To Prasadini on To Temba and Linda on i, mine etc

[Guest guest]

Prasadini wrote, in response to Temba's post:

 

....But then, Temba, I understand what you are saying of giving with

expectation. That's why Mother emphasizes selfless service. My guess is

that most people do seva because it makes them feel closer to the

divine...

 

 

Dear Prasadini and Temba ~ well, Prasadini, you did a better job than I did

of presenting this issue. After I sent my post, I felt a bit sad, as if I had

sat on a baby bird by accident ... but I hadn't really looked either. I

certainly have an ego. Like Prasadini said, if we didn't have egos, we would

exist in a different awareness state and not even think of or care about these

issues. And, being a performer, I have to balance appropriate ego with

inappropriate ego. You have to have a certain amount of healthy ego to get up in

front of a bunch of people and sing songs you have written. But Temba, your

innocent and vibrant love for Mother comes out in everything you write, and I

thank you for keeping me close to that perspective. On the matter of selfless

service, I was reading "On the Road to Freedom, Vol. 2" last night and came

across this passage by Swami Paramatmananda:

 

"I stayed at the (San Ramon) Ashram until Mother's return in May of the next

year, giving classes, Saturday satsangs*, working on the quarterly magazine,

pre-tour work and meeting devotees. I was kept continuously engaged from

morning until night. So much so, I did not feel Mother's absence very much

since

I was engaged in serving her. I have always found over the years that even

though being with Mother physically is a tremendous aid to concentration and

purity of mind, serving her in some way or other also gives me a lot of energy

and happiness."

 

And this from a man who, before Amma's third World Tour, was torn apart

emotionally, knowing that, due to his health he should stay at Amritapuri, but

could not bear to be parted from Amma for even three months.

 

Of course, none of this is simple, or maybe it is so simple that we make it

complicated so we can try to understand it better. There is more in the

chapter on selfless service, and some things Amma Herself had to say, regarding

a

man who had a lot of anger and wondered why he wasn't benefiting from

meditation or service. But at the end of the day, as the saying goes, if Amma

didn't

want us to feel happiness and other good feelings from doing selfless

service, I don't think She would have let that paragraph by Swami P. in the

book.

 

We are blessed many times over, by Amma and by her Swamis and Swaminis, and

by the bramacharis and bramacharinis, and by every devotee. We are all

inspired, and in turn, inspire one another. Jai Ma ~ Linda

 

P.S. My little * after the Saturday satsangs was because I wanted to bow and

say "Thank you Mother," and "Thank You Swami P.," because we now have these

wonderful satsangs both on tape and in book form. Swami P. is the first to

bash himself about the head and shoulders, so to speak, for his imperfections,

and yet he gives us so much by sharing these and showing us that even for a

Swami, imperfections may still be a strugle.