Selected Letters of Gandhi : Part-1

TO ASHRAM CHILDREN


Chapter-19: How to Serve

I understand why I cannot have any letters from you regularly. You are all very busy nowadays. If your work is real service I am ready to take your letters as written. If the body serves but the mind is absent, our service can bear no fruit at all. There can be no self-indulgence in service will spread itself. A servant does not ask to become a leader. He excepts no service from others. He is satisfied with what he gets and has no complaints at all. He has only the right to serve. What matters if he does not get food or shelter in return? It is God’s grace that there are undistracted persons even in the areas of distress. When all are in distress, who can serve the nurses? So we must fend for ourselves when we go out to serve. We must only reply on others, but should be thankful to them for such help as they can afford to give.