Today I was thinking of how service as a spiritual practice is seen somehow as lower or less spiritual than say meditation or renunciation. Service is considered to be more of a religious practice whereas meditation etc. is spiritual, deeper.
Our tradition very much defies this notion. If service is directed to the center or the absolute, we consider it the height of mysticism and experiential spirituality. It’s all about transcending the mind, the senses and the false identity they afford, but that’s only a side product of connecting with the infinite. Service is a way ( a very powerful way) of connecting with others. Serving others surely brings us closer to them. And when you direct that service towards the center according to the directives set by mystics who have experience of the truth, it will bring you closer to the truth.
Service is understandably hard to recognize as a spiritual practice, though, because a lot of service and worship is done with material motives, and that amounts to nothing more than religiosity. The defining principle is the consciousness you do your service in. If it’s not motivated by material desire or power in the form of spiritual charisma, then it will have the power to attract the mystical reality, otherwise not.
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