Duty in the world carries no force or weight when God calls. God is the goal of life. When in His company there is no duty. When he is absent on tour etc. then duty comes into full play, because duty is God. (CWBSSB, p. 91)

‘To begin with, it (Duty) starts with ‘I’, as an individual, like a drop of oil on the surface of water. But once you take to service of others, then the expansion of heart will start, and the ‘I’ and ‘You’ become ‘We’. The ‘We’ will also group and become all expansive, and the ‘I’ where you begin will totally disappear. The ego gets sublimated. In this manner, when we join He (God) also, ‘we’ plus ‘He’ only. Then ‘we’ will have disappeared, the ‘I’ also has disappeared and what subsists is only ‘He’’.

‘The starting point is, therefore to tell yourself that you are the messenger of God. The next step is the experience as ‘I’ am the Son of God’. In the first experience, there is a distinct separation between you and him. You are a messenger, He is the master. The link is not that close. There is not much kinship between you and Him. Slowly, however, the Master-Messenger relationship becomes closer and closer, you become like the Son of God. You are an heir to and an aspect of the Father. You have shared the blood of the Father and you have a heritage of His glory. As the identification with the Master gets intensified and strengthened, like Jesus you can also proclaim ‘I’ and my Father are One. Actually this is the truth that you are not distinct from Him: ‘tat tvam asi’.

‘Through discipline and sadhana, you should attain to that state. As a messenger, you should, with love and humility, take to service. Through love and service to others, you come closer and ultimately become one with Him’. (WD, pp. 83-84)

Give up all Dharmas and surrender to Me. I shall liberate you from all sin. That is to say, give up Ahamkara and Mamakara, pride in the ego and in possessions and feelings of I and mine. Destroy the identification of the self with the body, get firm in the belief that all this is Paramatma and nought else.

So, there is nothing else to be done except bowing to His will and surrendering to His Plan. Man has to give up the twin activities of commission and omission Sankalpa and Vikalpa resolving and refusing. He has to follow the Lord’s commands; he has to accept His Will, be happy wherever he has placed him, however he has shaped him. He should keep himself far from the inquiry into the appropriateness or inappropriateness of his acts, but do them as acts of worship to the Lord, acts for which no reward is expected. That is the sum of his duty. (GV, p. 248)

Man must work, every moment of his life; he cannot avoid this burden. His very existence depends upon action exertion, work. And, work results in neither good or bad, big or small, powerful or paltry. So, man has to be active right lines, in order to avoid evil and pain. That is the duty he owes to himself.

Duty is God; work is worship. Even the tiniest work is a flower placed at the Feet of God. (SSS Vol.8, p. 91)

Whereas for men, there is only one home, a woman has two homes. It is the duty of women to bring reputation to the house in which they are born and born and hold high the honour of the homes into which they go. (SSB 1978, p. 146)

Duty without love is deplorable. Duty with love is desirable. Love without duty is Divine. Duty implies force or compulsion while love is spontaneous and expresses itself without external promptings. (SSB 1979, 1979, p. 160)

Visualise God, seek God, merge in God - that is the duty of man. (SSS Vol. 6, p. 46)

There is no need to embark on the abolition of castes and creeds. What is needed is the abolition of the barriers and divisions built up on the basis of castes and creeds. This is the primary duty of Bharatiyas today. (WD)

Sorrows and disasters are as the clouds that flit across the sky; they cannot injure the blue depths of space. Your duty is to strive on, from this very moment. Do not vacillate or postpone. Who knows when death knocks? May be, he may knock this very night, this very moment. Therefore, do not delay. Do you postpone for tomorrow the dinner of this day? Feed the spirit as scrupulously as you now feed the body. (SSS Vol.4, p. 181)

Authority and influence have to emerge from the discharge of one’s duties. Then only will they be effective. We must be convinced that rights are deserved obligations. (FDD, pp. A-21)

What are the duties of members and office bearer? You know that the State requires you to take a solemn oath, when you take up an office or enter upon an assignment. Similarly, each member and office bearer must take an oath, from the very depths of the heart before engaging themselves in the activities. ‘Swami, save me from any act of commission or omission which will affect adversely the three qualifications, you have laid down. Bless me. (Sens.SS, p. 7)

There are two ways in which you do your duties. One is Apeksha that is being desirous of results, which is worldly. Nirapeksha, doing duty without any desire for result. Apeksha is Marakam (deadly bondage), Nirapeksha is Tarakam (Liberation). (SEKH, p. 103)

What exactly is your duty? Let Me summarise it for you. First, tend your parents with love, reverence and gratitude. Second, speak the truth and act virtuously. Third, whenever you have a few moments to spare, repeat the Name of the Lord, with the Form in your mind. Fourth, never indulge in talking ill of others or try to discover faults in others. And, finally, do not cause pain to others, in any form. (SSS Vol.27, p. 39)

Protecting one’s Motherland is a noble duty. It is the primary duty of each student. The student cannot claim to have learned much unless he is able to discover what his duty is and what his immediate role should be when circumstances call for such decisions. The educated man and student undergoing education must both cultivate simplicity; they must discard ostentation. If they are addicted to ostentation, they lose their genuine nature or individuality. Students must note this point well. Whether a person is a master of all sciences or famous as a great intellectual, he is certain to be counted out of scholars and pundits if he has no humility and discipline in his dealings with others. Such persons will not be honoured by society. They may win respect for some time but that attitude will decline pretty soon. Such respect does not bring credit to the recipient. Alertness and simplicity alone earn honour. They render the enjoyable. Insane parade of scholarship brings in only spurts of reputation and ridicule. When one gives up ostentation, one can get permanent respect from people. Real education imparts a spirit of renunciation, a dislike for ostentation and yearning for serving others. (V Vahini, pp. 71-72)

No attempt need be made to run away from the duties of one s station and status. Remember, those duties have to be done as worship, as offerings of one s intelligence and skill, qualities and thoughts and feelings to the Feet of the Lord in a spirit of thankfulness for the chance given, without a trace of egoism or a sense of attachment to the fruits of the actions. The Nityakritya (obligatory actions) have to be carried out, wherever you are, with care and sincerity. They award the needed viveka and vairaagya. (SSS Vol.2)