(Kadamba Kanana Swami – Cape Town, South Africa – 28 June 2012 – Bhagavad Gita 3.10)
When we are not enlivened in our spiritual life, the fault is ours. It’s because of our selfishness! There are so many ways to preserve selfishness. That is an issue that we are living in denial of. One aspect of selfishness is that we have a very selfless conception of ourselves. That’s typically a selfish thing. I am very philanthropic… I am very selfless… I am dedicating myself for the good of many others. But we also see that scriptures are often times mentioning that there is extended selfishness. There is direct selfishness and there is extended selfishness. Sometimes extended selfishness means that a man who is very charitable, who gives so much, is actually doing that to be glorified.
So it is deep, this selfishness in us. Therefore one should never just think: Now I am pure! We do not have to do a lot of introspection and a lot of psychological self-analysis to try and figure out how much selfishness we really have. That’s not required. We simply look for purification… can I do some service!
If you see what Srila Prabhupada emphasized, it was simply: Can I do some devotional service… what service can I do? It is there in that service that things become meaningful. It’s in service that the scripture comes to life. It’s in service that we are finding great inspiration.