Theosophy - The Way of Service - by Geo.S.Arundale
THE WAY
OF SERVICE
by Geo.
S. ARUNDALE
THEOSOPHICAL PUBLISHING
HOUSE
American Branch
“KROTONA”
Hollywood. Los Angeles, California
1919
to ALCYONE
IN
WHOM THE SPIRIT OF SERVICE SHINES OUT UNDIMMED
FOREWORD
In
this little book will be found a few hints on the art of service which I
have gathered from my elders and from my own experience. I am still trying
to follow these hints, sometimes successfully, more often unsuccessfully;
but I feel that they are all true, and I am thankful to be permitted to share
them with others who - like myself - are learning how to serve.
Geo. S. Arundale
IF
you desire to be of service to others with advantage to them and without
danger to yourself, see that these three principles guide you in your service:
(i)
That your greatest joy is to tread the path of service;
(ii)
That you know yourself to be but the agent of some force greater than your
own which sends the power of service through you;
(iii)
That you see in others the same divine nature you yourself possess.
Remember
that everything you can say or think about another has probably already been
said or thought by others about you.
When
you yourself are injured in any way, remember that he who injures another
suffers more than the person injured.
Do
not allow the force of your affection for another to disturb
either your balance or his. Your service must strengthen and not weaken.
Do
not be jealous of another's greater power of service, rather be glad that
a greater power exists to help those whom your own weaker force may be unable
to reach.
When
you give, do not expect the recipient to keep the gift for himself alone.
Rejoice when the gift which has given him happiness makes glad another also.
When
you are in the act of helping another, try to be for the time the ideal from
which you have gained your power to serve. So shall you attain your ideal
and at the same time help more surely.
Do
not look for the fruits of your service, nor feel unhappy when no words of
gratitude come from him you help. It is the soul you serve and not the body,
and you may always see the gratitude of the soul, though the lips remain
silent.
Never
look for affection from those you love. If your love for them is true, sooner
or later it will enter their hearts and call forth response; if it is but
fleeting, better that they should escape the sorrow of some day knowing that
your love is gone.
Remember
that no one can truly serve who has not begun to gain control over himself.
The
best service is that which makes the burden light, not that which
takes it away.
You
will serve people best when you accept them as expressions of their own ideals.
Through
that which is best in him lies each man's best way of service. There are
as many ways of service as there are people in the world to be helped.
The
time for service is every moment of the day for though there may not always
be occasion for a kindly action, there is always occasion for a kindly attitude.
The
less a person thinks about himself, the more he is really paying attention
to his growth. Each little act of service returns to the doer in the shape
of an added power to serve.
If
a person rejects the way in which you wish to serve him, try to find out
another form of service. Your desire is to serve him, not to dictate to him
the way in which he must be helped.
Do
not be too shy to offer your help to anyone in need, whether you know him
or not. His need makes him your brother, but your shyness is a form of pride
which deprives him of a helper in the time of his trouble.
Do
not say to yourself: "I have given much help to others to-day." Rather
look to see whether you could not have given more, and think
how little you have really done to lessen all the misery and
trouble in the world.
Those
who are the best followers of great leaders are the best leaders for those
who know less, for no one can command wisely who has not learned to obey.
The
best way of inducing a person to take good advice is to follow it yourself.
Give
to others as much credit for good intentions as you would wish
bestowed upon yourself.
No
one is insulted unless he brings himself down within reach of the insult,
for an insult is a product of the lower nature and cannot affect the higher.
When
you think yourself better than others because you are learning to serve and
they apparently are not, in that moment you cease to serve.
True
service consists in sharing your life with another, and not in pointing yourself
out to him - directly or indirectly - as an estimable example.
It
is better to act first and to speak afterwards than to speak first and to
act afterwards, but it is generally best of all to act and then to be silent.
A
person's capacity to serve well can only be judged by the way in which he
leads his ordinary home life, not by the books he has written, nor by the
reputation he enjoys, nor by his public speeches or public actions. It is
not great public actions which make the great man, but the small daily acts
of self-denial which perhaps nobody notices.
He
who would serve to the uttermost must be prepared to give up all he has for
the sake of the privilege of service.
A person
may ask service of you in many ways, but you will serve him best by giving
him that which he needs and not that which he may want, even though he may
feel annoyance at the form your service takes. But try to put your service
in a way which makes it acceptable.
It
is no true service to give to another the help which in reality belongs to
some one else. Many people wish to serve in any way except the right way,
and neglect those they ought to serve for others whom they want to serve.
The
better the deed, the better the day.
There
is no one in the world who does not need something, and there is no one in
the world who cannot give something.
When
you are trying to serve someone, do not become impatient of his weaknesses.
His weaknesses give you the privilege of serving him, for if he had no weaknesses
he would need no service.
Just
as there is no grief which does not contain the promise of a future joy,
so there is no weakness which will not some day merge into a noble quality.
Try
to remember, when you are helping some one, that the force in his weakness
will become, through your help, the force of a future quality. You cannot
change the force, but you ought to try to change its form and its direction.
A little
help actually given out of your own existing resources is worth more than
the thought of how much better you would be able to serve were your resources
greater.
You
can best help another by displaying in your own character the qualities he
lacks.
The
way to test the value of your daily service to others is to notice whether
you are day by day growing more peaceful, more contented, happier, and more
tolerant.
The
world asks from you your own utmost service, not the utmost of some one else.
When you are doing all that you can, you are doing all that you ought.
Never
allow a person's rejection of your offer of service to be an excuse for refusing
any further help. He who refuses acts of service ends by needing them all
the more.
Be
careful how you reject loving service offered freely to you, for there is
as much service in receiving service as in performing it.
When
once you have served as wisely and as whole-heartedly as you can, do not
be anxious about the result; for the purity of your service returns in blessing
to the server, and surrounds with blessing the person served.
The
ideal reward of service is an increased power to love and therefore to serve.
A person
who is not truly happy cannot truly serve.
A service
lovingly rendered, though it prove unwise, cannot in the long run harm the
person whom you sought to help. The force of the love will protect him from
the harm of the unwisdom.
True
forgiveness of another consists in a loving and eager effort to help him
to avoid in future the weakness for which forgiveness is asked.
Sometimes
- but not often - it may be our duty to judge others; it is always our duty
to help them.
If
you desire to test your spiritual progress, look to see whether you neglect
fewer opportunities of service than formerly.
When
you are criticising another's form of service you are perhaps forgetting
that he is helping those to whom your own form of service cannot appeal.
Do
not be afraid to proclaim the origin of your own inspiration to serve, for
the knowledge of the source of your own happiness is one of the most beautiful
offerings you can make to the world.
Each
loving service you render to another is a guardian angel whom you have created
to be near him, encouraging him and protecting him. The more love you pour
into the service, the more life you give to the guardian angel, the longer,
therefore, will he live to encourage and to protect.
Do
not imagine that they alone serve whose acts of service are seen with physical
eyes. Some of the greatest acts of service are those which no one sees.
If
you postpone an act of service until to-morrow, you may have lost an opportunity
to serve, for that particular act may not be needed tomorrow and has not
been performed to-day.
One
of the most neglected acts of service is that of paying deliberate attention
to each person who comes to visit you. Half the act of service is over when
you have listened with interest to what he has to say.
When
you are suffering, try to remember that you are gaining, though perhaps with
difficulty, an added power to sympathise with the sufferings of others, for
when you have passed through a particular sorrow you can, at least to the
extent of the pain you have yourself endured, the better understand the pain
of such a sorrow to another.
There
are two aspects of the unity which those who would serve must understand:
The aspect of pain and the aspect of joy. The one teaches of a common struggle
which all must share, while the other proclaims a common goal towards which
all are bound.
The
judgment of the world upon your acts of service matters infinitely less than
the judgment of your heart.
Many
people are willing and able to serve somewhere. How many are willing and
able to serve anywhere ?
As
beautiful flowers are found in barren places, so is the most beautiful service
that which is rendered in times and places of greatest need.
As
even a little flame shines brightly in surrounding darkness, so does a little
act of service shine out clearly amidst surrounding selfishness.
The
more your surroundings are ugly, the greater the need to beautify them by
acts of service.
If
you are unable to discover opportunities for service where you are at present,
you will be unable to discover them in the place in which you would like
to be.
He
is most lonely and miserable in this world who, receiving many acts of service,
offers none in return.
Service
in the physical world is action, in the emotional world sympathy, in the
mental world understanding.
The
brightness of your day depends as much upon the shining of an act of service
as upon the shining of the sun.
The
best key with which, in the early morning, to unlock the storehouse of happiness
for the day is some little act of service eagerly and lovingly performed.
Service
is, like mercy, twice blessed: it blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
The
knowledge of the Self within is gained through the service of the Self without.
The
truest acts of service are those which we perform instinctively.
Service
is the expression of a quality in harmony with your duty to your surroundings.
For example, to those older in wisdom than yourself the truest expression
of love is reverence, while to those who know less it is protection.
With
some, service is conditional on the admiration and applause of those around
them; with others, it depends solely on the need of those around them.
Just
as there are fair-weather friends, so there are fair-weather servers. Look
into your heart that you may judge how unselfish is your desire to serve.
It
is sometimes difficult to realise that the man who has no friends needs our
friendship more than one who has many friends. If he cannot make friends,
all the more reason that we should make them for him.
People
who think they ought to be treated better by others are generally the very
people who themselves ought to treat others better.
One
of the truest signs of a pure affection is to be able to ask a favour from
a friend without being misunderstood.
God
records all acts of service, men only those which they can understand and
which they approve.
The
acts of service of many people have their origin in custom, ours must have
their origin in love.
The
cry of need is suffering, the cry of service is love.
While
correcting another's fault, imagine yourself as having committed it.
Do
not speak of others as you would not speak to them.
The
only knowledge worth having is that which draws you nearer to your fellow-men.
You
do not know more than others unless you love, and therefore serve, more than
others.
Those
who really know cannot be proud of their knowledge, for they know how ignorant
they are.
If
you are placed in authority over others, remember that while your position
may gain for you their flattery, only your qualities will win their love.
When
you are among strangers think how you are to earn their goodwill rather than
how to impress them with your own estimate of your importance.
The
worship of God lies in the service of His worlds.
If
you are able to acknowledge your mistakes, people will gladly acknowledge
your virtues.
If
you begin to feel proud of your influence, examine how far it is due to position
and how far to character. Every person in a position of power has an influence
of a certain kind.
Be
very careful not to favour persons at the expense of duty.
True
devotion is that which serves, not that which clings.
It
is better to begin by adapting yourself to your work, rather than to complain
because the work does not adapt itself to you.
True
meditation results in an added power to serve, and in a decreasing absorption
in our own personal progress.
People
who express dissatisfaction with the manner in which their services are recognised
have not yet learned what true service really is.
Be
careful to see that your acts of service surpass your promises.
It
is no true act of service the performance of which prevents you from fulfilling
a duty.
In
times of difficulty, silent sympathy is generally more valuable than ignorant
activity.
People
who feel that there are no services for them to perform often forget the
existence of animals and plants.
People
who have no time in which to give service somehow manage to find plenty of
time in which to receive it.
One
of the rarest acts of service is to refrain from judging a person unheard.
Our
illnesses help us to understand that acts of service exist as much in the
attitude of the mind as in the activity of the body.
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