Achariya Fritz Kramer
Speaks on "Self Service"
Sunday, September 20, 2015
With the final days of summer upon us, let us join together and ground ourselves in practice after a beautiful season of both relaxation and activity. This Sunday may we see beyond the seemingly transactional nature of our day-to-day lives, and meditate on the divine ideal of service. We will take time to view this pillar of the spiritual life in the light of devotion, in the light of action, and consider not just what we do, but more importantly, how we do it.
—Achariya Fritz
From the Gurus and Swamis: AUM
"Service, in tandem with meditation, is a necessary ingredient of Self-Realization. Service should be a positive expression of devotion and gratitude to God and Guru. To Self-Realization, I give my hands, my feet, my soul and I pray all may do the same.”
—Swami Yogananda Paramhansa
"In this world always take the position of the giver. Give everything and look for no returns. Give love, give help, give service, give any little thingyou can, but keep out barter. Make no conditions and none will be imposed. Let us give out of our own bounty, just as God gives to us."
—Swami Vivekananda
"In reality, through all your personal actions you primarily render service to your spiritual self and secondarily to your sensory self. In this wisdom you truly understand that whatever you do unto yourself or unto others, you do it unto the living soul of man."
—Swami Premananda
Noble Thoughts: ("Let Noble Thoughts come to us from all sides." —Rigveda)
"Everybody can be great. Because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve...You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love."
—Martin Luther King, Jr., Quoted in “Through God's Eyes,” Phil Bolsta
"And what is it to work with love?
It is to weave the cloth with threads
drawn from your heart, even as if your
beloved were to wear that cloth...
Work is love made visible."
—Kahlil Gibran, “The Prophet”
"Just as the phenomena in the natural world are there to be enjoyed and utilized by others, so must our own entire being and existence be available to them. It is only when we start thinking in such terms that we can develop the powerful thought that 'I will dedicate my entire being to the benefit of others. I exist solely to be of service to them.' Such powerful sentiments express themselves outwardly in acts that benefit sentient beings, and in that process our own needs are fulfilled."
—The Dalai Lama, “An Open Heart”
"One to whom the whole world is as his family should have the power of serving the universe without moving from his place. He can exercise this power only through service rendered to his neighbor."
—M. K. Gandhi, “Ashram Observances in Action”