Love God and Serve Humanity

But theorising about God will not do; we must love and work. Give up the world and all worldly things, especially while the “plant” is tender. Day and night think of God and think of nothing else as far as possible. The daily necessary thoughts can all be thought through God. Eat to Him, drink to Him, sleep to Him, see Him in all. Talk of God to others; this is most beneficial.

Get the mercy of God and of His greatest children; these are the two chief ways to God. The company of these children of light is very hard to get; five minutes in their company will change a whole life; and if you really want it enough, one will come to you. The presence of those who love God makes a place holy, “such is the glory of the children of the Lord.” They are He; and when they speak, their words are scriptures. The place where they have been becomes filled with their vibrations, and those going there feel them and have a tendency to become holy also.“To such lovers there is no distinction of caste, learning, beauty, birth, wealth, or occupation; because all are His.” (VII, 9)

Explaining Narada Bhakti Sutra further to his disciples at Thousand Island Park Swamiji explained  familiar ideas like love, renunciation, devotion, Bhakti, God’s blessings, etc. helping them discover newer and newer vistas to elevate the same feelings. Reviewing these familiar ideas in the light of the teachings from Sanatana Dharma, they learned to take flights to greater spiritual heights. It was indeed a new experience for most of them. Even though these words were spoken more than hundred years ago they still carry the aroma of experience and the penetrating  power of Truth. That speaks for the ever living freshness of Truth and the speaker’s total absorption in it. 

Worship of the Impersonal

Worship of the Impersonal God is through Truth. And what is truth? That I am He.

This is all the worship of the Impersonal, and what is the result? The whole life of man will be changed. Strength, strength it is that we want so much in this life, for what we call sin and sorrow have all one cause, and that is our weakness. With weakness comes ignorance, and with ignorance comes misery. It will make us strong. Then miseries will be laughed at, then the violence of the vile will be smiled at, and the ferocious tiger will reveal, behind its tiger’s nature, my own Self. That will be the result. That soul is strong that has become one with the Lord; none else is strong (I 380 – 381)

It is the absence of such an impersonal idea of Godhood that lies behind the lack of understanding and tolerance among dualistic religions leading even to violent attacks on each other. What the world needs today is the immense infinite strength, understanding and bliss that lie behind the concept of one Almighty God. 

Without knowledge and love there cannot be understanding .Without knowledge there can be no true love. Both should blend together and expand the human mind. It is possible to combine the intellect of Sankara and the expansive heart of Buddha. Such an auspicious co mingling of the head and the heart was Swamiji’s ideal.

Love of God leads to Love of the Universe

With the love of God will come, as a sure effect, the love of every one in the universe. The nearer we approach God, the more do we begin to see that all things are in Him. When the soul succeeds in appropriating the bliss of this supreme love, it also begins to see Him in everything. Our heart will thus become an eternal fountain of love. And when we reach even higher states of this love, all the little differences between the things of the world are entirely lost; man is seen no more as man, but only as God; the animal is seen no more as animal, but as God; even the tiger is no more a tiger, but a manifestation of God. Thus in this intense state of Bhakti, worship is offered to every one, to every life, and to every being.

— “Knowing that Hari, the Lord, is in every being, the wise have thus to manifest unswerving love towards all beings.”  (III, 82)

Purity - the bedrock of Bhakti

Purity is absolutely the basic work, the bed-rock upon which the whole Bhakti-building rests. Cleansing the external body and discriminating the food are both easy, but without internal cleanliness and purity, these external observances are of no value whatsoever. In the list of qualities conducive to purity, as given by Ramanuja, there are enumerated, Satya, truthfulness; Ârjava, sincerity; Dayâ, doing good to others without any gain to one's self; Ahimsâ, not injuring others by thought, word, or deed; Anabhidhyâ, not coveting others' goods, not thinking vain thoughts, and not brooding over injuries received from another. In this list, the one idea that deserves special notice is Ahimsa, non-injury to others. This duty of non-injury is, so to speak, obligatory on us in relation to all beings. 

The test of Ahimsa is absence of jealousy. Any man may do a good deed or make a good gift on the spur of the moment or under the pressure of some superstition or priestcraft; but the real lover of mankind is he who is jealous of none. The so-called great men of the world may all be seen to become jealous of each other for a small name, for a little fame, and for a few bits of gold. So long as this jealousy exists in a heart, it is far away from the perfection of Ahimsa. 

The man whose heart never cherishes even the thought of injury to any one, who rejoices at the prosperity of even his greatest enemy, that man is the Bhakta, he is the Yogi, he is the Guru of all  (III, 67-68)

Intense desire alone can reveal God

The master said, “My child, if you desire after God, God shall come to you.” The disciple did not understand his master fully. One day both went to bathe in a river, and the master said, “Plunge in”, and the boy did so. In a moment the master was upon him, holding him down. He would not let the boy come up. When the boy struggled and was exhausted, he let him go. “Yes, my child, how did you feel there;” “Oh, the desire for a breath of air!” “Do you have that kind of desire for God?” “No, sir.” “Have that kind of desire for God and you shall have God.”

That, without which we cannot live, must come to us. If it did not come to us, life could not go on………… How some people give all their energies, time, brain, body, and everything, to become rich! They have no time for breakfast! Early in the morning they are out and at work! They die in the attempt — ninety per cent of them — and the rest when they make money, cannot enjoy it. That is grand! I do not say it is bad to try to be rich. 

        It is marvellous, wonderful. Why, what does it show? It shows that one can have the same amount of energy and struggle for freedom as one has for money. We know we have to give up money and all other things when we die, and yet, see the amount of energy we can put forth for them. But we, the same human beings, should we not put forth a thousandfold more strength and energy to acquire that which never fades, but which remains to us for ever? For this is the one great friend, our own good deeds, our own spiritual excellence, that follows us beyond the grave. Everything else is left behind here with the body. (V, 251 – 252 ) 

Detachment – a way out of Delusion

Every day we renew our determination to be unattached. We cast our eyes back and look at the past objects of our love and attachment, and feel how every one of them made us miserable. We went down into the depths of despondency because of our “love”! We found ourselves mere slaves in the hands of others, we were dragged down and down! And we make a fresh determination: “Henceforth, I will be master of myself; henceforth, I will have control over myself.” But the time comes, and the same story once more! Again the soul is caught and cannot get out. The bird is in a net, struggling and fluttering. This is our life. (II, 6)

A mind which is not trained in detachment will lose itself in selfish motivations. Therefore, consciously we should detach ourselves from unwanted material pursuits, family, relatives and so on. Make mind God oriented and let Satya and Dharma become practical in every aspect of our lives. That would remove beggarliness from the mind and it would become Self oriented and Self sufficient. Swamiji describes such Karma Yogis as men with capital M. Most of the people we see around today have lost their enthusiasm and courage to face life. They have lost faith in themselves and also in values like sincerity, love and optimism. If there is no detachment our old age would become miserable. The misery faced by the old in the society today due to their feelings of isolation and lack of love is because they failed to cultivate detachment in proper time. Our ancient rishis had introduced a stage called Vanaprasta after Grihastasrama giving people an opportunity to detach themselves from active involvement in worldly life. It is time to revisit the idea of Vanaprasta, specially when  old people in our families have become  unwanted entities, unloved and uncared for.

‘Swadharme nidhanam sreyah’

Every man should take up his own ideal and endeavour to accomplish it. That is a surer way of progress than taking up other men’s ideals, which he can never hope to accomplish. For instance, we take a child and at once give him the task of walking twenty miles. Either the little one dies, or one in a thousand crawls the twenty miles, to reach the end exhausted and half-dead. That is like what we generally try to do with the world. All the men and women, in any society, are not of the same mind, capacity, or of the same power to do things; they must have different ideals, and we have no right to sneer at any ideal. Let every one do the best he can for realising his own ideal. Nor is it right that I should be judged by your standard or you by mine. The apple tree should not be judged by the standard of the oak, nor the oak by that of the apple. To judge the apple tree you must take the apple standard, and for the oak, its own standard. (I, 41)

‘Swadharme nidhanam sreyah

Paradharmo bhayavaha’ – is explained by Sri Krishna in Bhagavat Gita. Swamiji introduces this idea in Karma Yoga. To use the modern technology, when we work in the field to which we are best suited by birth and training our work would be tension free. The reason is that it has become part of the character or Swabhava. One is able to work with great relaxation and satisfaction. As time went on, unfortunately such activities became more and more confined to particular sections (castes)  in the society,  and became concretised as Kula Dharma. However, it is a fact, that executing Kula Dharma one is able to manifest the divinity (freedom) within, which is what work is meant for. 

‘Yoga karmasu kausalam’

Gita teaches Karma-Yoga. We should work through Yoga (concentration). In such concentration in action (Karma-Yoga), there is no consciousness of the lower ego present. The consciousness that I am doing this and that is never present when one works through Yoga. The Western people do not understand this. They say that if there be no consciousness of ego, if this ego is gone, how then can a man work? But when one works with concentration, losing all consciousness of oneself the work that is done will be infinitely better, and this every one may have experienced in his own life. 

        We perform many works subconsciously, such as the digestion of food etc., many others consciously, and others again by becoming immersed in Samâdhi as it were, when there is no consciousness of the smaller ego. If the painter, losing the consciousness of his ego, becomes completely immersed in his painting, he will be able to produce masterpieces. The good cook concentrates his whole self on the food-material he handles; he loses all other consciousness for the time being. But they are only able to do perfectly a single work in this way, to which they are habituated. The Gita teaches that all works should be done thus. He who is one with the Lord through Yoga performs all his works by becoming immersed in concentration, and does not seek any personal benefit. Such a performance of work brings only good to the world, no evil can come out of it. Those who work thus never do anything for themselves.

The result of every work is mixed with good and evil. There is no good work that has not a touch of evil in it. Like smoke round the fire, some evil always clings to work. We should engage in such works as bring the largest amount of good and the smallest measure of evil. (V, 247 – 248)

The unattached has no fear

….. only to selfishness comes fear. He who has nothing to desire for himself, whom does he fear, and what can frighten him? What fear has death for him? What fear has evil for him? So if we are Advaitists, we must think from this moment that our old self is dead and gone. The old Mr., Mrs., and Miss So-and-so are gone, they were mere superstitions, and what remains is the ever-pure, the ever-strong, the almighty, the all-knowing — that alone remains for us, and then all fear vanishes from us. Who can injure us, the omnipresent? 

All weakness has vanished from us, and our only work is to arouse this knowledge in our fellow beings. These doctrines are old, older than many mountains possibly. All truth is eternal. Truth is nobody’s property; no race, no individual can lay any exclusive claim to it. 

Truth is the nature of all souls. Who can lay an, special claim to it? But it has to be made practical, to be made simple (for the highest truths are always simple), so that it may penetrate every pore of human society, and become the property of the highest intellects and the commonest minds, of the man, woman, and child at the same time. All these ratiocinations of logic, all these bundles of metaphysics, all these theologies and ceremonies may have been good in their own time, but let us try to make things simpler and bring about the golden days when every man will be a worshipper, and the Reality in every man will be the object of worship. (II, 357 – 358)

Truly there is no place for selfishness in life. Selfishness is an uninvited guest who has managed to enter our house due to our ignorance and negligence.  The more you entertain it the more will it be difficult to send it away. Every religion extols the glory of unselfishness. To achieve it the path lies through renunciation and service. Vedanta describes the spiritual principle behind unselfishness. We should be able to eradicate selfishness totally in the light of vedantic vision of Oneness. Otherwise there is a likelihood of our slipping down in our spiritual progress. Our puranas are full of illustrations of such falls which have happened to many a great seeker and deprived them of their final acheivement.

‘Swadharme nidhanam sreyah’

Every man should take up his own ideal and endeavour to accomplish it. That is a surer way of progress than taking up other men’s ideals, which he can never hope to accomplish. For instance, we take a child and at once give him the task of walking twenty miles. Either the little one dies, or one in a thousand crawls the twenty miles, to reach the end exhausted and half-dead. That is like what we generally try to do with the world. All the men and women, in any society, are not of the same mind, capacity, or of the same power to do things; they must have different ideals, and we have no right to sneer at any ideal. Let every one do the best he can for realising his own ideal. Nor is it right that I should be judged by your standard or you by mine. The apple tree should not be judged by the standard of the oak, nor the oak by that of the apple. To judge the apple tree you must take the apple standard, and for the oak, its own standard. (I, 41)

‘Swadharme nidhanam sreyah

Paradharmo bhayavaha’ –

 is explained by Sri Krishna in Bhagavat Gita. Swamiji introduces this idea in Karma Yoga. To use the modern technology, when we work in the field to which we are best suited by birth and training our work would be tension free. The reason is that it has become part of the character or Swabhava. One is able to work with great relaxation and satisfaction. As time went on, unfortunately such activities became more and more confined to particular sections (castes)  in the society,  and became concretised as Kula Dharma. However, it is a fact, that executing Kula Dharma one is able to manifest the divinity (freedom) within, which is what work is meant for. 

‘Ma te sangostu akarmani’

Inactivity should be avoided by all means. Activity always means resistance. Resist all evils, mental and physical; and when you have succeeded in resisting, then will calmness come. It is very easy to say, “Hate nobody, resist not evil,” but we know what that kind of thing generally means in practice. When the eyes of society are turned towards us, we may make a show of non-resistance, but in our hearts it is canker all the time. We feel the utter want of the calm of non-resistance; we feel that it would be better for us to resist. If you desire wealth, and know at the same time that the whole world regards him who aims at wealth as a very wicked man, you, perhaps, will not dare to plunge into the struggle for wealth, yet your mind will be running day and night after money. This is hypocrisy and will serve no purpose. Plunge into the world, and then, after a time, when you have suffered   and enjoyed all that is in it, will renunciation come; then will calmness come. So fulfill your desire for power and everything else, and after you have fulfilled the desire, will come the time when you will know that they are all very little things; but until you have fulfilled this desire, until you have passed through that activity, it is impossible for you to come to the state of calmness, serenity, and self-surrender. (I, 40)

In Bhagavat Gita through his eloquent explanation of Karma Yoga Sri Krishna helped Arjuna to come out of his psychological confusion. He also warned Arjuna not to fall  prey to laziness. Laziness and indifference to one’s duties have become our national character, the beginnings of which Swamiji must have seen and felt during his travels across the country.

‘Karmanyevadhikaraste ma phaleshu kadachana’

All outgoing energy following a selfish motive is frittered away; it will not cause power to return to you; but if restrained, it will result in development of power. This self-control will tend to produce a mighty will, a character which makes a Christ or a Buddha. Foolish men do not know this secret

Even the lowest forms of work are not to be despised. Let the man, who knows no better, work for selfish ends, for name and fame; but everyone should always try to get towards higher and higher motives and to understand them. “To work we have the right, but not to the fruits thereof:” Leave the fruits alone. Why care for results? If you wish to help a man, never think what that man’s attitude should be towards you. If you want to do a great or a good work, do not trouble to think what the result will be. (I, 33 – 34)

Those who want to transform Karma into Karma Yoga and thus attain peace, happiness and spiritual progress must take care of three things. Firstly, he should give up the sense of doership, that is, the idea, ‘ I am the doer’. Secondly, one must try not to superimpose our likes and dislikes on the work we do, doing only what brings happiness to oneself rejecting the contrary ones. Third and most important point is never to be over anxious about the results of action. Such an evaluation will lead us on to the ideals of ‘ pravriti and nivriti’. Nivriti leads to peace and happiness while pravriti drags us down to the mire of samsara.

We help ourselves, not the world

Our duty to others means helping others; doing good to the world. Why should we do good to the world? Apparently to help the world, but really to help ourselves. We should always try to help the world, that should be the highest motive in us; but if we consider well, we find that the world does not require our help at all. This world was not made that you or I should come and help it. I once read a sermon in which it was said, “All this beautiful world is very good, because it gives us time and opportunity to help others.” Apparently, this is a very beautiful sentiment, but is it not a blasphemy to say that the world needs our help? We cannot deny that there is much misery in it; to go out and help others is, therefore, the best thing we can do, although in the long run, we shall find that helping others is only helping ourselves. (I, 75)

Swamiji must have tried very hard to imprint this idea that ‘we help ourselves and not the world’ on his western listeners. In his book on Karma Yoga he has utilised one entire chapter to describe this very intricate idea. As an example he narrates a very simple experiement he did as a child with some white mice. “They were kept in a little box in which there were little wheels, and when the mice tried to cross the wheels, the wheels turned and turned and the mice got anywhere. So it is with the world and our help in it. The only help is that we get moral exercise”. Continuing Swamiji reminds us that “Yet we must do good; the desire to do good is the highest motive power we have, if we know all the time that it is a privilege to help others.”

Pravritti and Nivritti

Here are two Sanskrit words. The one is Pravritti, which means revolving towards, and the other is Nivritti, which means revolving away. The “revolving towards” is what we call the world, the “I and mine”; it includes all those things which are always enriching that “me” by wealth and money and power, and name and fame, and which are of a grasping nature, always tending to accumulate everything in one centre, that centre being “myself”. That is the Pravritti, the natural tendency of every human being; taking everything from everywhere and heaping it around one centre, that centre being man’s own sweet self. When this tendency begins to break, when it is Nivritti or “going away from,” then begin morality and religion. Both Pravritti and Nivritti are of the nature of work: the former is evil work, and the latter is good work. 

This Nivritti is the fundamental basis of all morality and all religion, and the very perfection of it is entire self-abnegation, readiness to sacrifice mind and body and everything for another being. When a man has reached that state, he has attained to the perfection of Karma-Yoga. 

        This is the highest result of good works. Although a man has not studied a single system of philosophy, although he does not believe in any God, and never has believed, although he has not prayed even once in his whole life, if the simple power of good actions has brought him to that state where he is ready to give up his life and all else for others, he has arrived at the same point to which the religious man will come through his prayers and the philosopher through his knowledge; and so you may find that the philosopher, the worker, and the devotee, all meet at one point, that one point being self-abnegation. However much their systems of philosophy and religion may differ, all mankind stand in reverence and awe before the man who is ready to sacrifice himself for others. (I, 85 – 86)

Power in Self - Restraint

It is the greatest manifestation of power — this tremendous restraint; self-restraint is a manifestation of greater power than all outgoing action. A carriage with four horses may rush down a hill unrestrained, or the coachman may curb the horses. Which is the greater manifestation of power, to let them go or to hold them? A cannonball flying through the air goes a long distance and falls. Another is cut short in its flight by striking against a wall, and the impact generates intense heat. All outgoing energy following a selfish motive is frittered away; it will not cause power to return to you; but if restrained, it will result in development of power. This self-control will tend to produce a mighty will, a character which makes a Christ or a Buddha. Foolish men do not know this secret (I, 33)

It is most unfortunate that we the children of Karma Bhumi Bharat do not know even the primary lessons of the science of karma yoga. How does our power get frittered away? It can be compared to water kept in a vessel full of holes. When we engage ourselves in unproductive work our energy is frittered away. To stop this wastage of energy our great rishis discovered the technique of controlling the sense organs. For this we have to fix a goal in life, make the intellect oriented towards the goal and keep the mind under control. Once the mind is under control then starts conservation of spiritual energy at subtle levels and mind becomes more and more purified leading to the awakening of the Satwic intellect. Spiritual progress is the net result. 

Swamiji wanted every one to be aware of one’s inner strength and through proper planning and execution of work awaken the Self within.  

Unselfishness and Morality

There is to be found in every religion the manifestation of this struggle towards freedom. It is the groundwork of all morality, of unselfishness, which means getting rid of the idea that men are the same as their little body. When we see a man doing good work, helping others, it means that he cannot be confined within the limited circle of “me and mine”. There is no limit to this getting out of selfishness. All the great systems of ethics preach absolute unselfishness as the goal. Supposing this absolute unselfishness can be reached by a man, what becomes of him? He is no more the little Mr. So-and-so; he has acquired infinite expansion. The little personality which he had before is now lost to him for ever; he has become infinite, and the attainment of this infinite expansion is indeed the goal of all religions and of all moral and philosophical teachings. (I, 109)

All great teachers emphasise the role of unselfishness in morality. Absolute unselfishness expands us to be one with the universe. Karma Yoga is the science which leads to absolute freedom through completely unselfish work. It follows that unselfishness leads us to our goal and selfishness takes us  away from the goal. At one place Swamiji defines that “selfishness is immorality and unselfishness is morality.” 

Detachment a must to attain the goal of love

To attain this unattachment is almost a life-work, but as soon as we have reached this point, we have attained the goal of love and become free; the bondage of nature falls from us, and we see nature as she is; she forges no more chains for us; we stand entirely free and take not the results of work into consideration; who then cares for what the results may be?

Do you ask anything from your children in return for what you have given them? It is your duty to work for them, and there the matter ends. In whatever you do for a particular person, a city, or a state, assume the same attitude towards it as you have towards your children — expect nothing in return. If you can invariably take the position of a giver, in which everything given by you is a free offering to the world, without any thought of return, then will your work bring you no attachment. Attachment comes only where we expect a return. (I, 59)

What binds us to work is our desire for the fruits of our actions. Anasakti yoga or yoga of detachment trains the mind to rid of this desire for result. Once it is removed, we learn to work for work’s sake and execute our work like a master and not as a slave. “In the world we find two things that affect the conduct of men; might and mercy. The exercise of might is invariably the exercise of selfishness ……. Mercy is heaven itself; to be good, we have all to be merciful,  even justice and right should stand on mercy.” These words of Swamiji must ring  in our ears as we go on working for oneself and others.

Work with detachment

Therefore, be “unattached”; let things work; let brain centres work; work incessantly, but let not a ripple conquer the mind. Work as if you were a stranger in this land, a sojourner; work incessantly, but do not bind yourselves; bondage is terrible. This world is not our habitation, it is only one of the many stages through which we are passing. Remember that great saying of the Sânkhya, “The whole of nature is for the soul, not the soul for nature.” 

        The very reason of nature’s existence is for the education of the soul; it has no other meaning; it is there because the soul must have knowledge, and through knowledge free itself. If we remember this always, we shall never be attached to nature; we shall know that nature is a book in which we are to read, and that when we have gained the required knowledge, the book is of no more value to us. Instead of that, however, we are identifying ourselves with nature; we are thinking that the soul is for nature, that the spirit is for the flesh, and, as the common saying has it, we think that man “lives to eat” and not “eats to live”. We are continually making this mistake; we are regarding nature as ourselves and are becoming attached to it; and as soon as this attachment comes, there is the deep impression on the soul, which binds us down and makes us work not from freedom but like slaves. (I, 56 – 57)

‘We must learn to work like Masters and not as slaves’. One great tragedy which has befallen us, Indians is that we still live and work like somebody’s slaves. Slaves are always very selfish. Today, though we live and work for the society or for the nation, it is with self centeredness. Why cannot we work inspired by love. Love cannot come where there is selfishness. Slaves do not enjoy this flavour of love. Work done through slavery would lead to frustration and that is tormenting India as a nation even today.  

Work without motive

Now, what is the meaning of working without motive? Nowadays many understand it in the sense that one is to work in such a way that neither pleasure nor pain touches his mind. If this be its real meaning, then the animals might be said to work without motive. Some animals devour their own offspring, and they do not feel any pangs at all in doing so. Robbers ruin other people by robbing them of their possessions; but if they feel quite callous to pleasure or pain, then they also would be working without motive. 

        If the meaning of it be such, then one who has a stony heart, the worst of criminals, might be considered to be working without motive. The walls have no feelings of pleasure or pain, neither has a stone, and it cannot be said that they are working without motive. In the above sense the doctrine is a potent instrument in the hands of the wicked. They would go on doing wicked deeds, and would pronounce themselves as working without a motive. If such be the significance of working without a motive, then a fearful doctrine has been put forth by the preaching of the Gita. Certainly this is not the meaning. Furthermore, if we look into the lives of those who were connected with the preaching of the Gita, we should find them living quite a different life. Arjuna killed Bhishma and Drona in battle, but withal, he sacrificed all his self-interest and desires and his lower self millions of times. (V, 247)

The concept of ‘work without motive’ is another of India’s unique contribution to the world thought. Only such work can help man manifest the divine potential within him. It is an easy way to purify the mind and evolve man towards his greater destiny. Three things have to be taken care of. Firstly the feeling of ownership of the action (that I am the doer) must be eradicated from the mind. Secondly, feelings of likes and dislikes should be kept at bay. Thirdly, attachment to fruit of action should also be removed totally. Once these three negative ingredients are removed, our actions, the work which we do, get transformed into worship. It releases the mind from vasanas or impressions which gather as impurities.

Is this practical? In our recent history Acharya Vinoba Bhave and the Father of our nation Mahatma Gandhi were two shining examples who lived and acted according to this wonderful principle of Nishkama Karma Yoga.

Work – Means as important as the goal

One of the greatest lessons I have learnt in my life is to pay as much attention to the means of work as to its end. He was a great man from whom I learnt it, and his own life was a practical demonstration of this great principle I have been always learning great lessons from that one principle, and it appears to me that all the secret of success is there; to pay as much attention to the means as to the end.

Our great defect in life is that we are so much drawn to the ideal, the goal is so much more enchanting, so much more alluring, so much bigger in our mental horizon, that we lose sight of the details altogether.

But whenever failure comes, if we analyse it critically, in ninety-nine per cent of cases we shall find that it was because we did not pay attention to the means. Proper attention to the finishing, strengthening, of the means is what we need. With the means all right, the end must come. We forget that it is the cause that produces the effect; the effect cannot come by itself; and unless the causes are exact, proper, and powerful, the effect will not be produced.

  Once the ideal is chosen and the means determined, we may almost let go the ideal, because we are sure it will be there, when the means are perfected. When the cause is there, there is no more difficulty about the effect, the effect is bound to come. If we take care of the cause, the effect will take care of itself. 

The realization of the ideal is the effect. The means are the cause: attention to the means, therefore, is the great secret of life. We also read this in the Gita and learn that we have to work, constantly work with all our power; to put our whole mind in the work, whatever it be, that we are doing. At the same time, we must not be attached. That is to say, we must not be drawn away from the work by anything else; still, we must be able to quit the work whenever we like.(II, 1 -2)

On 4th January 1900  Swamiji spoke on ‘Work and its Secret’, which must have been an eye opener for his western audience.  In this context Swamiji remembered that immaculate Karma Yogi Pavarhari Baba in whose company Swamiji learned many of the fine points of Karma Yoga. Baba was always a source of great inspiration for Swamiji.