#12 – Become Heart Present and Practice Selfless Service

This episode is based on a talk given by Dr. Swami Shankardev to Yogic Studies students on the keys to heart presence and selfless service.

This talk arose in response to a student who was struggling to practice service, an aspect of Karma Yoga. 

In the talk, Swami Shankardev discusses the following:

1. Selfless service is an important path to managing the ego and bringing it into a relationship with the highest Self.
2. How true service illuminates the mind, enabling us to connect to a higher, more conscious state of being.
3. Even in enlightened states, the ego still exists and needs to be managed. (Ego is only eradicated at the very last stage of human evolution.)
4. Selfless service is a path to purifying the chakras, allowing higher consciousness and intuition to flow into our lives. Without this capacity for giving, we remain overly attached to things that block consciousness from moving beyond the constricting influence of the ego.

The main meditation to disentangle from the selfish aspect of the ego and become centered in the highest Self is Inner Silence (Antar Mouna). This practice enables you to observe the mind and the ego, to free yourself from their negative influence, and to come back into a relationship with the highest Self.

One of the best methods for forging a path between our individual self and the universal Self is Ajapa Japa. This wonderful meditation practice charges the mind with energy and links individual consciousness with higher consciousness. We can then act with an awareness of the universal within our individual lives.