“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”
– Mahatma Gandhi
 
Kabir – The couplet
फल कारण सेवा करे, करे न मन से काम ।
कहे कबीर सेवक नहीं, चहै चौगुना दाम ॥
 
transliterated:
Phal kaaran seva kare, kare na man se kaam|
Kahe Kabir sevak nahin, chahai chauguna daam ||
 
Translation:
Work done for a consideration, is not work done to serve |
Says Kabir, this is not service, when there is a price attached ||

My understanding:
Continuing in a similar vein from the prior post, the opportunity to serve is more than ample reward for the service offered. So why do so very few see this or accept it when presented?

We seem to crave for more than just enough. When we cook, we make more than might be needed “just in case” and then complain when there are too many leftovers in the refrigerator. We buy more, bigger, faster, heavier, lighter, greater than needed at the time, and then complain about the funds running out. We eat more than we need for the moment, and blame it on “the caveman instinct” when the excess is highlighted.

The first error is to succumb to the desire for more than the need. The next error, compounding the first, is to blame it on anyone or anything other than the self, the real culprit. When we refuse to recognize it as an error of judgment, there is no correction we will ever accept for the poor behavior.

So recognize the mistake, call it what it is, stop looking for scapegoats, and then do away with the excess. Once this cleansing is done the first time, keep repeating it, same way as we take a bath everyday, and not just the one time and then never again.

For it is only when we keep the mind clean and spotless that it can truly sense the brilliance within!