How can we continue to serve without aspiration?

[This question was asked as part of the evening satsaṅga with Swami, at the house of Shri Pavan K.

Shri Karthik asked: Whenever we attempt to follow Your knowledge and do service without any aspiration for the fruit, we are discouraged because immediately, we get trapped by the desire for some fruit in return. It causes us to stop making any further effort. How can we overcome this problem?]

Swami replied: There are three types of people. The lowest type never start any work due to the fear of failure in the future. The middle type start, do some work and then stop, due to some failure. The highest type of people start the work and finally stop only when they achieve success in it, even if they have to face a hundred hurdles on the way. You have ascended from the lowest type to the middle type. Now you have to ascend from the middle to highest type. God gives a human birth to souls as the last chance for them to reform, irrespective of their eligibility based on the file of their karma. If He were to strictly grant births to souls, as per their karma files, most people would, at the most, get births of insects, rats or dogs! The majority would never qualify for the rarest and most precious human birth. This human birth is the last grace shown by God towards souls. Unless souls at least begin the spiritual effort, it is impossible for them to be reborn as a human being in their next birth. For souls who do not even start their spiritual effort, human rebirth will certainly not be granted (Manuṣyatvaṃ mumukṣutvaṃ…, Jantunāṃ narajanma durlabhamidam…—Śaṅkara). As long as you continue your spiritual effort, without giving up, irrespective of success or failure, God will certainly give you any number of human rebirths. But if you do not start the effort or if you start the effort, but stop it, discouraged by failure, you cannot even dream of getting the next human rebirth! Lord Krishna emphasized this point in the beginning of the Gita itself. He said that one should continue working, irrespective of success or failure and profit or loss (Samekṛtvā lābhālābhau jayājayau).

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| Shri Datta Swami | Manushyatvam mumukshutvam Jantunaam narajanma durlabhamidam Samekrutvaa laabhaalaabhau jayaajayau Shankara

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