Work without Motive

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Work Without Motive

This is a summary of Swami Vivekananda's talk given to the members of the

Ramakrishna Mission at the meeting held on 20 March 1898, at 57 Ramakanta Bose

Street, Baghbazar, Kolkata. The text is also available in the Complete Works of

Swami Vivekananda, 5: 246-49.

 

 

 

When the Gita was first preached, there was then going on a great controversy

between two sects. One party considered the Vedic rituals (yajnas) and animal

sacrifices to constitute the whole of religion. The other preached that the

killing of numberless horses and cattle cannot be called religion. The people

belonging to the latter party were mostly monks (sannyasins) and followers of

the path of knowledge (jnana). They believed that the giving up of all work and

the gaining of the knowledge of the Self (atman) was the only path to

spiritual freedom (moksha). By the preaching of His great doctrine of work

without

attachment, the author of the Gita set at rest the disputes of these two

antagonistic sects.

 

Many are of opinion that the Gita was not written at the time of the

Mahabharata but was subsequently added to it. This is not correct. The special

teachings of the Gita are to be found in every part of the Mahabharata, and if

the

Gita is to be expunged as forming no part of it, every other portion of it which

embodies the same teaching should be similarly treated.

 

Now, what does it mean to work without motive? Nowadays many understand it to

mean that we must work in such a way that neither pleasure nor pain touches

our minds. If this be its real meaning, then the animals can be said to work

without motive. Some animals devour their own offspring and they do not seem to

feel any pangs at all in doing so. Robbers ruin other people by robbing them

of their possessions; but if they feel quite callous to pleasure or pain, then

they also would be working without motive. If the meaning of it be such, then

one who has a stony heart, the worst of criminals, might be considered to be

working without motive. The walls have no feelings of pleasure or pain, neither

has a stone, but it cannot be said that they work without motive.

 

In the above sense the doctrine is a potent instrument in the hands of the

wicked. They would go on doing wicked deeds, and would pronounce themselves as

working without a motive. If such be the significance of working without a

motive, then a fearful doctrine has been put forth by the Gita. Certainly this

is

not the meaning. Furthermore, if we look into the lives of those who were

connected with the preaching of the Gita, we should find them living quite a

different life. Arjuna killed Bhishma and Drona in battle, but withal, he

sacrificed all his self-interest and desires and his lower self millions of

times.

 

The Gita teaches karma yoga. All work must be done with concentration (yoga).

In such concentration in action (karma yoga), there is no consciousness of

the lower ego present. The consciousness that "I am doing work" is never present

when one works through yoga. Westerners do not understand this. They say that

if there be no consciousness of ego, if this ego is gone, how then can a

person work? But when we work with concentration, losing all consciousness of

ourselves, the work that is done is infinitely better. Every one may have

experienced this in their own lives.

 

We do many things unconsciously, such as the digestion of food etc. We do

other things consciously, and some things we do by becoming immersed in Samadhi,

as it were, when there is no consciousness of the ego. If painters lose the

consciousness of their egos and become completely immersed in painting, they

will be able to produce masterpieces. Good cooks concentrate their whole self on

the food-material they handle; they lose all other consciousness for the time

being. But people are able to work perfectly in this way only in fields they

specialize in. The Gita teaches that every work should be done in that way.

Those who are one with the Lord through Yoga do all work by becoming immersed in

concentration. They do not seek any personal benefit. Such a performance of

work brings only good to the world, no evil can come out of it. Those who work

thus never do anything for themselves.

 

The result of every work is mixed with good and evil. There is no good work

that has not a touch of evil in it. Like smoke round the fire, some evil always

clings to work. We should engage in those activities that bring the largest

amount of good and the smallest amount of evil. One example of this is the

killing of Bhishma and Drona by Arjuna. If this had not been done, Duryodhana

could not have been conquered, the force of evil would have triumphed over the

force of good, and thus a great calamity would have fallen on the country. The

government of the country would have been usurped by a body of proud unrighteous

kings, to the great misfortune of the people. Another example is the killing

of Kamsa, Jarasandha, and other tyrants by Sri Krishna. Not a single one of

Krishna’s deeds was done for himself. Every one of them was for the good of

others.

 

We are reading the Gita by candle-light but, at the same time, many insects

are being burnt to death. Thus it is seen that some evil clings to even good

work no matter what. Those who work without any consciousness of their lower

ego are not affected with evil, for they work for the good of the world. To

work without motive, to work unattached, brings the highest bliss and freedom.

This secret of karma yoga is taught by Sri Krishna in the Gita.

 

Jai Guru Datta