To Help and Serve...And Nothing More!

A couple of months back i had visited a Gurudwara, and the one thing that draws me back time and again to any Gurudwara is the culture of self-less service that it so proactively promotes. Anybody and everybody can volunteer to help out in any ongoing activity there.

Many times i have seen people getting out of swanky cars and helping in sorting and storing footwear, washing used plates and glasses, cutting vegetables, serving water, serving food...and volunteering to do any 'menial' jobs and that too, just for the sake of service.

I am no expert on the tenets of the religion, but what i take away each time i visit the place, is the simplicity and the all-encompassing spirit of service. They are selfless offerings of time, work and help without any ego and expectations.

If only, we can bring that aspect of ego-less service and offer it to people around us without expectations...wouldn't that make life really worth living!

Somehow, our egos and expectations always come into play when dealing with people around us, be it our family, friends, colleagues, neighbors...Whatever we may claim or say, deep down in our hearts there is a sense of expectation when we do the same things, for the people we know.

Even in the most selfless acts, if nothing else, we still crave, for some sort of an acknowledgement of the things done, some kind of reciprocation in the form of love and affection. Are we then not caught in a give and take barter system most of the time?

Wouln't now be a good time to bring that aspect of selfless service, devoid of ego, devoid of all expectations, devoid of all give and take equations into our lives. To be able to just help and serve and nothing more...