“Selfishness is the chief sin, thinking of ourselves first. He who thinks, “I will eat first, I will have more money, and I will possess everything,” he who thinks “I will get to heaven before others, I will get Mukti before others,” is the selfish man. The unselfish man says, “I will be last, I do not care to go to heaven, I will even go to hell if it helps my brothers.” This unselfishness is the test of religion.” — Swami Vivekananda
It’s easy to be selfish. It takes courage to love others and work for their benefit. To love, according to Eknath Easwaran, is the most difficult and demanding, yet most delightful and daring of all disciplines.
Love is not restricted to family members or people who share the same interests as you. It’s inclusive in the true sense, even towards those who do you harm.
Most of us cannot start at such a level. ‘That’s graduate school,’ Easwaran wrote. ‘We start with the first grade – being kind to people in our family when they get resentful. Eventually comes high school, where we learn to move closer to those who are trying to shut themselves off from us. College means returning goodwill for ill will.’
Finally comes graduate school, where we can ‘return love for hate’, as Jesus preached. That’s when we can love without expectation or discrimination against race, country, or religion. When we can love like this, you will be free.