Everything Is the Lord’s Service

As we go through our life pursuing our goals, we tend to separate the spiritual from the world. After we sit in meditation in the morning, we usually rush off to face the world – our careers, our families and the numerous obligations that fill our day. Seldom are we mindful of the Lord’s presence and grace in our lives. However, as Maharaj Charan Singh says:

Whatever you do in this world to keep your Master within you or keep yourself with the Master is meditation, is a part of meditation. Whether you are properly sitting or just sitting quietly, full of love and devotion for the Master, or hearing the Sound, seeing the Light – whatever you are doing, even worldly work – if your Master is with you in your mind, in your heart, if all your dealings conform to the teachings, to the commands of the Master, then you are with the Master. That is why we say that Sant Mat is not only meditation; it is a way of life.
_{Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. III}

We sometimes experience glimpses of this realization. After a spell of inspiration following a Dera visit, or perhaps a good stretch of meditation, we feel great love for the Lord. Often, we become disinterested in the world, feeling inclined instead to do more seva and meditation.

It often escapes us that our lives in the world are an integral part of our service to the Lord. The world is so relevant to our daily lives that it is our conscious reality – yet we divorce it from our spiritual lives. But as disciples, we must realize that this world of illusion is still the Lord’s play, and a good disciple must understand that even as we serve the world, we serve the Lord as well.

We are but simple caretakers of all we have. As we move around every day – earning a living, serving our families, relating to others in the various roles our karmas dictate, let us remember that this world is still the Lord’s domain. Everything we are and everything that we will ever be is by his grace and his grace alone. It therefore follows that everything we do is service to the Lord.

For me the time of action does not differ from the time of prayer, and in the noise and clatter of my kitchen, while several persons are together calling for as many different things, I possess God in as great tranquillity as when upon my knees as the blessed sacrament.
_{Brother Lawrence, The Practise of the Presence of God}

Henceforth, we must do our very best in both our spiritual and worldly lives. We cannot neglect one in favour of the other, since balance requires our efforts in both worlds. Also, our pralabdh karmas have to be burned as part of our destiny. We have to face all the challenges our fate brings, as there is no escaping from karma.

We have to do both things. We have to live in the world, but we have to meditate also. We have to keep the balance, because a certain load of karma can be cleared only by facing life, not just by attending to meditation. When we become too absorbed in meditation, sometimes the Master withdraws the grace so that we work in the world also. You are not to leave your worldly work. Rather you may even be pushed to the world, to face the world.
_{Maharaj Charan Singh, Spiritual Perspectives, Vol. III}

Let us just bear in mind that the Master is always with us, guiding us in all our worldly and spiritual struggles. In any case, if we humbly offer all we do as we walk this earth as a human being and as a sincere devotee, we can be confident that the life we live is a life for our Lord.

As Baba Jaimal Singh wrote to Maharaj Sawan Singh:

All the worldly work you are doing is service rendered to the Master. Meditation is also the Master’s service.
_{As quoted in Heaven on Earth}