SERVICE : THE ESSENCE OF SANATAN PHILOSOPHY , with special reference to M.S GOLWALKAR

Service is a virtue which is a characteristic of those who have realized their responsibilities towards their fellow beings. Service towards mankind is the greatest help a person can give to society. It is the surest sign of thanksgiving by a person towards the society which has nurtured him. Every single person is accountable to the whole society and is forever indebted by it. The only way to repay this debt is to serve everyone who require it. On the whole we can say that ‘service’ is the true measure of one’s greatfulness towards god and mankind as well as his character. This is the essence of sanatan dharma also which inspire every humanbeing towards unconditional service. Every scriptures of sanatan dharm led emphasis towards service towards whole creature of nature which led towards mutual co-operation, harmony ,peace, accommodation and acceptance of all the creations of nature with love. The great sants and sages and their sacrifice towards mankind is living example before us.

   M.S. Golwalkar in his book ‘Bunch of thought’ aptly remarked that “ The great men of our land have always upheld the spirit of service as the highest expression of devotion to God. One such great soul has prayed to Almighty- I desire neither Kingdom nor heaven nor salvation. All that I desire is to remove the sorrows and miseries of living beings. This is the true spirit of service. The constant prayer of such a person is for greater strength and capacity to serve. His fulfillement in life is that he has offered in service all that God has bestowed upon him. He says, “Oh, God! I have emptied the jholi (bag) of my life at Thy feet, and therin lies the fullness of my life.” Swami Vivekanand used to say, “Be ready to bear everything for the sake of the people like the great Guru Govind singh. After having shed his blood and the blood of his nearest  and dearest, he retired from the field calmly to die in the south but not a word of curse escaped his lips against those who had ungratefully forsaken him!”Our definition of dharma is twofold. The first is proper rehabilitation of man’s mind ; and the second is adjustment of various individuals for a harmonious corporate existence. i.e., a good social order to hold the people together . Man’s life has to be attuned to the wider interests of the people as a whole.

   This supreme vision of of Godhead in society is the the very core of our concept of ‘nation’ and has permeated our thinking and given rise to various unique concepts of our cultural heritage. That vision inspires us to look upon every individual of our society as a part of that Divine whole. All individuals are therefore equally sacred and worthy of our service. Therefore any sense of discrimination amongst them is reprehensible. Thus, in our culture, the spirit of social service has been sublimated into the worship of God.

     There are millions of human beings all around us who live in hunger and destitution deprived of even the barest necessities of life, and whose stories of misery will move the stoniest of hearts. It is verily God who has taken those forms of the poor, the destitute and the suffering. What for? Does He want anything ? He is the very embodiment of all power, all knowledge, and is the master of all. Then what is that He wants? He comes in those forms to give us an opportunity to serve Him. Sri Ramkrishna Paramhamsa called them Daridra Narayana (destitute God ) . Once our life becomes soaked with this true spirit of service, we will feel that our individual and family possessions, however abundant they may be, do not really belong to us. There are only the means to worship God in the form of society. Our whole life will then be an offering in the service of society. The Upanishad say: God permeats all the creation. Whatever is left over by Him, after offering Him, enjoy only that much. Do not rob what belongs to others.

Let us therefore acquire maximum of material wealth so that we can serve God in the form of society in the best possible manner. And out of all that wealth, only that minimum should be used for our sake the denial of which will hamper our capacity for service. To claim or to make a personal use of more than that, is verily an act of theft against society.

  In Bhagavata Narada says : Take whatever is essential for bodily sustenance. To take more is an act of theft and deserved to be punished. Thus we are only the trustees of society . It is only when we become trustees in the true sense that we can serve society best. Such a pure attitude of service will leave no scope for ego or self-adulation.

   Ours is an ancient and immortal society, which has given birth to the greatest personalities in all walks of life and has evolved the highest philosophy and the noblest social standards. The stamp of that greatness can be seen even to this day when others refer to a son of this soil as ‘the descendant of a Rama, a Krishna and a shankaracharya, in whose blood the glorious virtues of all those illustrious predecessors- those world masters in every field of knowledge and action- are inherited. What does all this indicate? It is, that our birth in the Hindu society has conferred this unique honour upon us, in addiction to happy physical sustenance, and opened the path for us to scale the sublime heights of those great souls. Thus , in how many ways and how immensely are we indebted to our society! Then, is it befitting on our part to go on merely enjoying all its fruits and merits without caring to do duty towards it? Thus, it is our scriptures that a man should live on what is left over after offering to society. Thus , it is our first duty to absolve ourselves from that debt of gratitude. Therein lies the fulfillement of our life. Our shastras declare that man is born with three kinds of debts-deva-rina and rishi-rina. This life is given to us by the grace of gods. And hence we have to express our gratitude, i.e., pitra-rina. And since we inherit the legacy of learning and culture bequeathed by our ancients, the duty of discharging rishi-rina devolves upon us.”

     Thus the core of our cultural heritage gives priority to selfless service towards creations of god and that is the true worship in Hindu philosophy. Even our sacred scripture Ramayana  gives the message of unconditional service to family ,society nation and whole universe