Swami Shivapadananda on truthfulness and service
SWAMI SHIVAPADANANDA
DAILY READINGS
Selected from Mother Radha's recordings of Swamiji.
Day 455
Once a learned man went to Shankaracharya and said, "Maharaj [an honorific. Literal meaning: great king], you are so holy, and we householders are suffering in the villages and the towns. Please come and speak to us about truth. By your grace we will make progress and people will be comforted." The first time the man asked, Maharaj kept quiet. The second time again Maharaj kept quiet. The third time the man asked, Shankaracharya said, "Why should I come there? What for? There are a lot of other people preaching truth." The man said, "No. Please, you must come."
Shankaracharya then asked, "By my coming there what will the people do?" The man said, "They will do what you say." "Do you know what is truth and what is untruth?" "Yes," he said. "Tell me, didn't you utter an untruth at any time?" The man just put his head down.That is truthfulness. The man was so truthful that he knew that what Shankaracharya was saying was applicable to him.
So whatever I say, and if it comes direct to you, it's for you.
Devotee: Swamiji, what does "serving selflessly" mean?
Swamiji: Firstly, to see the "servant" power we must look at Hanumanji's example. He is the Eternal Servant of the Eternal Lord, humility personified. His humility was not a worm-like thing. Not like now when the sannyasis go and prostrate fully to everybody, but on the quiet they say, "That fellow, I'll fix him up."
It wasn't like that with Hanumanji. He prostrated to Sri Rama in everyone. Hanumanji never gave up his principle.
So, "serving selflessly" means you are the servant of God Himself. Thus you go into it deeper, and willingly do it. That means the serving power, the servant power, is awakened in you.
Bhakti [spritual devotion or love] means love or devotion for God. Bhava means deep, intense, irreversible feeling for God Himself. And when bhakti matures it becomes prema [descibed by Sri Ramakrishna as 'ecstatic love', 'divine love of the most intense kind'].