his nature. His only concern is to please his master by his devoted service with implicit obedience. A true servant exhibits the following characteristics; 1) faith in service 2) purity of service 3) esteem for service 4) self restraint 5) zeal for service 6) love for service and 7) modesty. By being loyal and surrendering his all in the service of his master, he compels the attention of his master towards him who in turn can not but love him and take complete charge of his worldly wants and welfare.

Coming to the spiritual side of the above observation of Pujya Babuji, He hints at the attitudes and duties of a disciple towards God/ Master, under commandment No. II Babuji detailed the attitudes an abhyasi has to develop so that he might compel the attention of God/ Master towards him so that his spiritual journey to attain the goal is ensured since the Master Himself starts serving him. Pujya Babuji explained about the other qualities to be backed by service such as devotion, love, humility, obedience, faith and surrender which will endear him to the Master who will be compelled to hasten his spiritual journey.

Why is it Babuji laid stress on devoted service? Since the ideal of service is really the ideal of attaining selflessness, rising above all selfish interest, of realizing the all comprehensive Divinity which is the true unity underlying all existence. Selfless service, further, is a way of killing the ego which is the source of all troubles.

By the instrument of devotion one soon becomes attached to the beloved. Here it refers to the Master and this helps the devotee to go into deeper consciousness. Babuji observed that devotion makes our passage smooth and create a channel for Godly current to flow into our hearts; which in turn removes dirt and refuse from our way and felicitates our march along the path.

Babuji expressed that the natural way of practising devotion love and surrender is to love another person of his own species best. So Guru shall be taken into account as the personification of the supreme.

Real devotion has no tinge of affection in it and goes hand in glove with enlightenment. In the initial stages the devotee may be conscious of his feeling towards the object of his love; but in higher stages the foam and fury is dimmed to the extent of an almost total loss of its awareness at the ultimate stage. The superfine level of devotion may be spoken of as total self-surrender from which the awareness of surrender has entirely been withdrawn by the grace of the supreme Master Himself.

Next comes love. The greatest motivating force in the world is love; the greatest love in creation is the love of God/Guru.

The only relationship man can have is with God/Guru. It is God/Guru who disciplines us; it is the Guru who loves us. We have to earnestly follow His teachings and be in love with him day and night as His one desire is to help us become reunited with the Ultimate. May His love and boundless blessings rain on us eternally and uninterruptedly in an endless shower.

Next comes humility. With no selfish motive behind it, selfless service is a way of killing the ego which is the source of all troubles. The one with humility wins the hearts of one and all, without exception the heart of God/Master.

True humility is humility before the Divine/Master, that is, a precise, exact, living sense that one is nothing, one can do nothing, understand nothing without the Divine, that even if one is exceptionally intelligent and capable, that is nothing in comparison with the Divine consciousness and this sense one must always keep because then only one has the true attitude of receptivity – a humble receptivity that does not put personal pretensions in opposition to the Divine/Master.

Next comes obedience. Obedience plays an important part in our spiritual development. Our attitude shall be “I shall serve the Master in the way He says”. Babuji illustrated the example of Ayaz who was personification of obedience to the orders of his master. The king Mohammad Ghazni had a slave by name “Ayaz”. The king was always praising Ayaz’s obedience and his devotion to him. All the nobles and courtiers were jealous and asked the king why he had all praise for Ayaz, a slave. The king wanted to teach them a lesson one day he called his nobles and courtiers one by one and asked them to destroy the tree of gold, silver and jewels which has taken by him from India; No one was willing to destroy such a valuable tree made of jewels. Then he called Ayaz and asked him to destroy the tree. Without even a second thought, Ayaz pulled out his sword and cut it into pieces. The king then said “This is Why I love him”.

It is only in the field of spirituality obedience gives total benefit. Obedience is the sign of devotion and where there is no devotion there is no great chance of rising to spiritual heights.

Obedience will ultimately make us develop love towards the person whom we are obeying. When we obey without question, then it is said that we find the miraculous unfoldment of his powers. Obedience to the will of God has been well illustrated in the life of Pujya Lalaji Maharaj. When Lalaji was in acute stomach pain, one of his disciples asked him if he could not remove that pain /suffering. Lalaji replied that it could be done in a second but he hastened to explain that nothing could come to him except from God which must be for his good. So he said, he could not refuse something which God had sent him. That was the order of obedience and that was the level of faith and trust he had in God.

Next comes faith. Faith is a basic necessity of life. Faith is a quality of life. It is a great power of the mind with true faith one can attain enlightenment. If we can lay our faith and rely on the Divine /Master, If we give Him the full charge of ourselves, if we let Him decide everything for us, well, we must know that it is always what is best for us which happens. It is best for our progress, our development and our true spiritual growth. Faith is an expression of trust in the Divine/Master with the full self giving we make to the Divine/Master.

Next comes surrender. Self surrender is nothing but a state of complete resignation to the will of the Master, with total disregard of self, that is, spontaneous self giving. When we surrender ourselves to the great Master, we begin to attract a constant flow of highest Divine force from Him. In this state a man thinks or does only that which his Master’s will ordains. He will become completely subservient to the will of the Master. Thus we surrender to the Master thinking Him to be Super Human Being and love Him with devotion, faith and reverence trying all means to attract His attention and favour. As we feel deeply impressed by the great powers of the Master, we feel inwardly inclined to follow His biddings. Therefore self surrender has great importance for an abhyasi in his spiritual pursuit to attain the ultimate goal. Further self surrender to Master means that never for a moment should the thought of the Master not being God enter one’s heart.

Babuji had been stressing that there is a purpose in life which transcends the fulfillment of material wants and enjoyment of sensual pleasures.

If we perceive our fortune in having attained a human birth but do nothing about it, we are like a miser who, knowing the value of his gold, counts it and gloats over it but does not use it. If we pride ourselves on having the qualities of leisure and fortune but do not engage in practice, we are wasting our greatest wealth, Life.

If we do not have the time now, what makes us think we will have it later? Life is extremely short, we grossly underestimate how quickly time passes and thus do not know how soon our opportunity for practice will be ruined. We need to be taught that an opportunity to practice is infinitely valuable, for, unless we learn to recognize this situation, for the jewel that it is (Life), we may neglect to use it properly, (ie) for the purpose for which it has been so benignly bestowed on us.

When we become that which Babuji wanted us to become, that is the greatest service we could do to Him, our service to the Master must be backed by love, devotion and correct practice. He has given us an unique system which ensures our reaching the Goal in the shortest time possible provided we are sincere in our practice, covering all aspects enumerated by Pujya Babuji Maharaj.