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Service to all creatures is service to me

True service arises from non-separation, not personal desire. Serving any being is serving God, for "I am that one, and that one is me." This connection is ever-present and known. A story illustrates the flaw of selfishness within service. A devoted disciple was sent on an errand and, when offered food by a host, requested a specific dish to fulfill a personal wish. Upon returning, he suffered stomach pain. The master explained the pain was karmic result of that selfish demand, lasting hours. A guest should accept what is given with love; to demand is to act from selfishness, which creates suffering. Do not demand. What comes, comes. Our benefit lies in following the guiding words; otherwise we suffer. Emotional feelings come and go; they cannot be controlled or sustained. But one must be of the nature of bliss.

"Service to all creatures is service to me."

"Your selfish wish... A guest should accept whatever the host offers you to eat... Then it is real love."

Filming location: Strilky, Czech Republic

Mahāprabhujī said to Holy Gurujī, "Service to all creatures is service to me." This means that wherever you are, if you help someone, I accept that as help given to me. What is the meaning of this? It means: I am that one, and that one is me. So'ham. I am that, and I am that one. Therefore, every entity, each being, has a direct connection to God. It is like a remote control, and He is the supervisor of all. When something goes wrong, an alarm is there. God notices everything; do not think He does not know. Holy Gurujī loved Mahāprabhujī more than anything. I would say each blood cell was calling out Gurujī Mahāprabhujī. One day, Mahāprabhujī sent Holy Gurujī to call someone. At that time, there were no telephones, or very few, and not much transportation, so he had to walk about six or seven miles. Whether kilometers or miles, to walk seven kilometers was nothing for Holy Gurujī. He loved to walk. Furthermore, when Gurudev gives a duty, you are not walking—you are flying. Your feet are not on the earth. Why? Because you are so happy. He has chosen me, He gave me the order, I have the opportunity; I am the privileged one. It was His greatness that I came to His mind, that He asked me to do it, and I am so happy to go. So, Gurujī went. The person was very devoted to Mahāprabhujī and Gurujī, and he asked Gurujī, "What about time to eat? Morning breakfast? You walked; you will be tired and hungry. Eat something." Holy Gurujī had a particular wish for a special kind of grain chapati. He said, "I would like to eat that, if you have it." The man said, "No problem." He told his son, "Run and bring the chapati flour," and he brought it and made it. This took about half an hour or longer. Then he and Gurujī came back to Mahāprabhujī. Holy Gurujī sat there, and he had a stomachache. He did not tell Mahāprabhujī about the pain. Mahāprabhujī said, "For about eight hours it will be paining. Then it will be okay." Holy Gurujī asked, "What do you mean, Mahāprabhujī?" Mahāprabhujī replied, "Your selfish wish. You ate this; you refused and wanted to eat this particular food. A guest should accept whatever the host offers you to eat—of course, without meat and eggs. Then it is real love. But if you say, 'No, I want to eat that, this and that,' then it becomes selfish. Selfish food is not good to digest, not easy to digest. It may cause some diseases and, of course, negative karma." Mahāprabhujī said: Do not demand anything. What comes, comes. What goes, goes. Everything is coming and going. Similarly, God knows, and Mahāprabhujī knows; Gurudev knows. It does not matter where you are, what you are doing, what you are thinking, or what you are planning; He knows. Therefore, we should follow the Guruvākyas, the words of the great sense. Our benefit lies in that; otherwise, we suffer. And within that is ānanda. That is happiness. But we have so many emotional feelings we cannot control. However, you know, they cannot be controlled, and they cannot be sustained. They will come, and they will go. But be Ānanda Svarūpa. Therefore, it is said—Holy Gurujī sang a beautiful bhajan when Mahāprabhujī said this, what Mahāprabhujī said.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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