‘Service before self’ far more than a motto

Maj Gen Ravi N Tikku (Retd)

Educationist

The iconic global motto ‘service before self’ is a powerful tool to understand life and how to live it right, particularly for the young minds, in today’s bizarre times.

This motto is increasingly finding a place in the vision and mission statements of eminent schools and educational societies in India. Rotary International has ‘service above self’ motto, a slight variant, where the Rotarians place service to others above service to self. In the National Defence Academy (NDA), the cradle of military leadership in India, each cadet is imbued with the spirit of this exceptional credo, where he first learns the importance of putting the organisational requirements well above his own. Its Hindi translation is Seva Parmo Dharma.

And yet, the spirit of ‘service before self’ has not been understood in the right perspective. The big question is whether ‘service’ and ‘self’ are mutually inclusive (oneness) or mutually exclusive (separate).

‘Service’ and ‘self’ echo a bit of confusion about what they actually mean. These are not separate domains or mutually exclusive, such that one is forced to choose between them. Service is an expression of the true self, not something that one does because they are ‘selfless’.

Every such expression of the true self exudes virtues from the inside. ‘Service’ and ‘self’ are mutually inclusive. The duality of love-hate, good-evil, selfish-selfless, though opposing and competing forces, they are really complementary. They are two sides of the same coin, where awareness helps you to see non-duality or ‘not two’ of the qualified whole, as explained in the Advaita Vedanta philosophy — a (not) and dvaita (two). True self does not entertain duality.

Let us illustrate this with some thought-provoking and contrarian views for greater clarity.

You will hear people talk about ‘service to others’ as being a core value. But that is not quite right. We want others to be of service as well, right? So, if I am serving others, whom are they serving? Can they not serve themselves while they are serving hers? So, then why do I need to serve them? And so forth… it’s a bit messy, and it gets into weird territory like “I should give all my money to the poor.”

This could be a sensitive and misunderstood issue for some because society has taught you to put others ahead of you. We need to serve ourselves, get our life in order, get to where we need to be, and then serve others if that is what you desire to do. On a plane, when the oxygen masks come down, you are told to put yours on first and then help others.

The point of service is to serve the whole, which is different from ‘serving others’. The whole includes all. This kind of service is like ‘growing a greater whole’ from the whole we already have. If you can recognise your true self, you can see service in any expression of the whole, whether it is feeding the hungry, or cleaning the sidewalk, or uplifting young minds. Then ‘wholeness’, ‘non-duality’, ‘unity’ and advaita are all terms for the totality of the movement that includes everyone and everything.

Our education and upbringing has not taught us who and what we really are. It has taught us what we want! And ‘want’ translates into endless desires and mindless actions that brings to the fore the ego or false self. The ego is generated by the mind. When the ego defines a person, it is manifested by egocentrism: ‘me, me, and more me.’

That kind of singular focus on serving the ego is mutually exclusive with anything that looks like ‘service’. The ego will serve a greater value only if it can see a way to serve its own needs indirectly. Service is just a means to a personal end, in that case.

This gives rise to distorted perceptions of ‘service before self’. Some people think that the cure for egocentrism is to force oneself to serve. There is some limited power in that. But it should be seen as one of the many tools for awakening, rather than being the solution. You do want to see the ego for what it is and keep its role limited because doing otherwise is a form of confusion that causes suffering.

The solution lies in restraining the senses and subduing the ego to access the true self. True self leads us above and beyond the limit of our little ego and consequent toxic duality.

When you develop the awareness of who you really are, you also see the sameness in what the others are. Then, the sense of ‘I am serving’ is not there at all. Service is a natural action of doing what is to be done, without the condescending approach towards helping others, sometimes called ‘service to others’. There is oneness in ‘service’ and ‘self’. This idea of being mindful of the entire experience, and not just focused on one element of it, can also be applied to the way we live our lives.

The Bhagavad Gita must be revived in the school and college curricula to uplift students in actualising their potential. Nishkama Karma — ‘action without motive’ and ‘work without desire or attachment’ — is the central theme and a recipe for wellbeing. Lord Krishna embraces life in its totality. He is full of love and compassion, and yet he has the courage to accept and fight a war.

In contrast, Bhishma, the most respected figure of the dynasty, always hid behind the veil of an oath to serve Hastinapur’s throne, even when it was his moral duty to stop the course of events that threatened the good of the community.

The world suffers not because some people do wrong, but because people who are capable of doing good do nothing.

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