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Law of Karma
Vivekananda also accepts the Hindu conception of the Law of Karma, which has been followed by rebirth. He is of the opinion that our actions produce tendencies, in accordance with which our future lives are determined. Due to ignorance man fails to discriminate between the real and the unreal, and consequently performs his actions in the light of his false and wrong notions. Such actions create saṁskāras or tendencies which determine one's future life.
He is also aware of the freedom of the self. He says that our present life is the result of our past life and in the same way our future life will be the result of our present performances. But one thing which he repeats again and again to remember is that freedom does not mean absence of all kinds of determining factors. If freedom is without any system, it is chaos. Truly speaking, it means 'self-determination'. That is to say, a free agent is determined not by anything else but by himself. Moreover, man's actions which determine his nature are his own karmas. Other's karmas do not determine other's nature. And, finally by his own good deeds, man can win over his ignorance and suffering, which shows that man is basically free. If this is understood, freedom and karma no longer remain incompatible with each other.
Swami Vivekananda attaches more importance to practical aspects of life. Hence, it is difficult to reduce the tcachings of a social reformer and a religious teacher into the technical frame of academic philosophy. He does not merely try to satisfy the intellectual curiosity of man; he appeals to feelings as well.
The philosophy of Vivekananda is idealistic because he believes that the ultimate reality is essentially spiritual in nature. The ideal that he talks about is a living ideal capable of inspiring and attracting man towards itself. His idealism is monistic. An idealistic philosophy that is monistic becomes abstract and comes to assert that reality has to be indeterminate. The one, he feels, cannot accept any distinctions or qualifications of any kind within it. But, at many places, the reality is given a monotheistic description. Vivekananda is aware of this and says that there is no contradiction between the two. These two are the different attitudes of man. Therefore, he freely keeps on oscillating between Monism and Monotheism.
