Be Free in Action
Every thought and every deed
of yours will generate certain tendencies which will affect your life here and
hereafter. If you do good actions with a selfless spirit, you will soar high
into the regions of bliss and peace. As you sow so shall you reap.
Good actions generate good
thoughts. Wrong actions bring pain, misery and unhappiness. Everyone of us is
governed by the law of action and reaction. Your present personality is the
total result of your previous actions and thoughts. Your future depends upon your
present action. Man moulds his own destiny.
Actions by themselves do not
bind a person. It is the attachment and identification in regard to the work
that binds us and brings pain and misery. It is the motive that binds you. It
is the motive that liberates you.
Work, but work with
detachment. In every act kindle the light of divine love. Always remember your
essential divine nature and act in the world in a spirit of divine dedication.
This world is ruled by the Lord's eternal laws. In the east, the great law of
cause and effect is called karma. In the New Testament the same truth is
expressed in the words: "Whatever a man sows, that he will also
reap".
Actions produce samskara
(mental impressions) that coalesce and form tendencies. Tendencies develop into
habits and character. Evil deeds generate bad character.
Actions, without the idea of
agency, without expectation of fruits, without attachment to the action, and
being balanced in success and failure, will not bind you. Selfless actions
purify your heart and lead to the attainment of wisdom of the self.
Karma Yoga is skill in action.
It is a great art. You have to take as much interest in each act that you
perform daily, as an artist takes in his dearly loved paintings. Note how,
after keen deliberation, the artist puts the brush. His entire mind is centred
on the work in hand; his entire being is focussed on the painting he works,
forgetting his very own self. This should be your attitude. Take this interest
in all that you do and at the same time be detached from all your actions. Then
you will not be bound to samsara (the wheel of birth and death).
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