When Rama was busy searching for Sita, Hanuman left Rama in search of Sita. He did not sit near Rama doing prayers, singing songs, meditating etc.; He did not do any personal service to Lord Rama. Infact, Sugriva was near Rama and was doing His personal service. Yet, Lord Rama gave the post of the future creator to Hanuman and not to Sugriva. The work on which Rama was concentrating was more important than His personal service. Getting Sita back was not Lord Rama’s personal work because through that He killed Ravana and gave peace to the world. Therefore, it looks like personal work but it is actually the work for the benefit of the world. Hanuman never misunderstood this as Lord Rama’s personal work. If an ordinary monkey were in the place of Hanuman (who was a monkey), it would think like this ‘I have remained without marriage as a celibate. Instead of looking for a wife for myself, why should I spend my energy in searching for His wife?’ Hanuman never thought like this because He was a scholar. But, an ordinary monkey cannot think like that. Therefore, Rama left Sita after killing Ravana so that such a misunderstanding would not arise. [He did this to demonstrate that He was not attached to Sita and that rescuing her was not His personal work but was a means to destroy the evil Ravana and bring peace to humanity.] You are giving real love to your family, which is like the sacred milk of a cow. This real love includes practical sacrifice of your work and the fruit of your work. But, you are showing artificial love to God by sacrificing mere words and mind to the Lord in order to get some practical benefit from Him. Such artificial love is like the impure milk of a donkey. You are insulting the Lord by giving a pot of donkey-milk. Instead of this, you try to give atleast a spoonful of pure cow-milk out of the potful that you give to your family. If you cannot give even a spoonful of pure love to God, atleast don’t give the impure love. Even if you cannot respect the Lord, atleast don’t insult Him. You never sacrifice mere words and mind in the case of your children. You sacrifice only the work and fruit of the work in their case. Similarly, you never sacrifice work or the fruit of work to God. You sacrifice only words and mind to God. In the case of your children, you are doing Karma Sanyasa (dressing them up, taking them to school etc.,) and Karma Phala Tyaga (giving food, medicines and money and property). Therefore, you are doing real Karma Yoga only to your family and not to the Lord. Some people think ‘Since the mission of the Lord is only to serve this world, why should I not do the same in my name?’ This question comes to the mind of any human being. Why should God get fame from my work and my money? King Satrajith thought like this when Lord Krishna asked for a divine gem, which Satrajith had got from the Sun-God. The divine gem yielded a lot of gold everyday. Satrajith was doing charity with that gold. So, he did not give the gem to Lord Krishna. However, later he lost the gem and his brother was killed due to that gem. Finally, he gave the gem to Lord Krishna. What is the inner meaning of story? The gem actually belongs to Lord Krishna. The Veda says that the entire world is the wealth of the Lord. So, the gem is a part of the wealth of Lord Krishna. Actually, Satrajith was getting fame by doing charity with the wealth of the Lord. Thus, when one understands the truth, the case is quite the reverse. Here, your sacrifice and the service to the world are not important at all. Even without your sacrifice, the Lord can uplift the world just by His will. The important point here is your complete surrender and your complete sacrifice to the Lord. Hanuman could have killed Ravana by just one stroke even before the coming of Rama. But, Hanuman waited for Rama to come and kill Ravana. He participated in the service of Rama to achieve the peace of the world. He did not kill Ravana directly to achieve the same. Similarly, you should not try to uplift the world (social service) directly without the human incarnation of the Lord and try to get fame for yourself. Infact, all your power is only the power of the Lord and really the fame should go only to Him even for any work that you have done in this world. Shri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa said that one should not enter into the work of serving the world unless the command is obtained from God. Shankara taught divine knowledge. Next came Ramanuja and He taught about devotion. Then came Madhva and He taught about service. These are the three gradual steps in spirituality. Knowledge (Jnana) is the root cause and generates devotion. As knowledge grows, devotion also grows. By devotion, the Lord is achieved. Therefore, devotion is the cause to attain the Lord as said in the Gita (Bhaktyaa Tvananyayaa). Service is the proof of real devotion. Rukmini got knowledge from Narada and developed devotion by which she obtained the Lord. But, her devotion was without any aspiration for the fruit. She loved Krishna not to become the queen of Dwaraka. She sat at the feet of the Lord and pressed His divine feet throughout her life. Thus, her service proved her real devotion. Knowledge is the degree. Devotion is the job obtained due to that degree. Service is the work done on the job. The salary is the grace of God. The salary is given for the work done on the job. Therefore, the direct cause of the salary is only the service done by you. Knowledge and devotion can be viewed as the year-wise academic course studied by a student. Service is the annual examination. The study in the whole year indicates the quantity of knowledge studied by you. But, the examination will reveal the quantity of knowledge digested by you.
