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58
Lum of Karma
There arises a difficulty in this ideal of karma. Accordingly, intense activity is necessary. We must always work. One can not sustain without actions. What then, becomes of rest? Here is one side of the life struggle--work, in which we are bound up and the other side is that of calmness, retiring and renunciation. Neither of them is that perfect picture. A man who lives in solitude and if he is brought in the contact of the noise and bustle of this world will be crushed. His condition will be the same as that of the fish that lives in the deep seawater and as soon as it is brought on the surface, it dies. A man who lives in the turmoil of life cannot live at ease if he comes to a quict place. He may suffer and most probably lose his mind. So, Vivekananda asserts that the ideal man is he who finds silence in the midst of the intense activity. Such a man has controlled himself and thus knows the secret of karma. Such a man goes through the streets of a big city with all its traffic, and his mind remains as calm as if he were in a cave, where not a single sound could reach. And he is working all the time.
The man of this kind works because it is his nature, because he feels that it is good for him to do so. He understands that he cannot feel calmness without performing actions in the world. His position in this world is that of a giver and he never cares for receiving anything in return. And, therefore, he cludes the grasp of misery. To quote Swamiji : "That which is selfish is immoral and that which is unselfish is moral.”:30
One should not try to run away from this world. Plunging oneself into the world, one may learn the secret of karma. Through proper work done inside, it is possible to come out. Through this machinery itself is the way out.
To quote Swamiji : “A man ought to live in this world like a lotus leaf, which grows in water but is never moistened by water, so a man ought to live in the world-his heart to God and hands to work.''31
Thus we have seen that karmayoga teaches us the secret of action i.e., how to act? But when the same word is united with the word 'Law' it means a system, an order according to which we must have to enjoy or suffer for our own doings. Basically, these two are the same as Karma is the main issue.
