The Secret of Work

Question and Answers

1. How, according to Swami Vivekananda, can people be made completely free of misery?
A: - Swami Vivekananda is one of the greatest philosophers of India. In his essay, 'The Secret of Work' he opines that miseries of the world cannot be cured by mundane (worldly) things. Our needs in this world are unlimited and until man's character changes, one’s physical needs will always arise, and miseries will always be felt. No amount of physical help or worldly help will remove them completely. The only solution that Vivekananda suggests to this problem is, to make mankind pure. He suggests that mankind should have ‘light’ in their hand. One should be spiritually strong and educated. A spiritually strong man will be strong in every other thing he wishes. Then only miseries of the world will come to an end. If we can do this, he says that we may even convert every house into a charitable asylum.

2. What is the nature of work according to the writer? In what spirit should it be done?
A: - In order to explain the nature of work, Vivekananda quotes the words of the Bhagavad Gita, which suggests to work incessantly (continuously). We cannot do any work which will not do some good somewhere. Likewise, there cannot also be any work which will not cause some harm somewhere. Hence, he says that every work necessarily is a mixture of good and evil. Yet we must work incessantly. While good and evil both have their consequences. Good action will result in good effect on us and bad action bad. But both good and bad actions bind us in chains.
        Hence, he says that we should not have attachment with the works we do. He says we should solve this problem as the Gita suggests, 'work incessantly but be not attached to it'.

3. How does the idea of 'Samskara' explained in the essay?
A: - The word 'Samskara' means 'inherent tendency'. Vivekananda opines that whatever action we do, which is either good or bad, leaves lasting (continuous) impressions in our mind and they don't die out entirely. These actions leave a mark of impressions in our mind. By using a simile (making a comparison) of a lake for the mind, he says that no wave of the lake that rises in it like our actions dies out entirely, but it leaves a mark and there is every possibility of that wave or action coming out again. This possibility of the reappearing of wave or actions is called 'Samskara'. Every work that we do, every movement of our body and every thought that we think leaves such an impression on the mind stuff. Even these impressions are not obvious (appear) on the surface, they work in the subconscious region of the mind. Vivekananda opines that each man's character is determined by the sum total of these impressions. These impressions decide one's character too.

4. What does Vivekananda want to convey by drawing a comparison between a human being and a tortoise?
A: - Vivekananda opines that a man of character can be compared with a tortoise. As tortoise hides its feet and head inside the shell and will not come out unless it wishes, even though we may break the shell into pieces. Likewise, a man of character will never deviate from his ideal principles and norms. He will totally have control over his motives, his thought process and over his physical organs.
          Vivekananda says that a man of character will not commit evils or sins even in the moments of extreme difficulties. Even when he is placed in any company, under any typical circumstance there is no danger for him and he will not commit evil actions. He controls his inner forces and nothing can deviate him from his right path and from his strong will. This is what Vivekananda wants to convey with this comparison.

 

5. What does the essay tell us about being 'unattached' in all that we do?
A: - The essay tells us that we should work incessantly but we should not have any attachment with it. We all should work incessantly but we should not let our actions produce a deep impression on the mind, it should be unaffected with our works or thoughts of work. The essay also tells us that in this world, most of the people work like slaves and their work is slaves work. We cannot find happiness with this kind of tedious (boring; monotonous) work but can only misery. Vivekananda, in this essay, opines that our work for the things of the world is also selfish work. That is why we are unable to find any happiness in our work but only misery. If we have constant attachment with the things of this world like slaves, there cannot be happiness in our life. 'Attachment comes only where we expect something in return'.
        Hence Vivekananda says to be unattached. Attachment is bondage. 'Bondage is terrible'. So we should be free from this bondage, be unattached from all that we do. Moreover to this, in long time, we can achieve this detachment by counteracting bad tendencies with good ones, later good ones respectively. Thus attached becomes completely unattached.

6. What are the two ways in which we can work without expecting anything in return?
A: - There are two effective ways which we can work without expecting anything in return. The first one is 'love'. When we do some work having love in it, we will find happiness in it. Every act of love, as Vivekananda opines, brings happiness. There is no act of love which does not bring peace and blessedness in its result. We should love others like we love the members of our family, relatives and beloved ones.
           The second way in which we can work without expecting anything in return is to become free. We should be free from the attachment with this world. We can attain (achieve) it only when we do not expect anything in return of whatever we do for others. Vivekananda remarks that we do love our children do anything for them without expecting anything in return. Likewise, we should assume(have) the same attitude towards anybody we come across in our life as we have towards our children- whatever we do for any person, a city or a state. Hence we should be free from attachment with the things of the world. We should work like masters of our mind to make ourselves free from the bondage of nature. Then we can see nature clearly as she (nature) is.
      

Note: - do not write the words in the brackets. These words are meant only for your understanding of the queries.