Re: Aham Brahmasmi
namaste Sant.
By the term 'Self Service' I meant serving the Self that is Atman/Brahman, not the ego-ruled personal self of the jIvAtmA. A jIvanmukta who has realized the Self is essentially nirguNa, but he still has his physical and mental selves, and sattva guNa predominates them. He might choose to serve people by remaining at his place like RamaNa maharshi or wandering about the world like the ShankarAchAryas. A jIvanmukta might also have his disciples whose karma and guNa are bound to accrue to him, but since he is Self-Realized they get balanced in his nature as with the virAT, the Cosmic Consciousness.
Human thoughts and the action of guNas always have their effects of vibrations in the ocean of subtle matter. A jIvanmukta who wades through them is never affected by them; nor does he just steer clear of them; instead, he cleans his surroundings of impurities in the thoughts, words and actions of those around him by shining the light of Atman and the heat of his own tapas. This is perhaps the reason that people around a jIvanmukta forget their worries for the time being, and benefit by the sattvic vibrations emanating from him.
Inasmuch as jIvanmukta is always immersed in the Self, whatever he does is a service and worship to the Self, as Adi Shankara has prayed in his saundaryalaharI, verse 27:
Let my every word be a prayer to Thee,
Every movement of my hands a ritual gesture to Thee,
Every step I take a circumambulation of Thy image,
Every morsel I eat a rite of sacrifice to Thee,
Every time I lay down a prostration at Thy feet;
Every act of personal pleasure and all else that I do,
Let it all be a form of worshiping Thee."
रत्नाकरधौतपदां हिमालयकिरीटिनीम् ।
ब्रह्मराजर्षिररत्नाढ्यां वन्दे भारतमातरम् ॥
To her whose feet are washed by the ocean, who wears the Himalayas as her crown, and is adorned with the gems of rishis and kings, to Mother India, do I bow down in respect.
--viShNu purANam
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