Being selfless fully

How to be fully selfless? I Mohanji

We all have a feeling, when we do something, that we are doing it, that we are the doer. We all feel like that, and it’s true as well, in a way. All our life, we have felt, ‘I have studied, I passed the exam. I got the honours.’ All these ‘I’, and this is actually an inspiration for us, we achieved something. Even in doing charity, as you said, when we do something, I am doing it. So, this is a big gratification for me. This is normal for us; it’s natural for us. 

Ownership

On various levels, we have ownerships, even to our relatives; this person is mine – my husband, my wife, my children, my father. This ownership is a part of our existence. That’s one of the major connections that we have possessions, positions and relations, are the three most important binding factors that control us.

What is the root cause of karma?

Ownership.

Look at the tree, the plants, the sun, the wind. They are doing their Dharma (duty) without expecting anything. The sun is a presence, the sun does not intend to give you light or heat, but the sun’s nature is to give light and heat. We take the light and heat from the sun, but the sun is not deciding anything. A tree is giving you oxygen, but the tree is not thinking I’m giving oxygen now, this quantity today, another quantity the next day. 

The Mind

But what is making us feel ownership?

The local mind. The mind, which is connected to your personality, social position, power, affluence, or whatever you have, ‘I’m so and so.’ – all these things are binding factors. This is preventing us from being fully free.

I’ll give you an example. Imagine you’re doing so many things each day; imagine a time when you couldn’t do it. How will you feel? Straight away down. So, this is something; it’s like a daily tea or a coffee. If you don’t have it one day, you feel so low. Ownership is also like that. Ownership is fine when you can have it. But life is not like that. 

Awareness

Now in the COVID situation, so many things have changed, even people with money cannot exercise it, cannot use it, people are stuck in buildings. What happened then? Power changed. The flavour of power changed; things changed. Things change; life changes. Awareness is the best thing here; we must have clear awareness. Like when we connect to the sun and sea, the sun is not expecting anything back, but we have an Earth, and we have life on Earth because of the sun’s presence.

Awareness is very important; that is good enough. Awareness is almost like diagnosis just like when you know what is in your body, if you’re clearly aware and then the doctor is clearly aware of what’s your physical condition, the treatment is very easy. 

Like that, “Hey, I have an ego.” That awareness is enough. Or, ‘I’m having a pleasure when I’m serving’, so it’s not all that innocent, or it’s not all that unconditional, that thought is enough.

Observe yourself

Once you understand it, then you will be observing yourself, you will witness yourself going through the process, and eventually, you will come out of it. If you are really deeply connected to nature, nature tells us all this. If you watch the sun, how the sun works, it expects nothing; it gives everything; how the tree works, how everything in nature works. A plant gives fruits. It’s not expecting; it doesn’t know who is going to eat them. A flower blooms; it has no idea who is going to get its fragrance; maybe it’s also wasted. But the plant is not worried about it. 

Selflessness

That level of selflessness happens when you really connect to nature. If you observe nature everywhere, you will see that – totally happy, peaceful. The flower blooms, sometimes honeybees come. Sometimes butterflies come, sometimes insects come. Maybe the wind will bring the fragrance to somebody’s nose. But who’s nose? Nobody knows like that. 

Purity

Similarly, everything is unconditional. You can see unconditional life in nature; you try connecting to it, automatically, purification starts. That’s why I always tell children should be exposed to nature a lot, rather than the schools; what do they teach in schools? Skills to cheat somebody, steal from somebody, run, compete, compare, things like that. But what children really need is to connect to nature, connect to birds, animals.

If you look at an animal, it is clearly and purely bound by its inclinations, tendencies, and it’s nature. There is nothing else, no deviation. As soon as a dog comes to a place, it makes its boundary. Okay, this is my boundary, this is what I have to take care, and it knows who to protect. When it goes to another place, immediately it creates its boundary. Like that, they follow their instincts and nature 100%. 

But look at us; we have all the worries, anxieties, memories of the past, comparisons, competitions and criticism, what sort of a state we are in. We got to pick ourselves up and bring ourselves to the level where we are able to love without any expectation. That will change everything.

Transcribed by Ula Bernholdt

Proofread by Rekha Murali