Service (Pt.4)

 

Service is not merely skill or professionalism

In true service, it is not merely the skill or professionalism that matters, but it is the heart that counts.  Our skills and expertise belong to the head; but the feeling and sentiment emanate from the heart.  So, it is the heart that ultimately matters because a pure heart is the temple of God.  Hence, it is the prompting of the heart that should propel everybody to serve; skill or expertise of the head are secondary.

The spirit of service is transcendence and transcendental.  Service is not restricted to any caste or community, creed or gender, nationality, time or space.  Spiritual service transcends all limitations.  It is beyond all these relations.

The scope of service becomes very narrow if it is limited to a particular community or class.  This is also selfish and self-centred.  Such service is localised and goal-oriented.  But the true spirit of service is beyond age, class, caste, community or nationality and such considerations should be sidelined.

Serve but never be a servant

We must serve and serve but never be a servant.  Being an instrument of service is different from being a servant.  Misguided people often say, "I am a servant of the Lord.  I am a servant of an organisation".  Such people are ignorant of their perception because a servant is always salary-oriented.  Such a person will serve more when he is paid more.  Hence, there is the quantum of service to consider.

Thus, a servant expects money or something in return.  No servant works free, particularly in pilgrim centres where expectations are high because they calculate in terms of money.  Such people have commercial considerations.  A servant expects but a man of service has no expectation.  He is not salary or money-oriented.

A servant is time bound

Secondly, a servant is time bound - six hours or eight hours and so forth.  This time factor is all-important to a servant whether it is in the office or at home.  Beyond that it is "over-time", meaning extra payment.  Also, a servant has a designated job and a specific area of service.

But one who is truly imbued with spirit is ready to do anything at any time.  Such a one is an expert of experts.  If one is an expert, one can only be a servant.  But an expert of experts is truly qualified to be of service.  This is why among the Seva Dal, we find engineers, doctors, directors, bank managers and various top professionals.

(From the book "Sai-chology" by Prof.  K. Anil Kumar)