Yat karoshi – Further Reading
Yat karoshi yadashnaasi yaj-juhoshi dadaasi yat
Yat tapasyasi Kaunteya tat kurushva mad arpanam
Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, whatever you give
as charity and whatever austerities you perform, do that, O son of Kunti, as an offering to Me.
Baba says, “Whatever you do, do it to satisfy God. All your actions should be beneficial to All. All you actions should by selfless and sacred. Only then will you be dear to Me and I will be your Friend. Even if you offer a morsel of food to someone, do it in a proper manner.”
Whatever you do, do it with CARE i.e Constant Awareness of the Real Entity (God). Always act in “Dharma”.
Mrs.Gita Ram relates an incident about Seva: “During an interview, Swami asked one lady, “How is the Seva going on in your town?” She said that it is going on well. In those days Swami used to suggest that every day when we cook we should keep aside a handful of rice and collect it from every house and give it to some needy person, so that we have that feeling of service every day. This lady started speaking about the service activities in her town, since she was in charge and she was proudly recounting all the activities. Swami said. “Very happy.”
Then He said, “Two rupees rice or five rupees rice?” The lady said that different people bring different qualities of rice. Then Swami said, “I am not asking about other people, I am asking what rice do you give?”
She hesitantly said, “Good rice, Swami.”
Swami retorted, “What! For poor people, for Narayana Seva, two rupees rice! And for your family, five rupees rice! Two rupees rice, which is not cleaned and in which stones are there that is what you are serving to the poor.”
The lady said, “No Swami.”
Then Swami got up from His chair and said, “Two years back I came to your house as a beggar and you gave Me rice which you saved for Narayana Seva. You had it in a red cloth and gave it to Me. You don’t believe Me? Wait!”
He went to the inner room, coming out with a red bag and said, “Did you not give this to me?”
The poor lady started sobbing. The basic message, which Swami was trying to convey, was to do service with Love. You must see Sai in the person whom you are serving and serve accordingly.”