THE JOY OF SERVICE
Chapter Seven
THE JOY OF SERVICE
There is no joy and no service that can match helping others. In a world so full of darkness, where millions have lost their way, where there are countless numbers troubled and perplexed, with sorrow in their hearts, who awake each morning in fear and apprehension of what the day brings, if you can help one soul to find some serenity and to realise that he is not neglected, or lonely, or forgotten, but surrounded by arms of infinite love, that is a great work. It is more important than anything else.
The whole purpose of earthly life is to
awaken dormant, slumbering souls to the reality of their existence. Your world is full of living sleepwalkers who go through the day's activities in a dream. They are not awake, and they are deadto all reality. you can touch one of these souls and kindle the divine ember so that gradually it is fanned into a living flame, there is no service comparable to that. When all is said and done there is no higher privilege, no higher religion, than service to the Great Spirit through serving all His creatures, human, animal, or whatever form they take
Fortunate are we that we can be used as ambassadors of the Great Spirit who has chosen us for these tasks. These cannot in themselves make us happy when we contemplate the misery of everything that need not be. If we can help, if we can drive out ignorance, if we can banish superstition, if we can replace cruelty with kindness and exploitation with mercy, if we can show a better way, a way of co-operation and amity, then gradually, as it spreads, there will be a true peace amongst all creation because peace is indivisible. The power of the spirit is at work, and it is here to stay. No fiat of the Church, no edict of doctors will prevent its labours of mercy. This power can succeed where all others fail.
There is no greater service and no greater fulfilment than to watch the power of the spirit performing its beneficent labours and bringing relief and health, alleviation and com-fort, guidance and sustenance to souls who do not know where to turn but who have been led to you. This is a work greater than that done by many churches, chapels, syna-gogues and temples which are filled with dry, arid theology, but where the power of the spirit is absent.
The sick, the suffering, the tortured in mind, body and spirit, the hopeless, the helpless, the weary, the perplexed, these do not want words, which too often the ministers no longer believe themselves. They do not want to hear the stereotyped phrases repeated in parrot fashion that have no meaning to the speaker or hearer. What they want is a demonstration that spiritual truth is a reality. When you offer yourselves up in service and allow your divine gifts to be utilised, spirit power flows through you, with its wondrous healing touch, to smooth away pain, to restore harmony, to free aching and locked limbs and to make the individual aware of himself as he really is.
In the work in which we are all engaged there are often setbacks. We have to deal with human beings, alas too often full of frailty and weakness, pride and vanity, prejudice and obstinacy. Too few will place service before self, principle above person. If you look back, you will see clearly and unmistakably how the finger of the spirit has pointed the way and divine signposts have shown where you are to go. That power which has proved itself without a doubt and question is competent to guide you in all the labours and days that lie ahead.
It is always more blessed to give than to receive. Blessed are they who have not seen and who have not heard but who continue to labour. You have the warmth, radiance, affec-tion and love of enlightened beings whose only aim is to
help those less fortunate than yourselves.
Every soul knows before it incarnates into earth what it is that it will undertake. It is a free choice made by the larger self because it knows that its earthly journey is precisely the one needed to fulfil and obtain the necessary qualifications for the development of the larger self. You know the life that you are going to live. The hardships are chosen because to endure them, and to overcome them, will bring into play those latent qualities of the self which require devel-opment to add their quota to the real, the higher, the true self.
There is, in one sense, no need to say, "This is a great pity", or to wonder about the inequalities and injustices of earthly life. Ours is the world where the balance is struck. Yours is the world where the preparation is made. When I say that the soul knows, I do not mean it knows every detail, but it knows that path that is to be trod. It is all a question of time and interplay of varying forces as to when the soul comes into its own and is aware of itself. Sometimes that does not even happen, and so the soul comes back, again and again, until it attains the qualifications that are necessary for its fragment to pass on to the larger self, to the whole.
It is very difficult for you to pass judgments on yourselves, your progress, your unfoldment, because you have not the
means by which you can measure. You cannot see with the eyes of the spirit. All your judgments are faulty because you
are looking through the eyes of matter the whole time. You cannot measure the effect on the soul, which is all-important. What happens to the body is important only because of its effect on the soul. If what happened to the body did not affect the soul then it would not matter. You cannot force the hand of the spirit. You cannot compel the Great Spirit to move in your human way. The divine plan unfolds itself unceasingly. The wise individual, wise because he has knowledge, learns to co-operate with infinite love and wisdom.
The acquisition of this spiritual knowledge is not to be obtained with ease. It is accompanied inevitably by hard-ship, physical, mental or spiritual. Sometimes it is a com-bination of two out of three of these factors, and sometimes a combination of all three. The road to spiritual attainment is a thorny, difficult one. As you move along it, the familiar landmarks and signposts are left behind. Loneliness, increas-ing loneliness, is the lot of the pilgrim who treads it.
But just as there is retribution, condign in its nature for all the selfish and unkind acts of earthly life, so equally is there
compensation for those who essay the path of the spirit; for increasing awareness brings with it an inner life, an inner radiance, an inner glow, an inner confidence. It brings an increasing awareness of the eternal foundation on which all life rests, and an increasing awareness also of the mantle of divine protection that is thrown around your shoulders. I have never said that it could be easy. The greatest prizes, the richest prizes that are worthy of possession, these are the most difficult to earn. And they must be earned by every individual for himself.
I have lived many, many years in your world and in mine (as you count time in your sphere of three dimensions). I have grown to marvel more and more at the efficacy of the natural law which comprises the whole cosmic system, and takes cognisance of every happening. I know that the spread of knowledge, the awakening of the soul, and the apprecia-tion of spiritual realitiesーall these every individual must accomplish for himself, entering his own Garden of Gethsemane before he can achieve his Mount of Trans-figuration.
There are no short cuts, no vicarious means by which the spirit can come into its own. There is no ready-made formula, no need, no ritual, no ceremony, no doctrine, no book, however sacred, that can provide the easy way to the adept, the pupil or the initiate. Self-realisation must be earned through struggle and toil, for only by these means does the soul come into its own. I deliberately say all this, not because I desire to read a lecture or to preach a sermon. It is an attempt to convey some of the truth which I have learned.
I also know, and can affirm without fear of contradiction, that those who desire to serve, those who are actuated by the motive of helping the less fortunate than themselves, the sick, the bereaved, the seemingly hopeless, the ones who feel their burden is too heavy, who are weary and perplexed and think there is nothing left to live for, in short, all those who seek to serve humanity in whatever sphere, they will not fall and stumble without the means being made available for them to raise themselves up.
Sometimes it may seem that the clock is about to chime midnight. But before the last chime is heard, the power of the spirit, if you allow it, will achieve its divine will. Those who have knowledge should weather every storm, resting their confidence on an inner tranquillity, an unshakable serenity, an implacable determination born of the know-ledge of the certainty of spiritual realities which are the foundation of all life.
You attract by your service, not only those related to you by ties of blood, your own kith and kin, whose passing brought you into this knowledge, but those angels whom the Great Spirit has given to be in charge of you, and who have watched you from the moment of your entrance into the world of matter and who have truly acted as guides the whole way. You cannot measure the work you have done. But it is stamped indelibly on your own soul and on the souls of those you have helped to come into their own. Be rightly proud of the labour that has been done. Thank the Great Spirit that opportunities are given you to perform this service. It is the richest work that you can do.
Do not worry about the foolish, needless jealousies, the petty spites. You have a protective armour to ensure that they cannot really touch you unless you allow them to do so. The strength of the spirit is your refuge. The love of the spirit is your sanctuary. The wisdom of the spirit is your haven. Seek them whenever the need arises. Earthly minds may fail you, but never will the power of the spirit neglect you. Realise always that guidance continues to function even when you cannot see it, and that the arms of love always encircle you.
If I can say one word to encourage you, to cheer, to enthuse you, then I rejoice. It is instruments we need. I am not concerned with buildings, churches, temples, institu-tions. They have their place, but the power of the spirit flows not through masonry but through human instruments who are important to us as links in the mighty chain. One honest servant of the spirit who allows himself to be an instrument is more important than all the buildings. Just go on. Do your best and continue to serve, serve, serve wherever you can. Seek no plaudits of your world. Know that you are fulfilling the purpose for which you were born, so that when the time comes you leave with no regrets for unfinished labours.
Let us rejoice at the opportunities given to each one of us to serve the greatest power in the universe by bringing enlightenment to some of His children. Let us rejoice that we are fulfilling the purpose for which we were created. There is no religion higher than service. To heal the sick, to comfort the mourner, to guide the perplexed, to give strength to the weary and direction to those who have lost their way, those are the most important tasks of all.
Rejoice, therefore, that you have been brought within the orbit of service, with the means, ability, gifts and the power to express the love of the Great Spirit. Rejoice that you wear some of the divine emblems. Know that always in your labour you attract to yourselves the power which will help you always to continue to serve. Never forget that the supreme purpose of life is the unfoldment of the spirit. Pay attention to the requirements of your eternal nature. Thus you have a true perspective and focus on life and know that you are immortal souls, expressing yourselves through mortal clay, and that strength will come as you allow the divine to express itself through you. These are the important principles to be borne in mind. They are hard to remember when you are engaged in daily conflicts and matter seems so powerful and spirit so weak. But spirit is master and matter is servant. Spirit is king and matter is subject. Spirit is God and you are part of God.
This is the great joy of service, to be able to know from day to day that you are fulfilling the purpose of your being, that the power of the spirit is freely flowing through you, touching souls for the first time and enabling them to be awakened, to be helped, to be made whole and to be given a fresh opportunity to enjoy all that life has to offer. This is truly a great work. Wherever it can be done, in any corner of your world, it does not matter, as long as the light is brought to a soul and spiritual truth begins to permeate. That is important. All that has gone before is a preparation and nothing has been lost. The soul always has to be pre-pared for its task and sometimes it means going through the valley before you can get to the top. I have often said that in order to rise to the top one must have been to the bottom.
Your earthly standards of valuation are not the same as ours. Your world worships many things and attaches importance to them, whereas here we regard them as insignificant. All that makes people crave position, wealth, authority and power, we regard as unimportant. When the body dies they all die with it. But the service that has been rendered cannot die because in doing it you increase your own spiritual growth. The service that is given out of love and affection and devotion all help to increase the character and so make an eternal hall-mark on the soul.
Earthly plaudits are unimportant; popularity can be easily won and lost; it does not matter. But if you know within your heart and soul that you have truly rendered the greatest service you can give, then indeed you have developed your powers to their zenith and you have done your best. You have that power to co-operate with enlightened beings in our world who can use you to demonstrate eternal realities of the spirit. That is a great and important task. You help to spread truth, knowledge, wisdom and understanding so that those who can be reached begin to know the purpose of their being, the reason for their being placed in your world and what they have to achieve before they leave it.
The test is the application of knowledge to life. It does not end with an enriching of the individual's own mind. It is not an acquisition for personal satisfaction. It is a responsi-bility to try to share it with others, for in the act of sharing you gain all the time. That is the spiritual law. You cannot convince people of spiritual truth. They can only convince themselves. You cannot convert people; they can only convert themselves. Spiritual power must work its own will, and not until the soul is. receptive can the individual accept the truth. We are not missionaries who desire to proselytise. We are preachers of the true gospel, the good news about spiritual realities. But only those who are ready to receive the news will understand what we have to say. Those who do not understand are not spiritually ready.
They are like those of whom it was said in other times that it was like casting pearls before swineーthat is not intended in any odious comparison. We cannot change individuals; they must change themselves. We are not our brothers' keepers. We are responsible for our actions, not those performed by others. It is the work of a lifetime in your world to ensure that your actions, your thoughts, your words, your aspirations and desires are in harmony with the knowledge that is revealed to you.
That is all that you can do. You cannot live the lives of others, even though you love them, because it is contrary to the law. If those who have knowledge behave in a way that contradicts the knowledge, they will pay a greater price than those who transgress through ignorance, for know-ledge always brings responsibility. The soul that is aware of truth commits a greater offence than when a similar action is performed by a soul that is unaware. That must be so.
Every time you touch a soul you are helping to fulfil the divine purpose. That is the most important work you can do. You enable the soul to come into its own, and it is more than anyone else can do. Co-operation is the law. We would never attempt to dictate, to supplant your reason, to rid you of your free will. Our function is to live up to our name to guide. Whatever effort you make, we will make a greater one to meet you and help you. Together we can labour in fields which are important because they con-cern the very fundamentals on which the whole of life rests.
Many, alas, mistake the shadow for the substance, the husk for the kernel. They do not know reality. They live in a kind of miasma, if living it be. Fortunate is he or she to whom the light of the spirit has been shown. What can I say to willing servants, but "Go on"? The infinite power of the spirit will always sustain you. In days that you call good or bad, never will that power leave you. It will be the strength to support you in moments of weakness.
Strive to remember who you are, what you are and why you are here. Even with all your knowledge there are times when, immersed in the day-to-day problems, you are apt to overlook the eternal realities. It is these eternal truths to which you must cling. There is nothing else in the whole of your world of matter which can provide you with a founda-tion on which to build your lives. Spirit, not matter, is the reality. You may not be able to see it, or touch it, or feel it. You may not be able to experience its reality in the manner in which you obtain material sensations, but it is still the master of all. Realise that you belong to eternity. You are but pilgrims treading a temporary passage through life.