In plain words
To practise this sādhana, follow it and enjoy it: that is the chief service you must do for yourselves.
Pride, the arrogance of authority, mamakāra: these are a great danger to the members of the Seva Dal! They are all thorn bushes! Those who grow thorn bushes cannot escape the prick of the thorn. Some think that showing humility and obedience is a dishonour they do themselves, and they wonder, 'Is it not wrong for people with so much authority, strength and wealth to give themselves up to the service of others?' But authority, bodily strength, riches and gold, goods and vehicles are like drifting clouds. What stays with you, at home and wherever you go, and protects you, is only the service you have done.
There must not be the least Ahaṅkāra or show in your mind. There must be no hatred, anger or envy in you towards anyone. Ahaṅkāra shows oneness as manyness and so deceives. To forget the many, to know the divinity shining in all, to recognise the oneness and act by it: that is the highest aim of service,
Rajesh Khanna, the Seva Dal member who came from Delhi, told each and every member to resolve to take with him a small box of medicines in his pocket. The ideal he gave is truly essential: health is the best root of Dharma, artha, kāma and Mokṣa. What is the cause of ill health? The body? The mind? The body is a bubble on water; the mind is a mad monkey! Men must give the Buddhi principle the mastery, follow it alone and act by it. Rajesh Khanna showed that box and set out clearly what must be in it: tablets, medicines, cotton wool, bandages; along with that, you must always keep in the pocket called your heart some more medicines that the treatment of the mind needs. Tablets called ‘discrimination’, a mixture called ‘control of the senses’, Prema and patience, the two ground together into a little powder: these must be kept ready in your heart. Control of the senses is needed by yogis and bairāgīs, but to argue, ‘Why should we need it?’ is a great mistake! ‘This is my car; I have registered it in my own name; I myself am the driver too. So why would this bring me danger?’ Thinking so, if you drive with Ahaṅkāra and show, without testing whether its brakes are sound, an accident cannot be avoided; and that is why this body is a car: the eyes are the headlights; the stomach, the petrol tank; the mouth, the horn; the mind, the steering; Dharma, artha, kāma and Mokṣa are the tyres; the air in them: Faith. The Buddhi itself is the Switch. Control of the senses is the brake; where there is control of the senses, there is purity of citta. Where there is purity of citta... the attainment of Jñāna!
Service means the worship of living beings: worshipping them all in the feeling that every living being is a form of God. Rather than delivering big lectures with the mouth, it is enough to do a little with a pure heart, with Prema, with patience. We must reflect especially on the duty that lies in the doing of karma. Karma must not be for the sake of its fruit; those who think that getting the fruit is all that matters misuse their authority and lead people astray.