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Selfless service

(parmarth)

Charity is an action, performed frequently or infrequently. Selfless service is an attitude, a mode of being. Parmarth is living without the self yet harmoniously with the world, while doing a right job and retaining consciousness of the moment.

Parm means supreme. Arth is meaning, the purpose for which an action is performed. That which is done for the supreme is parmarth. Supreme may mean God, or it may mean a cause for which the player chooses to dedicate his existence. It is a giving up of self for a higher cause.

When a player understands his role in the drama and knows that the individual self is but a vehicle for realization of the Supreme, all that he does ceases to concern him. He only does his duty and acts out his role in the play. He does not know what the final outcome of his actions will he. When he does his duty without thought of right or reward he becomes selfless. And then all his acts are parmarth.

Living in parmarth is possible only when the player realizes that rights follow duty and that rewards are the fruits of action. Duty and honor (rewards) are byproducts of the game, not the final goal. As long as the player exists within a body with five organs of action, karmas are inevitable. The player’s choice is whether to become concerned about rewards and punishment, honor and humiliation, or to devote his life to understanding the nature of the game and living unconcerned with whatever happens, continuing to perform his duty.

A reward is in nobody’s hand. Countless factors affect the outcome of every momentary situation. Whatever happens is whatever was possible at that time. If the player has no hopes and desires, every moment becomes an achievement. When he gets away from the false concepts of profit and loss, he enters on to the plane of selfless service.