Idea of perfect work (Karma Yoga)

Author : Swami Vivekananda

Read Time : 5 minutes

The goal of mankind is knowledge. The cause of all the miseries we have in the world is that men foolishly think pleasure to be the ideal to strive for.

Both pleasure and pain are great teachers. We learn as much from evil as from good. If you take the character of any man, you will find that misery and happiness are equal factors in the formation of that character. Good and evil have an equal share in moulding character and in some instances, misery is a greater teacher than happiness.

In studying great characters the world has produced, I dare say, in the vast majority of cases, it would be found that it was misery that taught more than happiness, it was poverty that taught more than wealth, it was blows that brought out their inner fire more than praise.

Now, this knowledge is inherent in man. No knowledge comes from outside; it is all inside. What we say a man "knows", he "discovers", by taking the cover off his own soul, which is a mine of infinite knowledge. The man from whom this veil is being lifted is the more knowing man, the man upon whom it lies thick is ignorant, and the man from whom it has entirely gone is all-knowing, omniscient.

When Newton discovered gravitation, it was not sitting anywhere in a corner waiting for him. It was in his own mind; the time came and he found it out. All knowledge that the world has ever received comes from the mind; the infinite library of the universe is in your own mind. The external world is simply the suggestion, the occasion, which sets you to study your own mind, but the object of your study is always your own mind. The falling of an apple gave the suggestion to Newton, and he studied his own mind. He rearranged all the previous links of thought in his mind and discovered a new link among them, which we call the law of gravitation.

In Karma-Yoga, the word Karma means work. Every mental and physical blow that is given to us, by which, (as it were) fire is struck from it and knowledge is discovered, is the word Karma, in its widest sense. Thus we are all doing Karma all the time. I am talking to you: You are listening: We breathe: We walk. Everything we do physical or mental is karma and it leaves its marks on us.

If you really want to judge of the character of a man, don’t look at his great performances. Every fool may become a hero at one time or another. Watch a man do his most common actions; those are indeed the things which will tell you the real character of a great man. Great occasions rouse even the lowest of human beings to some kind of greatness, but he alone is the really great man whose character is great always, the same wherever he be.

All the actions that we see in the world, all the movements in human society, all the works that we have around us, are simply the display of thought, the manifestation of the will of man. Machines or instruments, cities, ships, or men of- war, all these are simply the manifestation of the will of man and this will is caused by character and character is manufactured by Karma. As is Karma, so is the manifestation of the will. 

The men of mighty will the world has produced have all been tremendous workers — gigantic souls, with wills powerful enough to overturn worlds, wills they got by persistent work, through ages, and ages

No one can get anything unless he earns it. This is an eternal law. We may go on accumulating things for our physical enjoyment, but only what we earn is really ours. Our Karma determines what we deserve and what we can assimilate. We are responsible for what we are and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves. If what we are now has been the result of our own past actions, it certainly follows that whatever we wish to be in future can be produced by our present actions; so we have to know how to act.

With regard to Karma-Yoga, Bhagavad Gita says that, it is doing work with cleverness and as a science; by knowing how to work, one can obtain the greatest results. You must remember that all work is simply to bring out the power of the mind which is already there. The power is inside every man, so is knowing; the different works are like blows to bring them out

Man works with various motives. There cannot be work without motive. Some people want to get fame, others want money, others want to have power, others want to get to heaven, and they work for the same. Others work as a penance; do all sorts of wicked things, then erect a temple, or give something to the priests to buy them off and obtain from them a passport to heaven. They think that this kind of beneficence will clear them and they will go scot-free in spite of their sinfulness

Work for work's sake. Do not care for name, or fame, or even to go to heaven. Work just because good will come of it. If a man works without any selfish motive in view, he gains the highest. Unselfishness is more paying, only people have not the patience to practice it. Love, truth, and unselfishness are not merely moral figures of speech, but they form our highest ideal, because in them lies such a manifestation of power. 

If someone can work even for five minutes, without any selfish motive whatever, without thinking of future, of heaven, of punishment, or anything of the kind, has in him the capacity to become a powerful moral giant. It is hard to do it, but it is the greatest manifestation of power — this tremendous restraint; self-restraint is a manifestation of greater power than all outgoing action.

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

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. 

The ideal man is he who, in the midst of the greatest silence and solitude, finds the most intense activity, and in the midst of the most intense activity, finds silence and solitude of the desert. He has learnt the secret of restraint, he has controlled himself. That is the ideal of Karma-Yoga, and if you have attained to that you have really learnt the secret of work

We have to begin from the beginning, take up the works as they come to us and slowly make ourselves more unselfish every day. We must do the work and find out the motive power that prompts us and, almost without exception, initially, we shall find that our motives are always selfish; but gradually this selfishness will melt by persistence, till at last will come the time when we shall be able to do really unselfish work and the moment we attain to that, all our powers will be concentrated, and the knowledge which is ours will be manifest

[Extracted from Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda - Volume 1 / Karma Yoga / Chapter 1 : Karma in its effect on character]

-Om Tat Sat