A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

"""""""80 KARMA-YOGA.is morally good.Arjuna became a coward at the sight ofthe mighty array against him ;hisloyemade himforget his duty towards his country and king. That cswhy Sri Krishna told him that he was a hypocrite Thou:talkest like a wise man, but thy actions betray thee to bea coward ;therefore stand up and fight."Such is the central idea of the Karma-Yoga. TheKarma- Yoginis the man who understands that the highestideal is non-resistance, which is, indeed, the highest idealand the most beautiful manifestation of power in actualpossession, and he understands also that what is called theresisting of evil is but a step on the way towards the manifestation of the highest power which is non-resistance.Before reaching fittingly this highest ideal man s duty isto resist evil : let him work, let him fight, let him strikestraight from the shoulder." Only when he has gainedthe power to resist will non-resistance be a virtue.I once met a man in my country whom I had knownbefore as a very stupid, dull person who knew nothing andhad not the desire to know anything, and was living theI asked him.No,"he replied.life of a brute. He asked me what he should do toknow God, how he was to get free. Can you tell a lie ? "Then you must learn todoso. It is better to tell a lie than to be a brute, or a logof wood ; you are inactive ; you are not certainly of thehighest state, which is beyond all actions, calm and serene ;you are too dull even to do something wicked." That wasan extreme case, of course, and I was in joke with him ;but what I meant was, that a man must be active, in orderto pass through activity to perfect calmness. Inactivityshould be avoided by all means. Activity always meansresistance. Resist all evils, mental and physical, and whenyou have succeeded in resisting, thenwill the calmness of