Selflessness and Selfishness: Beware the Minefield of the Mind

By MATA AMRITANANDAMAYI

Selfless action is the outward expression of selfless love. When the heart is filled with love, it expresses itself in the form of unselfish action. One is a deep inner feeling and the other its outward manifestation.

Without deep, unconditional love, selfless actions cannot be performed. In the initial stages of our awakening, the actions we perform in the name of selflessness are not selfless, because the love we feel for ourselves is present in everything we do and say.

In fact, at the beginning of our journey, our self-love becomes the driving force for each of our actions, even if we choose to call them selfless.

Love for the ego, or oneself, is the predominant feeling in every human being. Unless this feeling withers away, real selflessness will not emerge.

Alertness is necessary to prevent the ego from interfering. It is easier to be in love with the ego than feel truly inspired by the ideal of selflessness.

Generally, the selflessness we speak of is actually selfish, because everything stems from the ego. It is the ego, and not our inner Self, that is the source of our so-called love and our actions.

Nothing can be selfless unless it springs directly from the heart, from our true Self. That is why great saints and sages have said you should know your own Self before you can love and serve others selflessly.

There is a story of an old man planting mango trees. When his neighbour saw what he was doing, he said, - Do you think you will live long enough to taste the mangoes from those trees? -

- No, I doubt it, - replied the old man. - Then why are you wasting your time? - asked the neighbour. The old man smiled and said, - All my life I have enjoyed eating mangoes from trees planted by others. This is my way of expressing my gratitude to the people who planted those trees. -

Selflessness can be the driving force in all your actions. Learn to be thankful to everyone, to all of creation, even to your enemy, and to those who insult you and get angry with you, because they help you grow.

They are mirrors, images of your own mind. If you know how to read and interpret the images properly, you can get rid of your mind and its weaknesses.

If you choose love and selflessness as your goal, you need to be watchful. Watch your mind constantly, because the mind wont let you do anything selflessly.

The mind doesnt want you to be selfless Ñ its only aim is to drive you down the path of selfishness, because the mind is selfish. As long as you dwell in the mind you can only be selfish. You have to be free of the mind to be selfless.

Selfishness comes naturally to human beings. While all of nature Ñ birds and animals, mountains, rivers and trees, the sun, moon and stars Ñ stands as a testimony to selfless service, man alone acts out of utter selfishness and greed.

He dwells in his ego, turning life into a business venture and robbing it of all sanctity.

Children, filled with selflessness, will uplift us. By helping others we are, in fact, helping ourselves. On the other hand, we harm ourselves by being selfish.

Learn to bless everyone; dont ever curse anyone, because a human being is not just a bundle of flesh and blood. There is a consciousness at work within everyone.

That consciousness is not a separate, isolated entity; it is part of the whole, a Supreme Unity. Whatever we do is reflected in the Whole, in the one universal mind, and it returns with the same intensity.

Whenever you perform a good or bad action, it is reflected in the Universal Consciousness. Therefore, learn to be selfless and proffer blessings on one and all.