Service

Question: Last question: Osho, why is service to the saints so important? Anand Maitreya! Serving the saints is only a pretext; the disciple wants to be near his master. He looks for a pretext—any pretext! It is not that the master’s feet are hurting and that is why he is massaging them. He massages because he wants to be near the master. Pressing the feet is just an excuse to linger here a little longer, to stay a little longer, to soak a little longer, to breathe this air a little longer, to behold this beauty a little longer, to drink a little more of the prasad. Pressing the feet is a pretext to do some small task for the master—sweep his courtyard, wash his clothes, cook his bread—these are all excuses.

It is not good to serve people out of a sense of duty?

It is related. No, not at all, it is ugly. When you do something only out of duty, without love, you are harming yourself and you are harming the other too. Because if you are not doing it out of love, you will feel that the other has to be grateful: you will feel that you have obliged the other. You will wait for a return; in fact, you will make a demand, gross or subtle, 'Now, you do something for me, I have done so much for you.' When you do something out of love, you do it without any idea of any return. It is not a bargain-you do it because you are happy doing it; the other is not obliged. Not that love is not returned -- love is returned a thousand-fold but only love is returned, never duty. In fact, if you are doing a duty…

Osho, I want to bring light to the world. And you have also said this is your message. How should I begin this great work?

Jagdish! Have you found the light? Have you become illumined? If you had become illumined, you wouldn’t ask this question. Because one who is illumined doesn’t have to ask how to show light. Light begins to pour from him. When a lamp is lit, the lamp does not ask, “Now how should I light up the room?” The lamp is lit—there is light. The lamp is lit—light begins to fall on people’s paths. The lamp is lit—and even those wandering in distant darkness begin to see. Someone lost in a far-off forest can also see the lamp in someone’s hut. Once the lamp is lit, light flows of its own nature. You simply do not ask. Your lamp has not yet been lit. Yes, you want the pleasure of showing light! And such a delusion arises because your so‑called sadhus and saints keep telling you: Serve! Work for people’s welfare!…

Some friends have asked: yesterday I said that service is dangerous. So they ask: Is service not love?

“What kind of God? What kind of devil?” But the condition has become like that. The devil’s houses grow; God’s house shrinks. The devil learned the international language—understood human weakness. The true international language is not English; it is human weakness. The Englishman is weak in the same way as a Hindu; the German as an African. Human weaknesses are one. The devil learned that language—he sees all humanity through it. God has not yet understood the international language. And the people who “love God” have created local languages: “We are Hindus, Muslims, Christians”—creating fragments. Do you know how many sects the devil’s disciples have? None. Not a single one. Heaven is desolating. Hell is flourishing. God has thought, “If I move to hell, perhaps I’ll get some relief.” A man died. His wife asked a spirit-medium, “Can you call my husband’s soul?” He called it. She asked, “Where are…