In plain words
With tenderness, with the quality of selflessness, to serve becomes true service; to serve joined with the feeling of friendship is sure to reach the abode of Śānti, my friend.
Embodiments of the divine Ātma!
We must understand the truth that life is ordained for selfless service, not for selfish ends. Through selfless service mankind is able to recognise its oneness. Selfless service is the key to karma-yoga. To give the mind and the body their training through selfless service is itself the very foundation of yoga. Society honours those very persons who do selfless service in society. The man who has won the honour of society becomes worthy of God's Prema. Every person, without exception, has to recognise the truth that selfless service is most necessary for man. Along with selfless service, he must also hold to the spirit of tyāga. In the principle of Prema joined with such a spirit of tyāga, to keep selfishness away and practise with a feeling for the good of others: that alone takes shape as true selfless service. For life, selfless service is like the salt that gives food its taste. Universal Prema is like the food that gives life its strength. Prema itself is the very breath of life for man. Generosity itself is the true fragrance of life. So it is most necessary to press this spirit of generosity to the heart of every man, and through it to enter into service. However great a man may be, he must recognise that this life has come into being for selfless service alone. Mother and child, guru and disciple, God and devotee: each of these depends on the other. Without the mother, the word "child" has no meaning at all. The word "mother" without the child has no meaning at all. In the same way, where there is no God at all, there is no servant at all. Where there is no servant at all, there is no God at all. These two words, too, are bound to each other in mutual relation, brought to some harmony with each other, each resting upon the other. All must recognise this principle of a bond that cannot be broken.
Rather than have others serve us, we must become people who serve others. Not only this: to serve those who stand at a higher level than we do is not so great a thing. The reason is that they may have many servants. To serve those who have strength equal to ours is not so great a thing either.