Attitude of various people to service of God

[dattaswami]

Attitude of various people to service of God

There are three persons. One takes the entire salary for his day-to-day expenses without any saving for the old age. The second person takes some salary for expenses and saves some for old age. The third person saves the entire salary for the old age and leads a simple life by doing some side work because the old age needs lot of money for curing illness etc. All these three are not different in the view of the employer because the basic selfishness is one and the same.

Similarly, one serves God only for the happiness in the world. The second person serves God for this world and also for the upper world. The third person serves God only for the upper world and in this world he leads a simple life by doing some work for lively hood. All these three are not the real devotees. Shankara says that a real devotee should serve God without aspiring anything in return in this world as well as in the upper world (Ihamutraphalaviragah…..). This is a very clear point for the real love as can be observed in the worldly life also. The parents love their children and serve them without aspiring anything in return from them and hence the paternal love is said to be real and pure. On this point, no scripture is needed as evidence because it is a very much-established point even in the worldly affair.