The myth of social service

The following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Question: Ramana Maharshi has said that “Till you reach the stage of gyaan (self-knowledge) and thus wake out of Maya (ignorance), you must do social service by alleviating suffering, wherever you see it. But you must do it without the feeling that ‘I am the doer’. You must help the other man as a means of worshipping God in that man.”

What is this social service that Ramana Maharshi is referring to? One who himself is suffering, can he bring relief from suffering to others?

Acharya Prashant (AP): What is the cause of one’s suffering? That one cannot look within; one cannot look at himself. If you ask Ramana Maharshi, he will say — ‘Lack of self-enquiry is the only cause of suffering’.

When you enquire into your suffering,

then you see that the sufferer is just a joke.

The words of a Saint have to be understood in great Silence, with great care and respect. Otherwise, there is a danger of bringing in some perspective from here and there. So, here is Ramana Maharshi talking to somebody and somebody is saying, “I am suffering”.

The moment he says that ‘I am suffering’, Maharshi knows that this fellow is suffering because of a lack of self-inquiry.