Food is the medicine for the illness of hunger; drink, for the illness of thirst; to cure bhava roga (affliction of the cycle of birth and death), God (Bhagawan) is the medicine; for the disease of desire, Jnana (wisdom) is the cure. For the infection of ashanti (anxiety), the remedy is bhajans. For the diseases of doubt, despair and hesitation, which is common to all aspirants, the most effective remedy is doing good to others (paropakara). Service today has become a common word but its value is much depreciated. Really speaking, only those who are afflicted with equal agony, at the sight of pain and suffering, distress or disease, have the right to serve; for, they are not serving others, they are serving themselves, serving to remove as fast and as intelligently as they can, their own agony! When you feel that you are serving your own pain, you are curbing your own ego. Otherwise service heightens your self-esteem and develops a sense of superiority, which is harmful spiritually.

- Divine Discourse, Apr 21, 1967.