To Rule Or To Serve

We have to perform action, so let us do it whole-heartedly and let us choose the form of action that we want to do. Now the choice is just this-- either to rule or to serve. [...]

Every moment, act with tremendous intensity, without giving it a single moment's break. Only if you have known intense action can you know inaction. Only a man who works intensely can know what rest is. So this non-doing business, if you really want to know it, first you must discover what doing is. That is the whole meaning of sacrifice. It is only out of that, that something else happens -- both inside and outside -- which can never be put into words.

There have been many sages in the world, realized beings who, even today, are spreading their energy, but by themselves, they are not able to do anything. Only a few are unceasingly at it, day in and day out and only out of this, something can be created. This is how Vivekananda's are created. They are not born. This is how Mahatma Gandhi's are created. This is how every powerful individual in the world is created. This is the science of creating a truly powerful being.

And this is not power to rule. This is not a power that can be taken away at any moment. Nobody can take it away, because wherever you are put, that is what you do. If you want to rule, you have to sit on the seat. If somebody pulls you off the seat, you will be miserable. This is not like that. Wherever you are put, you just do your work. It does not matter what the situation is, what the result of your action is, because that's what you do anyway. If they put you in hell, that is what you do. If they put you in heaven, that is what you do. This releases you from action. First of all, this releases you from the fruit of the action.

Once you are released from the fruit of the action, the action will happen by itself. You don't have to stop working to be released from action. Simply, it will dissolve, melt and disappear. Once the expectation of the fruit of action is completely removed from your life, the action occurs by itself. You don't have do anything about it.

--Jaggi Vasudev