In order to gain enlightenment in the past, the yogis of old would go into seclusion to perform spiritual practices. They would then stay in this seclusion, detaching from the world so that they could enjoy the bliss of the deep meditative states and advance. 

With everything going on in the world, it’s easy to feel dragged down, so focusing on achieving inner peace like this sounds really nice!

But today, detaching from the world is not what is needed. 

What is actually needed is the opposite. As the Master Aetherius puts it:

“Today it is service in the noise, service in the clatter, service in the foulness, in the smell, in the ignorance of mankind.”

While it is important to go within and develop ourselves, most of our energy should be put towards helping the world. And this ultimately is the best way to develop ourselves anyway. Dr. George King explained:

“There are two Buddhas. One is the kind of person who detaches from everything, goes out into the wilderness, goes into these deep states of meditation, and stays there, letting mankind get on the best way he can. That’s one kind. 

“The other kind of Buddha is this: he knows he can go into these states, he knows that; but he serves mankind and he does the other too, the practice to go into the deepest states as well whenever he can find the time, chance, opportunity, and the correct place. He gets Cosmic Consciousness and what does he do? Detaches himself and comes back again to mankind. 

“[The Cosmic Masters] have said there isn’t any argument as to which is the greater. The second one. He is the greater one because the first one, the first one, has many lessons to learn, but the second one, he is the greater.”

***

I sometimes find it difficult to find the balance between spiritual practices and service. Life can get so busy that I struggle to fit in everything that I need to do in the day. 

 It is an ongoing balancing practice for me.

When I first started to do spiritual practices I would often spend almost an hour on them. But as time has gone on, I have less and less spare time available to dedicate to this. 

And that’s ok. A lot of my spare time is now spent at events and services at the Los Angeles Headquarters where we send out vast amounts of energy to the world. So although I’m doing less practices focused on my own development, I am still allocating that time towards my spiritual life by helping the world through spiritual action.

I’m aspiring to be the second Buddha. 

Something you can try
At the end of performing your spiritual practices, say a prayer for world peace. It’s a perfect time to do so as you’ll be all charged up with energy. And it’s a great way to maintain the balance between self-development and service.

How do you manage this balance?