Doing service to God in whatever way you like is not correct

[dattaswami]

Doing service to God in whatever way you like is not correct

Dr. Nikhil asked: How to avoid attention towards bliss? People are attracted to bliss and not to God, if God does not give bliss to them.

 

Swami replied: Veda describes the concept of bliss in the AnandaValli. Certainly you must discuss about the subject of bliss. You must avoid the attention of attaining the bliss by yourself. But you must concentrate on the service to God that gives bliss to Him.

 

This means that doing service to God in whatever way you like is not correct because God does not require your service in any way like a human being. One has to render the service in whatever manner God likes it. The service should be for the pleasure of God and not for the requirement of God because God has no requirement.

 

Even pleasure is not necessary for God because He is the infinite of ocean of bliss (Naanavaaptam… Gita). He is only testing the devotion of the devotee regarding its quality and magnitude of intensity. God always asks the devotee to sacrifice the item with which he has the strongest bond. If the devotee succeeds in this test, God is not pleased for attaining that sacrificed item, but God is pleased for the love in the attitude of total sacrifice towards Him.

 

For example God came in disguise to Saktuprastha ( a devotee), who was without food for several days along with his family in severe draught. In that situation the strongest bond will be naturally for food to save the life. He got somehow a little food and he was ready to eat it along with his family. God came in human form to test him. The guest asked for the entire food to eat. Saktuprastha gave the entire food and proved that God is more valuable than life. The human form of the God in such situation with such extreme abnormal behavior gave a hint about God. Here, God is pleased not due to the food offered by him since God has no hunger. Here, God is pleased only towards the attitude of total practical sacrifice through this incident.