“God will not ask you when and where you did service. He will ask, with what motive did you do it? What was the intention that prompted you? You may weigh the service and boast of its quantity. But God seeks quality - the quality of heart, the purity of mind, the holiness of motive.” — Sai Baba —
I pondered on this quotation and thought this is something one needs to be aware of. I was chatting and sharing with a colleague on being of service to other colleagues at work. We agreed that it is certainly better for one to work harmoniously with others and not with a lack of trust in others, always suspecting that others have an ulterior motive in whatever they say or do. This was what we had observed in another who has this tendency to think negatively of others and as such whenever this individual decided to give or help others, there was this expectation of something that must be received in return. The individual would be asking what benefit would I get out of this? There was always a motive behind the “act of service” or giving and it was obvious that the person was indulging in negative ego and fear-based thinking and building it all up in the mind. Very often, one can see that the individual tends to get angry, upset and emotional, moaning and groaning that there is no appreciation and /or reward received. Interestingly, recently I also observed that the individual wanted to claim credit when another received an award for some competition he participated in.
This came to me as a reminder and a learning observation that one must constantly check self – one’s intent and purpose and what motivates one to do something whatever it maybe. The negative ego is always ready to stir one’s thoughts and work hard at justifying its negative, fear-based, separative reasons. It can be so convincing that one can easily fall into its trap without realizing it if one is not alert and vigilant with one’s own thinking. The moment one is aware and catches such thoughts, it is necessary to release and drop them as quickly as possible and replace them with positive, Christed thoughts. Positive, Christed thoughts will create positive attitudes and feelings such as peace, happiness and joy, harmony, open-mindedness, patience, accepting, humility, etc.
How would one know if one is trapped by the negative ego within one’s mind – it is easy, it’s the exact opposite of the positive when one begins to feel negative ego created emotions and adopt negative ego attitudes such as anger, unhappiness, dissatisfaction, hurt, pride, judgementalness, critical, boastful, disappointment, anxious, aggressive, defensive, etc. All these will cloud one’s mind and heart and one’s intent. To set one’s thinking and one right with self, and with others, one needs to examine and correct one’s intent and motive.
This is all a learning process if one is awake, aware and willing to make the adjustments in one’s thinking process within one’s mind and consciousness. One will gradually be able to see and think with more clarity of mind and serve with purity of heart and compassion.
“Selfless service alone gives the needed strength and courage to awaken the sleeping humanity in one’s heart.” – Sai Baba –
