Baba says, ‘give your bones in doing service‘. Do all-round service. 

I come to Baba after half a cycle of sorrow driven from a lack of belonging and identity. He reminds me of my identity- I am a peaceful soul and of the fact that I belong to Him. He also tells me the story of the world drama, how the new becomes old and has to become new again. I am here to re-establish the new world again, He says and asks for my help. I raise my hand in disbelief that God Himself is asking me to help Him. I cannot believe my fortune.

Then, I get started on my journey. The more I learn, the more I want to serve, to help in Baba’s task. He says, ‘you must sacrifice your bones in service‘. I am ready to do just that!

I look around at what others are doing and I make grand plans of my own – I want to give lectures, read the Murli, teach a class, conduct a workshop. I understand the knowledge, I can explain it well and therefore, it holds that I should be given the opportunity.

I dislike doing chores at home, I get frustrated when the hired help does not arrive on time. But I am first in line to do those same chores at the center because that is ‘service’. Some children even think: I am no good at speaking the knowledge, this is all I can do and so it holds that I should be given the opportunity.

Some become teachers, even open new centers and so believe they have performed the highest ‘service’. They don’t bother with the duties around the center, I consider my duty to be reading the murli and making decisions. Everything else that needs to get done should be done by others.

When I am given the opportunity, I feel happy, otherwise, I feel as if I am falling behind for not fault of mine. I want to serve but I am not being put ahead by the instrument. Sometimes, I feel I don’t get enough credit for what I do. Other times, I get asked to work with individuals that have a working style that is different from mine. If only that person got reassigned or I got reassigned to something else, things would be much better. Baba has asked me to serve with my bones and even though I want to, there are so many obstacles in my path.

But, says Baba, ‘this not what is meant by serving with your bones‘.

He wants me to sacrifice the bones of ‘I’ and ‘mine’ – the preferences, the desires, the needs, the wants. Unless I sacrifice these old, brittle bones, I will not be able to serve. There will always be pain here or there. I tend to blame the pain on others or the environment or something else but it’s always those old, tired bones.

I have come to change you, He says. You are changing now.

If I am, I am willing to die alive every day. I am willing to sacrifice those old bones every day. When I get paired with someone whose style doesn’t match mine, I find a way to work with them…not out of compulsion but because I want to, because I care for Baba’s task, because I care for His family. I don’t say I only know to do this and not that…I learn. I become brave enough to put myself out there knowing that Baba is with me, He is teaching me. If I believe I am weak at explaining knowledge, let me practice explaining a particular point from the daily murli. I don’t require an audience, I explain it to myself.

I don’t think of certain duties as beneath me, I do all-round service, I am willing to do whatever needs to get done. Whatever is my Father’s task is my task, I offer my co-operation. I think of my home as Baba’s home and think of the chores there the same way I think of the ones at the center. Thinking that only activities done at the center count toward service is a sanskar of bhakti.

An activity, no matter what, whether it is opening a center or sweeping the floor is just that- an activity. That by itself is not service. Service is a mindset, it is an attitude.

Let me not fool myself into thinking that I am helping anyone by doing anything. If I do then that’s when I fall into the thinking of: I do so much around the center, I have opened so many centers, I have given so much and still there isn’t appreciation. No one helps anyone in this way, says Baba. Each one has to help themselves.

I do that by following Shrimat, the elevated directions. Keep all your treasures, relationships, virtues and your duties in front of you and check whether you are experienced in all of these things, says Baba. If something is missing in your experience of any of these, then make yourself full with that. If even one relationship or virtue is missing, you cannot be said to be full, He says. When I am not full in something, I seek it outside from others, from service. I cling on to those old, brittle bones to hold me up but ironically, that’s when things fall apart.

So, this Christmas, let me check my stock and see if there’s anything missing. If there is, let me fill myself up with it by connecting with the Source, the Powerhouse. Then, I won’t need those old bones, I become an angel and fly. Then, I don’t ask for opportunities, my very being serves automatically in every role, in every scene.