If a devotee desires to serve You by Karma Samnyasa only, is that desire also considered selfishness?

[Mrs. Priyanaka asked: Swāmi, the joy attained by serving You is not comparable to any other joys. It is a great blessing given by You to any devotee. Having said that, in the context of Karma Saṃnyāsa only, if a devotee has a desire to serve you, is having that desire also considered selfishness?]

Swāmi replied:- The word selfishness applies to Pravrutti or worldly life involving worldly bonds only. The journey is from worldly bonds to the bond with God. The journey is not from bond to no bond. It is from negative to positive and is not from negative to zero. Zero stands between negative and positive. People concentrating on detachment from worldly bonds will reach the zero point. They can’t stand there for a long time because the mind needs some type of bond. They will return to the worldly bonds with double force. Service and Sacrifice are done by householders. Service is done by Saints. This means that the soul shall do both or at least one based on the condition in which the soul exists. If the condition is that the sacrifice can’t be done, the service can be done. A saint unable to do any sacrifice, does only service and such service of the saint is equal to the sacrifice of the entire wealth and kingdom of a king. One coin of the beggar or one small fruit of poor lady is equal to the above mentioned sacrifice of the king.

Total surrender is the important basic and not the magnitude of the surrendered item. Of course, total surrender is the goal and possible partial surrender is the path. Without travelling in the path, one can’t reach the goal. Hence, in the initial stage, concentration shall be on the path and not on the goal. One shall not keep the goal in the starting stage itself. Thinking that goal is not achieved in the beginning itself, one shall not neglect the path. What I mean is that thinking about Saktuprastha; one shall not resist the initial partial sacrifice also. Thinking that one cannot donate all the food to the guest, one shall not avoid the donation of even little food as done by Saktuprastha. The person in the starting point is involved in 100% family bonds only and the person in the end point is involved in 100% bond with God only. Both these persons do not need the test from God. Only the person travelling in the path from starting point to the end point is tested by God so that the traveller can recognise the real distance travelled by him/her. Divine tests are only to help the Spiritual aspirant present in the Spiritual path and not for sadistic enjoyment of God.

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