When Valmiki heard that Hanuman had written a version of the Ramayana, he went to the forest in search of it. There, beside Hanuman on a banana leaf, the sage found the most beautiful rendition of the epic. “Who will read my Ramayana now?”, he wept.
Hearing this, Hanuman popped the banana leaf in his mouth and ate it. “Why did you do that?”, a shocked Valmiki asked. With great respect, Hanuman said, “Your Ramayana is for people while mine is just for my memory of Shri Ram.”
Why do you do what you do? If you do it for wealth, recognition, or fame, you’ll never break the shackles of bondage. When fate spoils your best laid plans, you will most likely react in ways unbecoming of a human being. But if you work for love, you won’t need anything else. That’s when you’re truly free.
Helping others is a form of work. It’s not a privilege you bestow on others, but the other way around. Do it like you should do any work – without expecting anything in return.
The biggest reward of this is educating yourself, liberating your mind from worldly bondages, and revealing the latent knowledge that your soul holds.