Vipul Agarwal, Delhi, 19 June 2024
Different people have different motivations in this world. We have different desires and set our motivations around those desires. While most people aim to get money, power, and emotional pleasure, there are some who set their life goals around social service. I am quite intrigued as to what is the real motivation behind social service. It may be a sympathetic cause, an exercise to build a self-image, a desire for some advantage in the world after death, a demonstration of superiority over the poor and needy, or a real spiritual need.
A few days back on a lovely morning, while sitting in meditation, suddenly a thought came to my mind. Spirituality is a path to get connected to the soul. As a person establishes a connection to the real self, or soul, consciousness, or the divine, whatever we may call it, one is able to dissociate from whatever is happening in the domain of body and mind and observe that. There is a feeling of pain and pleasure in different parts of the body, however, the meditator rather than suffering or enjoying the same, just observes. Different thoughts keep coming and going and the meditator keeps observing the same just like a movie. It is because the meditator establishes oneness with the divine and due to this oneness, his perspective on everything around him changes significantly.
What is the meaning of social service from the point of view of a meditator?Since the meditator is an observer of his own body sensations and thoughts, how and why would his actions be driven by sympathy towards the poor and needy? After all, the poor and needy are suffering because they are also seeking the objects of the material world. In the world of spirituality, there is no poor and no rich because you do not need money or power or any emotional support to connect to the divine.
We can take some guidance on this complex issue from the ancient world. Probably, there were two different types of spiritual persons there. On the one hand, there were saints and sages who used to stay in the forests (like Vishvamitra, Dadhichi, Brighu, and so on) away from the world. However, whenever possible, they also made efforts to pass on their spiritual realisations to the people staying connected with the society. They knew that it was difficult for the people staying in the society to get over the grip of their body sensations and thoughts while staying in the society. In social settings, we are bombarded with different objects of pleasure and temptations. That is the reason why they kept guiding the kings and the people to walk on the path of spirituality. The kings also had unshakeable faith in them and for any crucial decision, they will look forward to their guidance.
On the other hand, there were also people living in the society who were at the pinnacle of spirituality like King Janaka. They will always maintain equanimity since they have realised the temporariness of the material world. Janaka will carry out his role as a king, but will neither enjoy the pleasures of the material world nor suffer from the undesired events because he has no desires.
Thus, we can see that spirituality does not make us selfish. We realise that equanimity is not easy, especially when we are bombarded with the worldly objects of pleasure and temptations. With that realisation comes compassion to make society aware of reality. When one eats something with a heavenly taste, he wants everybody to taste the same fruit. Similarly, when somebody tastes the joy of inner connection, one feels like helping everybody taste the same. That is the reason why the sages and saints will not hesitate to guide or help the king. They know intuitively that the rich are the poorest. They are the ones most obsessed with matter. Out of love and compassion comes a feeling to help everyone around to get connected to the divine and experience joy, in the absence of which everybody is running from pillar to post to get a little pleasure and fun from money, power, and people. However, it’s not an easy path because the one moving along the path of spirituality also has many desires deep down his unconscious mind, and while interacting with the society, they come to the surface. That is the reason why it is a testing ground for the one moving along that path. Equanimity is the barometer of spiritual growth in the process that may help a person test where he stands.
