Sunday, March 17, 2024

Secret of Right Activity - Swami Paramananda


It is not the strong physical vehicle which makes the productive human being; it is skillfulness in action, knowing how to adjust ourselves quickly, how to perform a task with the least expenditure of energy. This is what gives immediate success.

The whole purpose of religion and philosophy is to give us that which is inspiring, elevating and constructive.

A man who does nothing, his mind and his physical vehicle quickly deteriorate. He becomes dead although carrying on an existence.

One who is so convinced of his own principles that he is indifferent to what others say, and who is willing to give himself to his task, that man will accomplish his purpose.

There are moments when we forget our environment, forget everything but the one thing that we are doing, and those are the supreme moments of our life. They make it possible for us to attain success.

Action and reaction are constantly taking place in this world. No one can escape them. We may declare that we are going to have in our life only happiness and beauty, that we will have riches and not poverty. But the pairs of opposites are always playing back and forth. We cannot have happiness without unhappiness. We cannot have light without darkness. What is the remedy? It is given in the Gita: "To work alone thou hast the right, but never to the fruits thereof."

By doing small tasks whole-heartedly, with concentration and skillfulness, we evolve within ourselves a power which will enable us later on to perform some great task which now seems like a mountain, inaccessible and unobtainable.

Non-killing, not merely refraining from partaking of animal food, but never harming another by a hateful thought. It is actually practicing non-injury in thought, word and deed.

We are placed here by a divine hand. To disconnect ourselves from that, to feel and think that we are isolated and unprotected, existing merely for our own self-gratification, is the greatest tragedy that can befall us.

We know that there is within us a pent-up energy which is constantly finding its outlet through thought, words and actions. We can use this energy for our best happiness and up-liftment; or we can misuse it and cause our own ruin. It can manifest itself in the form of anger or hatred, which will bring disastrous results; also it can manifest itself in the form of goodness, unselfish love, charity and service. It is the same energy expressing itself in different ways according to our tendency.

If you are helping a person, do not expect that person to be grateful to you. Do not always trade in your love.

Always try to be in Christ-like state, "Not my will, but Thine".

As long as we are unselfish, so long we are the gainers; but whenever we bring the thought of self, we suffer, because we demand. We demand from the person we love; and if we do not get what we demand, we naturally suffer from reaction.

We must learn to live in the world, as Lord Krishna teaches in the Bhagavad Gita, like a lotus leaf, which grows in water but is never wet by the water.

Perform all work for the purification of your soul; not with the idea of earning a wage, but with some really noble motive.

"He who worketh for Me alone, hath Me for his highest goal, who is devoted to Me, who is freed from attachment, and beareth enmity towards no creature, such a person attaineth unto Me." - Bhagavad-Gita.

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