One of the cardinal teachings of Vedanta is that all existence is one: there is one Self that lives in all; there is one life that pulsates in the whole universe. Each individual is like a leaf of a huge tree. Leaves grow and fall in their due time, but the tree continues to exist. When we ignore the fact of oneness, our individual existence becomes separative and delusive. Because of the oneness of existence, our individual welfare depends upon the welfare of the totality. Thus, by doing good to others we really do good to ourselves.
We experience the joy of self-expansion. Swami Vivekananda says: 'They alone live who live for others, the rest are more dead than alive.' Self-sacrifice for the good of others is the highest virtue. The Bhagavad Gita (II.40) designates this virtue as the greatest dharma: 'In this selfless action, no effort is ever lost and no harm is ever done. Even very little of this dharma saves a man from the Great Fear. There is an ancient verse that says: 'Since death is certain for the body, let this body be used for the good of others.' According to the Bhagavad Gita, the doer of good is the best among the yogis (VI.32): 'Him I hold to be the supreme yogi, O Arjuna, who looks upon the pleasure and pain of all beings as he looks upon them in himself.'15 Further, the Bhagavad Gita (VI.40) says: 'O Partha, there is no destruction for him either in this world or the next: no evil, My son, befalls a man who does good.'
Our selfless actions for the good of others help us to break down the walls of our separative existence, and bring us in contact with our ageless true Self. This contact with our true Self puts an end to all our sorrows and sufferings.
