How do to selfless service without an ashram nearby.

H Williams
Mar 16
3 min read

Q: Is there a way to do selfless service in the same/similar way if you don't have access to an ashram? (& if so, what states of mind make that experience more of a selfless service in the spiritual tradition rather than just, say, volunteering?) Might be a good topic for a video!

A: I am going to do a talk about this on Patreon. But for now, I'm just going to answer it briefly here on email.

I was at the ashram last night and I actually asked Guru this question. His response was that anything can be turned into selfless service because the key word in selfless service is being selfless. You could currently engage in selfless service at your job and your relationship and with your children... RIGHT NOW. If you're able to engage with them, support them, serve them in a way where you don't experience recoil when the outcome of your service doesn't go the way that you want it to.

Basically, what he was saying is that anything can become selfless service if you put energy into something, but you don't experience recoil when the thing doesn't go the way that you want it to. That's like the core essence of what selfless service actually is.

Somebody could be a karma yogi and dedicate their life to doing service at an ashram or a large yoga community or whatever it is. If they're doing it with want for reward or to get accolades or recognition for that work, deep down, and it's not really truly just doing it for the joy of it or just the act of the expression of your body on this plane doing something, then that is not actually what selfless service is.

That's like, the basic answer, but the deeper thing that I think you're actually asking is: are there any activities that I can do that are somewhat similar in quality to what selfless service would be at an ashram?

Now, this isn't the answer that I think my guru would give, but it's the answer that I'm going to give. That is, if you wanted to engage with selfless service in a similar way to how you would do it at an ashram or a spiritual community, it would definitely be Saturn remediation work. That is, you go out of your way to help under-served, under-represented people in your immediate community. Or, you could clean up litter in your community. Or, you could volunteer doing conservation work. The list goes on, and i'll elaborate on it another time.

If I could condense Saturn remediation into a single sentence:

Do the necessary work no one wants to do, for people who cannot repay you, without seeking recognition.

That encapsulates the energy of selfless service pretty well to me!

Like I said, I'm going to share more about this on patreon soon but that's my answer for now.

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