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Swami Vivekananda
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The Secret of Work
A. Answer the following
questions in about 100 words each.
1. What is the most direct
method of curing the miseries of the world, according to Swami Vivekananda?
According to Swami Vivekananda,
physical help alone cannot cure the miseries of the world. Even if we convert
every house in the country into a charitable asylum and fill the land with
hospitals, we cannot eradicate human misery. Ignorance is the cause of human
misery and evil. Man has to change his character and become pure. He has to be enlightened,
educated and become spiritually strong to get relief from the miseries of the
world. Otherwise, his needs will go on increasing, which leads to more
miseries. Man must work incessantly without attachment. (93 words)
2. What is the nature of work?
How should work be performed?
The Bhagavad-Gita says that we
must all work incessantly. The nature of work is such that every work must
necessarily be a combination of good and evil. Good and evil actions will have
their consequences. Good actions bring good and bad actions lead to bad. We
have to work continuously without any attachments. Then only, our soul can be
free of bondage. Every work we do leaves an impression on the subconscious
region of the mind. The sum total of such impressions makes our character. We
have do good work without expecting result to build a good character. (98
words)
3. Explain ‘Samskara’. How
good and bad actions influence one’s ‘Samskara’?
The rippling effect of the work
done by us is called ‘Samskara’. Good and evil actions will have their
consequences. Good actions bring good and bad actions lead to bad. We have to
work continuously without any attachments. Then only, our soul can be free of
bondage. Every work we do leaves an impression on the subconscious region of
the mind. The sum total of such impressions makes our character. We have do
good work without expecting result to build a good character. If our ‘Samskara’
is good our character will be good. (93 words)
4. How is good character said
to be established?
The rippling effect of the work
done by us is called ‘Samskara’. Good and evil actions will have their
consequences. Good actions bring good and bad actions lead to bad. We have to
work continuously without any attachments. Then only, our soul can be free of
bondage. Every work we do leaves an impression on the subconscious region of
the mind. The sum total of such impressions makes our character. We have do
good work without expecting result to build a good character. Thus, according
to Swami Vivekananda good character can be established. (93 words)
5. In paragraph 4, Swami Vivekananda explains the
idea of ‘un-attachment’. How have you understood it? Discuss Swami
Vivekananda’s idea of ‘attachment’.
By continuous good thought and
good deeds, good impressions will be made on subconscious mind. Then we are
inclined to do good deeds only. Thus, we will be able to control our
sense-organs and build character. Then, we have to aim for liberation, full
freedom. We mush counter bad deeds with good deeds till no evil is left in us.
We must be ‘attached’ to doing good in this phase. We have to nullify
impressions of bad deeds with good deeds. We have to detach ourselves from good
deeds also to achieve total liberation. This is the idea of ‘attachment’ of
Swami Vivekananda. (103 words)
6. Explain
what is meant by working ‘like a master’ and not as a slave.
We have to
work continuously without being ‘attached’ to it. Our work should not affect
our mind. When we work like stranger to the land without bonding ourselves to
it. If we are able to work like that, we are working like masters. If we are
bound by our work, we are doing our work as slaves. We have to work with love
and without attachment. We must not be selfish while working. Selfish work is
slave’s work. Every act of love brings happiness, peace and blessedness. Real
love makes us ‘unattached’. We have to look upon work as ‘worship’, dedicating
the result of our work to God. (108 words)
B. Answer
the following questions in about 200 words each.
1. Explain
the idea of work as worship, according to Swami Vivekananda.
Man has to
change his character and become pure. He has to be educated and become
spiritually strong to get relief from the miseries of the world. The Bhagavad-Gita
says that we must all work incessantly. The nature of work is such that every
work must necessarily be a combination of good and evil. Good and evil actions
will have their consequences. Good actions bring good and bad actions lead to
bad. We have to work continuously without any attachments. By continuous good thought and good deeds,
good impressions will be made on subconscious mind. Then we are inclined to do
good deeds only. Thus, we will be able to control our sense-organs and build
character.
Our work
should not affect our mind. When we work like stranger to the land without
bonding ourselves to it. If we are able to work like that, we are working like
masters. If we are bound by our work, we are doing our work as slaves. We have
to work with love and without attachment. We must not be selfish while working.
Selfish work is slave’s work. Every act of love brings happiness, peace and
blessedness. Real love makes us ‘unattached’. We have to look upon work as
‘worship’, dedicating the result of our work to God. (214 words)
2. What is true liberation?
How can this be achieved? Trace the course of Swami Vivekananda’s argument to
prove the truth of this statement.
By continuous good thought and
good deeds, good impressions will be made on subconscious mind. Then we are
inclined to do good deeds only. Thus, we will be able to control our
sense-organs and build character. After attaining good character, we have to
aim for liberation, full freedom. We mush counter bad deeds with good deeds
till no evil is left in us. We must be ‘attached’ to doing good in this phase.
Just as we remove a thorn with another thorn, we have to nullify impressions of
bad deeds with good deeds. Then we have to detach ourselves from good deeds
also to achieve total liberation. This is the idea of true liberation.
Our work
should not affect our mind. When we work like stranger to the land without
bonding ourselves to it. If we are able to work like that, we are working like
masters. If we are bound by our work, we are doing our work as slaves. We have
to work with love and without attachment. We must not be selfish while working.
Selfish work is slave’s work. Every act of love brings happiness, peace and
blessedness. Real love makes us ‘unattached’. We have to look upon work as
‘worship’, dedicating the result of our work to God. (212 words)
--o0o--
Brief Summery
According to
Swami Vivekananda, physical help alone cannot cure the miseries of the world.
Man has to be educated and become spiritually strong to get relief from the
miseries of the world. The Bhagavad-Gita says that we must all work
incessantly.The nature of work is such that every work must necessarily be a
combination of good and evil. Good and evil actions will have their
consequences.The rippling effect of the work done by us is called ‘Samskara’. Every
work we do leaves an impression on the subconscious region of the mind. The sum
total of such impressions makes our character.Real love makes us ‘unattached’.
We have to look upon work as ‘worship’, dedicating the result of our work to
God. (120 words)
