Nobody Wants to Serve, Everyone Wants to Be Served
This article explores the fundamental constitutional nature of the soul as presented in the teachings of Śrīla Prabhupāda. While the material world is defined by the endless struggle for false lordship and the desire to be served, the spiritual world is driven by the pure, unmotivated urge to serve the Supreme Lord. By abandoning manufactured mundane causes and dedicating our lives to the service of Kṛṣṇa and His pure devotees, we awaken our original, blissful consciousness.
The False Lordship of the Material World
The material world is characterized by an unnatural desire to dominate. Śrīla Prabhupāda identifies this as the puruṣa attitude—the illusion of wanting to be the supreme enjoyer and master. In our original, constitutional state, the living entity is an eternal servant of God. However, upon falling into the material atmosphere, everyone struggles for false lordship. No one actually wants to serve; everyone wants to be served. Yet, because the innate desire to serve cannot be entirely destroyed, the conditioned soul manufactures various mundane causes to serve, such as humanitarianism and socialism, completely forgetting the Supreme Lord.
- Nobody wants to serve. Everyone wants to be served. Purusa attitude.
- The entire material atmosphere is surcharged with the false lordship of the living beings. The illusioned beings are all struggling for false lordship, and thus no one wants to serve.
- The living entity wants to serve, but because of his forgetfulness of his relationship with the Supreme Lord, he serves under the modes of material nature and manufactures various modes of service, such as socialism, humanitarianism and altruism.
- There is no question of demanding to become the Lord or the president or this. "I want to serve," that's all. And that is the crucial test. Service is the original nature. Now in this material world also you are serving.
The Frustration of Mundane Service
When service is directed away from Kṛṣṇa, it inevitably ends in frustration. Śrīla Prabhupāda cites the historical example of Mahatma Gandhi, who dedicated his entire life to serving his country, only to be killed by the very people he served. The only actual solution to the world's suffering is Kṛṣṇa consciousness. By serving Govinda, the master of the senses, the devotee's own senses become perfectly satisfied. A pure devotee understands this so deeply that they reject the proposals of the jñānīs and yogīs who seek impersonal liberation, happily accepting any body as long as they can serve.
- Even Mahatma Gandhi, the great servant of India He served India so nicely. Still, the master was not satisfied, and the master killed him. He wanted to serve his country, but the result was that his countrymen killed him.
- People are suffering due to Godlessness, and, if you want to serve the people, your society, your country, the whole human society, then try yourself, try your best, you just rise up to the occasion of becoming Krsna conscious.
- Here is the person, Supreme Personality of Godhead. If you serve Krsna, then your senses become satisfied. Therefore His name is Govinda. Actually, we want to serve our senses, but the real senses, the transcendental senses, is Krsna, Govinda.
- A devotee does not think like yogis & jnanis, who want to refuse a material body and become one with the impersonal Brahman effulgence. A devotee does not like this idea. On the contrary, he will accept any body, material or spiritual, for he wants to serve.
Empowered by Service to the Guru
The perfection of the serving spirit is realized by submissively serving the bona fide spiritual master and the previous ācāryas. Śrīla Prabhupāda humbly attributed all his monumental success in spreading the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement to his simple, unalloyed desire to serve his guru. When a disciple does not want any material benediction but only wants to serve the spiritual master, they are empowered with special mercy to preach. By following the footsteps of exalted personalities like Subuddhi Rāya, who lovingly served Śrīla Rūpa Gosvāmī in Vṛndāvana, devotees dedicate their lives entirely to the mission of the Supreme Lord.
- Whatever little success is there, that was only this qualification, that I wanted to serve him. That's all. Otherwise, there was no business of coming here at the age of seventy years. You have seen all my room in the Radha-Damodara temple?
- That special mercy of the power to preach is given to a devotee who does not want anything material from his spiritual master but wants only to serve him. The story of the demon Ravana illustrates this point.
- When Rupa Gosvami arrived at Mathura, Subuddhi Raya, out of love and affection for him, wanted to serve him in so many ways. He personally took Rupa Gosvami to see all the twelve forests of Vrndavana.
- We do not want liberation. We want to serve the purpose of the Gosvamis, in association with pure devotees. To stop birth and death is not our purpose.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Śrīla Prabhupāda teaches that the ultimate cure for the disease of false lordship is to embrace our original identity as eternal servants of Kṛṣṇa. By rejecting the frustrating endeavor to be served by the material world, and by dedicating our energy to satisfying the transcendental senses of Govinda, we achieve the highest perfection of life. Through the constant chanting of the Hare Kṛṣṇa mahā-mantra and unflinching service to the spiritual master, any soul can reawaken their pure devotion and return back to Godhead.
Dive Deeper into Śrīla Prabhupāda's Vani
Śrīla Prabhupāda lives within his instructions. This article is a summary of the profound truths found in the Vaniquotes category Wanting to Serve. We invite you to visit this link to study the complete compilation and experience Śrīla Prabhupāda's teachings in their direct, verbatim form.