Should I take pride in helping others?

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Every thought projected from every brain goes on until it meets a fit object that will receive it. Any mind which is open to receive some of these will take them immediately. Suppose I am doing a good act, my mind is in a certain state of vibration and all minds which are in a similar state, have the possibility of being affected by the vibration of my mind. Same is the case with evil act. So we should be very careful with our thoughts.

An action once done cannot be destroyed until it has borne its fruit. No power in nature can stop it from yielding its results. If I do an evil action, I must suffer for it; there is no power in this universe to stop or stay it. Similarly, if I do a good action, there is no power in the universe which can stop it from bearing good results

Then there is this problem. We cannot breathe or live without injuring others. If you think deeper, you'll understand that every bit of the food we eat is taken away from someone's mouth. We may work through all eternity, but there will be no end to this inevitable association of good and evil in the results of work. 

Knowing this, how can we work?

Any action that you do for yourself will bring its effect to bear upon you. If it is a good action, you will have to take the good effect and if bad, you will have to take the bad effect; but any action that is not done for your own sake, whatever it be, will have no effect on you.

Foolish parents teach their children "God has created this sun and moon for you", as if God has nothing else to do, other than creating everything for us. Do not teach your children such nonsense. Neither teach them that all these animals were created for us to kill and eat. That is all foolishness because going by that logic, a tiger may say, "Man was created for me"

It is a weakness to think that anyone is dependent on me and that I can do good to another. This belief is the mother of all our attachment and through this attachment comes all our pain. We must know that no one in this universe depends upon us. All are helped on by nature. It is only a privilege to you and me that we are allowed, in the way of helping others, to educate and purify ourselves.

When you give something to a man, expect nothing — do not even expect the man to be grateful. You gave him what he deserved; his own karma got it for him and your karma made you the carrier thereof. Why should we so proud of being a mere carrier? Once we start practising it, the whole world appear to be heaven and we'll find God in every human face.

[Extracted from Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda - Volume 1 / Karma Yoga / Chapter 6 : Non Attachment is complete self-abnegation]

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