The False Duality Between "Job" And "Service"

 Work is worship-no matter what kind of work we do.There are many faces of work. No one face is better than the other face.The face that looks down on other faces is not a service face. Humility is an integral part of service. Service done from the heart induces inner joy, inner reward and a deep sense of fulfillment. Recognition or admiration for the service we do is like frosting on the cake. We cook the food for serving with no expectation in return.

We are a part of the system-social, financial and political. When a system serves the need of a privileged group of people by excluding others, it needs to be changed. Such self-serving systems need radical change to survive and flourish. I have witnessed the great service work done by Mahatma Gandhi for untouchables in India. He blazed a new trial which slowly became a high way.

Work does not have to be against service. This is my personal experience. I have been working as a teacher and counselor all my life. It has been my inward call. It has brought great joy, happiness and fulfillment in my life. Many lives have been gracefully touched by the work I l love do and my life has also been graciously been touched by many hands.

It is the spirit of the work that makes it service. Work and service join hands making living blissful.

May we make our work worship by doing greater good!

Namaste.

Jagdish P Dave

 The word 'detachment'  as  explained in vedas and Geeta does never mean running away from one and all. It is merely mental attitude of dis=possession , knowing fully well that nothing (or nobody) here belongs to me. Geeta says "yogah karmashu kaushalam" doing your work (whatever you are doing) dexterously is in itself 'YOGA' We can very well do serve people  while doing a (paid) job, similarly, there are many who convert their 'service' into an earning enterprise.  In essence, we have to perform well, to the best of our ability in our job or even in our own enterprise and if we do so honestly we are doing a good service.  

What a brilliant and provocative piece. This duality and tension has always impacted me as someone who is very much in the work/paycheck/mortgage paradigm and sometimes feeling judged for my commitment to stay in this paradigm for now. Big ups for the courage in airing the shadow side of service - it is very rare to get a chance to hear about this in such an authentic, truth telling way, from someone who has walked around the entire perimeter of work/pay/service/gift economy and seen many angles and lived so many parts of the puzzle.  Thank you for the raw and real thoughts.