WORK AND ITS SECRET

       - Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda was a spiritual teacher of a rare type. He served the society with his preaching and service. In this prose, Work and its Secret, he talks about the secret of work and success.

The secret of success is to pay much attention to the means as to the end. It is the cause that produces the effect. An ideal must be chosen first. The realisation of the ideal is the effect. The means are the cause. Attention to the means is the great secret of life.

We take up something and put our whole energy into it. Even after failure we don't want to come out of it. That is a great cause of sorrow. We want to enjoy the pleasures of life and they eat into our vitals.

Another cause of misery is that we are attached too much to something. We are being caught. We must work hard. We need the power of love and the power of attachment. At the same thime, we should not be too much attached. We should have the power to detach ourselves, however, beloved and close. We should not be weak in that matter. Weakness leads to slavery. Weakness leads to all kinds of misery, physical and mental. Strength is life whereas weakness is death. We have to detach outselves to earn joy. Men who detach themselves can escape most of the miseries of life.

We are all beggars and traders because we expect and want a return to whatever we do. We get misery because we expect something from others. Desire or want is the father of all misery. The secret of true success and true happiness is to be unselfish. Christ was crowned because he was unselfish. Ask nothing, want nothing in return. The more you give, the more will come to you.

We need super divine power. Super divine strength is the only way to pass through the difficulties, miseries and intricacies of life. We are trying to put the blame on others for everything. We want to set right Other people and not our- selves.

         "This is the first lesson to learn: be determined not to curse

         anything outside, not to lay the blame upon anyone outside,...

         lay the blame on yourself'

If we perfect the means, the end will take care of itself. If our lives are good and pure, then the world will become good and pure. It is an effect and we are the means. Therefore let us purify ourselves and make ourselves perfect