Listen

One quality that all spiritually advanced people share is the service attitude. This attitude of service to Kṛṣṇa is the most valuable possession for anyone who wants to make spiritual advancement. In material consciousness, we are all competing to see who can be the master. But this is all illusion. We are not masters, but servants. When Sanatana Gosvami asked Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu about the svarupa or eternal constitutional position of every living being, the Lord replied:

jivera 'svarupa' haya—krsnera 'nitya-dasa'
krsnera 'tatastha-sakti' 'bhedabheda-prakasa

“It is the living entity's constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṇa and a manifestation simultaneously one and different from the Lord.” [Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 20.108]

Therefore the svarupa, or constitutional position, of the living being is to render service to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. If we analyze this statement of Lord Caitanya, we can easily understand that every living being is constantly engaged in rendering service to other living beings. A living being serves other living beings in various capacities. By doing so, the living entity enjoys life, because this exchange of service is a symptom of love.

One friend serves another friend, the mother serves the children, the wife serves the husband, the husband serves the wife, the employee serves the employer, the citizen serves the state and so on. If we go on searching like this, it will be seen that there is no exception in the society of living beings to the activity of service. The politician presents his manifesto for the public to convince them of his capacity for service to the country. The voters serve the politician by casting their valuable votes, thinking that he will render valuable service to society. The shopkeeper serves the customer, and the artisan serves the capitalist. The capitalist serves the family, and the family serves the state.

If we look at life in terms of the eternal service capacity of the eternal living being, we can see that no living being is exempt from rendering service to other living beings. We can therefore conclude that service is the constant occupation of the living being, and that rendering service is the eternal religion or dharma of the living being.

However, not all kinds of service have the same value. Service on the material platform is temporary, like everything material. So we may think that service to the family, society, corporation, nation, religion and so forth is very nice, but all service on the material platform is subject to the laws of material existence. We cannot find complete satisfaction in the service of temporary material objectives, because the tendency to serve is the eternal nature and dharma of the eternal living being.

Therefore the real service is spiritual, and the real object or beneficiary of such eternal spiritual service is the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

In the Esoteric Teaching it is said that a person whose only desire is to render transcendental loving service to the Lord is spiritually liberated in any condition of material existence. That service attitude is the svarupa, or real form, of the living entity. Lord Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu also confirms this statement by declaring that the real, spiritual form of the living entity is eternal servitorship to the Supreme Lord.

jivera svabhava—Kṛṣṇa-'dasa'-abhimana
dehe atma-jnane acchadita sei 'jnana'

“The original nature of every living entity is to consider himself the eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa. However, under the influence of maya, he thinks himself to be the body, and thus his original consciousness is covered.” [Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 24.201]

The Mayavadi school of impersonal liberation rejects the notion of a service attitude as a fundamental attribute of the living entity. They do not know that in the transcendental world, service to the Supreme Lord is based on transcendental love. Transcendental loving service, or bhakti, can never be compared to the forced service in the material world.

In the material world, even if one is under the conception that he is no one’s servant, he is still the servant of his senses, under the dictation of the material modes. Factually no one is master here in the material world, and therefore the servants of the senses have a very bad experience of servitude. They shudder at the thought of service because they have no knowledge of the transcendental position.

In transcendental loving service, the servitor is as free as the Lord. The Lord is svarat, or fully independent, and the servant is also fully independent, or svarat, in the spiritual atmosphere because there is no forced service. Transcendental loving service is due to spontaneous love. A reflected glimpse of such service is experienced in the service of the mother unto the son, the friend’s service unto the friend, or the wife’s service unto the husband. These reflections of service by friends, parents or wives are not forced, but are due only to love.

Here in this material world, however, the loving service is only a reflection. The real service, or service in svarupa, is present in the transcendental world, in association with the Lord. The very same service in transcendental love can be practiced in devotion here, by performance of the process of bhakti-yoga as instructed in Bhagavad-gita and other Vedic scriptures.

jivera 'svarupa' haya—krsnera 'nitya-dasa'
krsnera 'tatastha-sakti' 'bhedabheda-prakasa

“It is the living entity's constitutional position to be an eternal servant of Kṛṣṇa because he is the marginal energy of Kṛṣṇa and a manifestation simultaneously one and different from the Lord.” [Caitanya-caritamrta, Madhya-lila 20.108]

When the living entity is situated in visuddha-sattva, pure consciousness transcendental to the three material modes of nature, he can perceive the form, quality and other features of the Supreme Personality of Godhead through his service attitude. The status of visuddha-sattva, pure goodness, is the only platform of understanding that supports full self-realization, for the Supreme Lord is always in spiritual existence beyond the modes of material nature. When one is completely free from material attachment, feelings of transcendental loving ecstasy spontaneously awaken in the heart of the devotee.

That is svarupa-siddhi, the perfection of one's eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord. Svarupa-siddhi, the form of one’s eternal relationship with the Supreme Lord, is expressed in one of five transcendental mellows: neutrality, servitorship, friendship, parenthood or conjugal love. Each of these mellows, or rasas, is perfect. But by comparative study we can realize that the rasa of servitorship is better than the rasa of neutrality. The rasa of fraternity is better than the rasa of servitorship. Similarly, the parental rasa is better than that of fraternity. Above all other rasas is the mellow of conjugal love. However, all rasas are situated on the spiritual platform because all these relationships of perfection in love are based on a central point: service to Sri Kṛṣṇa.

evam nrnam kriya-yogah
sarve samsrti-hetavah
ta evatma-vinasaya
kalpante kalpitah pare

“When all a man's activities are dedicated to the service of the Lord, those very activities which caused his perpetual bondage become the destroyer of the tree of work.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 1.5.34]

Bhagavad-gita compares the fruitive work which has perpetually shackled the living being to the material world with chains of karma, to a banyan tree, for it is certainly very deeply rooted. As long as we maintain the propensity for enjoying the fruits of one’s work, we have to consider that this will continue the transmigration of the soul from one body to another, according to the nature of our work. The propensity for material enjoyment may be transformed into the desire for serving the mission of the Lord by following the instructions of the Esoteric Teaching given by the spiritual master.

In doing so, one’s ordinary activity or karma is changed into karma-yoga, by which one can attain spiritual perfection while engaging in the work for which he has a natural tendency. When the result of all fruitive work and other service is dovetailed with devotional service to the Lord, it ceases to generate further karma, and gradually develops into transcendental devotional service. This karma-yoga will not only completely cut off the root of the banyan tree of work, but will also carry the performer to the lotus feet of the Lord in the spiritual world, where he will attain a perfect spiritual body to continue his service to the Lord eternally.

The path of real spiritual advancement begins from seeking the association of pure devotees, who not only are learned in Vedanta, but are self-realized souls and unalloyed devotees of Lord Sri Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead. In that association, the neophyte devotee must render loving service physically and mentally without reservation. This service attitude will induce the great souls to be more favorable in bestowing their mercy, which injects the neophyte with all the transcendental qualities of the pure devotees.

ahimsaya paramahamsya-caryaya
smrtya mukundacaritagrya-sidhuna
yamair akamair niyamais capy anindaya
nirihaya dvandva-titiksaya ca

“A candidate for spiritual advancement must be nonviolent, must follow in the footsteps of great acaryas, must always remember the nectar of the pastimes of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, must follow the regulative principles without material desire and, while following the regulative principles, should not blaspheme others. A devotee should lead a very simple life and not be disturbed by the duality of opposing elements. He should learn to tolerate them.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 4.22.24]

Gradually this service attitude develops into a strong attachment to hearing the transcendental pastimes of the Lord, which makes the candidate able to understand the constitutional position of the soul in relation to the gross and subtle bodies. When he gives up the attachment to the gross and subtle bodies, he realizes the knowledge of pure spiritual existence and experiences his eternal relationship with the Supreme Soul, the Personality of Godhead. After one’s rasa or eternal relationship with the Lord is ascertained by deep experience of self-realization and spontaneous love, pure devotional service to the Lord begins, gradually developing into perfect knowledge of the Personality of Godhead beyond the purview of impersonal Brahman and localized Paramatma.

yada rahitam atmanam
bhutendriya-gunasayaih
svarupena mayopetam
pasyan svarajyam rcchati

“When you are free from the conception of gross and subtle bodies and when your senses are free from all influences of the modes of material nature, you will realize your pure form in My association. At that time you will be situated in pure consciousness.” [Srimad-Bhagavatam 3.9.33]

By such purusottama-yoga, as it is stated in the Bhagavad-gita, one is made perfect even during the present bodily existence, and one exhibits all the good qualities of the Lord to the highest percentage. This path of the Esoteric Teaching is the gradual development of self-realization by association of pure devotees, and it all begins from accepting a bona fide spiritual master, and carefully following his instructions with a nice service attitude.

Next: A Personal Message