Should one save oneself or save the world?

Should one save oneself first or save the world?

This is a question that can plague many well-intentioned sAdhakas. The advice of jnAnis is always the same on this point.

First know your true nature and then if necessary (!) you can set about saving the world.

The humor is in the italicized words above, for those who know what is meant here will recognize that after one's true nature is known there will be nothing more left to do.

When Sri RAmakRShNa was asked a similar question by someone who wanted to build hospitals and  engage in other philanthropic activities, he too replied in like fashion: First know who you are and then you can set about helping others.

Elsewhere it has also been noted that svadharma is the duty of every sentient being to know the Self. The other dharmas such as vaidika dharma (deriving from the Vedas) and laukIka dharma (corresponding to the empirical or phenomenal world where the norms change according to time and place) are secondary. They derive from svadharma, and if that is not established, they are likewise misinterpreted and followed incorrectly.

Once one knows one's true nature as the Self, then two seemingly paradoxical things happen:

1) The genuine help that one offers to others ends up being help for oneself (for, in truth there is no other!), an example being this blog itself, and
2) All things the jnAni appears to do for himself or herself ends up being for the benefit of others. Cf. BG sarva bhUta hite ratAh (ever engaged in the welfare of all beings).

Although I know very little of Buddhism, it seems from discussion with one of our local experts, that this difference in approach (save oneself or save the world) may distinguish HinAyana (the lesser vehicle) from mahAyana (the greater vehicle). In truth they lead to the same end, for saving oneself is nothing less than saving the world. The world is the mind and when the mind is purified the world vanishes like a mirage, or like pictures on a movie screen.

Therefore, although the effort to know one's true nature may seem very selfish at first, when this sincere effort comes to fruition, the aspirant seems to carry all others along with them to wisdom. How tangible these effects appear to others depends on the past karma of the aspirant, but the jnAna that the mind attains is uniformly the same. Some appear to become great spiritual leaders with large followings, some appear to be shopkeepers (such as Nisargadatta Maharaj), some like Janaka rule as kings, some like Raikva drive a cart, etc. From the perspective of the jnAni, everyone is nothing but the Self and so no such differences are perceived in Truth. But in the dual world when the mind declares its ignorance, help may be offered to the mind that is ripe and ready.