What is the mystery of Selfless Service?

We can get some idea of the mystery and profound reason for selfless service, from some of the verses of the Bhagavad-Gita.

Not by abstention from actions does a man attain the state beyond Karma, and not by renunciation alone does he approach perfection.

Indeed, no one, even in the twinkling of an eye, ever exists without performing action; everyone is forced to perform action, even against his will, by the qualities which originate in material nature.

Perform your duty, for action is indeed better than non-action, and even the mere maintenance of your body could not be accomplished without action.

Aside from action for the purpose of sacrifice, this world is bound by action. Perform action for the purpose of sacrifice, Arjuna, free from attachment.

And this point is essential to understand if we are going to free ourselves from this ocean of suffering. Any action we take in life not intended as sacrifice is binding. All our actions motivated by desire bind us as if by an invisible thread, that keeps us revolving on the wheel of life death and rebirth. It is important even if doing daily tasks to offer your efforts up to God.

Now I want to mention two things, first that is why advertising works. They plant the seed in your mind and by continuing to expose your mind to it, that seed grows into a desire, that desire turns into money for the marketing firms and the producers of the products. You spend your money on it only to find you don’t really want, or need it any way, you have been deceived again.

Our society is not founded on spiritual principles that respect the divine being that resides in every person’s heart. It is not based on respecting others, or offering to help without thought of reward. It is founded on exploitation, greed, corporate slavery, media manipulation and distortion of the truth, fear, and deceit. Is this something we want to past down to the next generation?

Second if you don’t get what you want, this gives rise to anger however subtle it may be. If repeatedly denied something you want, frustration gradually turns into anger. From the repeated feelings of anger, samskaras or subtle impressions are created in the mind, which are like groves. These groves become channels for the negative energy and as the experience of anger is repeated the response becomes automatic. The anger will pull the soul into a downward spiral causing destruction, hate, cruelty, arrogance, suffering and negative karma for the future.

It takes conscious effort on the part of a person to resist the natural inclination of these negative habits that can range from hate greed, lust, and selfishness, to the darkness of delusion and serious mental illness. Because if they are not checked by self discipline they will lead ultimately to ones destruction.

How many here have walked or passed through the lower east-side of Vancouver and watched, even briefly, the lost soul’s there? Have you seen that state of misery in which these souls struggle?
Have you not had the thought, Oh God how can they live like that?

Are they not deluded and fast approaching the destruction of their bodies, and further degrading their soul? Think about this for a moment, because it is very important, to realize that we look just as bad off to higher evolved souls. They too can see the degree to which we are also being degraded by desire and the ego. It is pride that blinds us to the critical state of our own soul, so think about this point for a moment.

Gradually a person no longer really controls their mind, but it is run by the one?s unconscious energies. These negative unconscious energies make a person act impulsively, when they become strongly ingrained.

It is with this knowledge, that I would like you to examine the insidious nature of advertising and the promotion of materialism.

Television is nothing more that a device created to expose you to a constant brainwashing of consumerism, coated with mindless entertainment, designed to keep you there as long as possible of your own volition, so they can expose you to more of their manipulation. There must be at some point a conscious decision to break from the herd, to break the spell of advertising hypnosis, and say NO to this insidious form of media manipulation.

(And you wonder where the stress is coming from?)

Have you not heard the saying, what does it profit a man if he were to gain the world, but lose his soul?

I want you to think about that for a moment

Even if you have the karma to create a Microsoft Corporation and become a multi-billionaire what is the point really, if you have no idea of what your life purpose is in this lifetime.

Is it only to take your next birth with the impressions of materialistic desire more deeply imprinted on your soul? If you only acquire for the sake of selfish desires, to cater to uncontrolled senses, not knowing your life purpose, you will have lived your life in vain.

It will only add to the mountain of impressions you have to burn up in the fire of your spiritual practices, in truth it can be a set back if you are doing the work with any desire for reward. What we need to do is to gradually detach our self from these tendencies that have been running us at this frantic pace to acquire and consume, and be a politically correct mindless slave to corporate rule and social acceptance.

We must use a very refined sense of discrimination to distinguish the real from the unreal, the temporary from the eternal, and the fleeting pleasures from effort to acquire spiritual wealth and divine wisdom.