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PRACTICE OF KARMA YOGA
that you are doing this dirty work? How did you manage to get such exalted knowledge?" The butcher replied: “Swamiji, you are mistaken. No duty or work is impure or degrading. Every work is worship of God. I do my duty well without any attachment or motive. I serve my parents day and night. They are my God on earth. I worship them daily. I do not know any Yogic practice. I am not a learned man. I discharge my duties satisfactorily. This is my religion. This is my Yoga. I obtained illumination, perfection, purity and freedom through the discharge of my duties as a householder and through the service of my parents. This is the secret of my Yoga and Selfrealization.”
An ignorant worldly-minded man says: "I have to do my duties. I have to educate my four sons and three daughters. I have to please my employer. I have heavy duties in the office. I have to remit money to my widowed sister. I have a large family. I have six brothers and five sisters. Where is the time for doing Sandhya and Tapa and the study of religious books? There is no time even to breathe. I have no leisure. Even during holidays I have to work. I bring office papers to my home and work at night till eleven. I do not want Sannyasa or any Yoga. The office work and the maintenance of my family is itself Yoga."
Do you call this duty? It is mere slavery. It is bondage. The man is afraid of his superior at every moment. Even in his dreams he meets his office
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