The orignal article is present on Rama Krishna Vivkenanda - Work and it’s secret
I have tried to add my own understanding and add some points of my own. Which I use to reflect on frequently. In order to keep my intentions and purity on track - deeps
Key takeaway sayings
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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. Attention to the means, therefore, is the great secret of life.
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Therefore says the Gita: Work constantly; work, but be not attached; be not caught.
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That man alone will be able to get the best of nature, who, having the power of attaching himself to a thing with all his energy, has also the power to detach himself when he should do so.
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The great secret of true success, of true happiness, then, is this. The man who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish man, is the most successful.
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No disease can come to me until the body is ready. It does not depend alone on the germs. You did half, and the external world did the other half: that is how the blow came.
Swami Vivekanada - On Work and it’s secret
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.
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.
Still, we must be able to quit the work whenever we like.
We came here to sip the honey, and we find our hands and feet sticking to it. We are caught, though we came to catch. We came to enjoy; we are being enjoyed. We came to rule; we are being ruled. We came to work; we are being worked. All the time, we find that. And this comes into every detail of our life. We are being worked upon by other minds, and we are always struggling to work on other minds. We want to enjoy the pleasures of life; and they eat into our vitals. We want to get everything from nature, but we find in the long run that nature takes everything from us — depletes us, and casts us aside.
That is the one cause of misery: we are attached, we are being caught.
Therefore says the Gita: Work constantly; work, but be not attached; be not caught.
Be not attached to the outcome of the blog post, or the traffic on the website, the number of people who benefit out of the form, be not attached. But put all your hard + smart work into making it grow. - deeps
Reserve unto yourself the power of detaching yourself from everything, however beloved, however much the soul might yearn for it.
However great the pangs of misery you feel if you were going to leave it still, reserve the power of leaving it whenever you want. The weak have no place here, in this life or in any other life. Weakness leads to slavery. Weakness leads to all kinds of misery, physical and mental. Weakness is death.
This is the great fact: strength is life, weakness is death. Strength is felicity, life eternal, immortal; weakness is constant strain and misery: weakness is death. We have to detach ourselves to earn joy. If only we had power to detach ourselves at will, there would not be any misery.
That man alone will be able to get the best of nature, who, having the power of attaching himself to a thing with all his energy, has also the power to detach himself when he should do so. The difficulty is that there must be as much power of attachment as that of detachment.
We get caught. How?
Not by what we give, but by what we expect.
The great secret of true success, of true happiness, then, is this:
The man who asks for no return, the perfectly unselfish man, is the most successful.
What are we willing to do perfectly unselfishly? The man who doesn’t ask for users, the man who doesn’t write blog posts or articles for the sake of getting money because he is asking something for return. It should be driven from the fact that, it just is being done, work for work’s sake. To explore and satisfy your curiosity. If it benefits other people charge money for your time. Don’t do things to deliberately. Ask nothing in return, if there is a task for which we ask nothing in return then only do it. - deeps
Ask nothing; want nothing in return
Give what you have to give. Give your fullest gifts to the world.
Learn that the whole of life is giving, that nature will force you to give. So, give willingly.
You are a machine for taking and giving: you take, in order to give. Ask, therefore, nothing in return;
The quicker you can empty the air out of this room, the quicker it will be filled up by the external air;
Even if our every attempt is a failure, and we bleed and are torn asunder, yet, through all this, we have to preserve our heart — we must assert our Godhead in the midst of all these difficulties. Nature wants us to react, to return blow for blow, cheating for cheating, lie for lie, to hit back with all our might. Then it requires a superdivine power not to hit back, to keep control, to be unattached.
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!
I know the difficulties. Tremendous they are, and ninety per cent of us become discouraged and lose heart, and in our turn, often become pessimists and cease to believe in sincerity, love, and all that is grand and noble.
We may be cut to pieces, torn asunder, yet our hearts must grow nobler and nobler all the time.
It is very difficult, but we can overcome the difficulty by constant practice. We must learn that nothing can happen to us, unless we make ourselves susceptible to it.
No disease can come to me until the body is ready. Tt does not depend alone on the germs.
You did half, and the external world did the other half: that is how the blow came.
The note of hope then is: “I have no control of the external world, but that which is in me and nearer unto me, my own world, is in my control. If the two together are required to make a failure, if the two together are necessary to give me a blow, I will not contribute the one which is in my keeping; and how then can the blow come? If I get real control of myself, the blow will never come.”
We are to take care of ourselves — that much we can do — and give up attending to others for a time. Let us perfect the means; the end will take care of itself. For the world can be good and pure, only if our lives are good and pure. It is an effect, and we are the means. Therefore, let us purify ourselves. Let us make ourselves perfect.