We all work & need both an ideal & KSA, ‘knowledge-skills-attitude’ for guaranteed prosperity

I) Why an ideal? “If a man with an ideal makes a thousand mistakes, I am sure that the man without an ideal makes fifty thousand. Therefore, it is better to have an ideal. And this ideal we must hear about as much as we can, till it enters into our hearts, into our brains…” – Vivekananda.

i) Don’t we all need an ideal not just for 1, 3, 5 years for me & mine only, but for long-term good beyond death for all, while determining our common universal ideal?

2) The ideal – Learning to treat daily working & living as our Worship:

i) The problem we have yet to tackle is how to attain material prosperity without harming spiritual life – so, the ideal is to realise that far more important than knowing and managing the external materialistic world is to know and govern our inner world and strive to develop powers of mind, to walk the talk.

ii) Mankind’s profound logical universal ideal: “a) Consciousness is Brahman b) You are That c) This Atman (within) is Brahman d) I am That e) All this is That”. (Brahman, God literally signifies greater than … infinitude, One infinite God, That)!

iii) “In this age, true sympathy with all men, must be a predominant motive of work. I can secure my own good only by doing your good. There is no other way, none whatever”. “If you want any good to come, just throw away your ceremonials and worship the visible God. The God who wears all these various human forms. This world is His universal form. Worshipping God means serving the world; this indeed is religion, not indulging in ceremonials.” – Vivekananda.

2) Why do we work? Our own nature, past tendencies, desires compel us into actions, whether or not we wish to; for whatever past reasons, we are propelled into action because of our own individual swabhava, mindset.

i) That is why from childhood we need to awaken first our Vivek-buddhi to discern and choose the path of long-term good, Shreyas and then build will power, self-control, self-restraint, etc. to choose Shreyas and reject the path of Preyas, short-term pleasurable.

ii) Why choose Shreyas? To be intellectually convinced in the power of goodness, we need to continually reflect, introspect on the fact that our real Swaroopa, unchanging reality, isn’t and can’t just the “body” that decays and dies. Since I exist, the scientific fact is that I can’t cease to exist. So, my changeless reality must be the Life, “Consciousness” that enlivens us and makes us conscious human beings.

iii) If as life we’re all one, then there is ‘no other’; so, by hurting others, I alone am hurt! Therefore, goodness, righteousness, kartavya-palan, duties, Karma-Yoga, etc., lead to the realisation that I am One with all. Of course, this conviction we may hear and even accept but it needs continuous Praxis, Abhyasa Yoga, ‘Reflections and practice’, ‘Swadhyaya and Sadhna’ to inculcate this ‘new, strange, funny’ knowledge in our mind; and we know that mind will not change all its past memories and characteristics all of a sudden… So, it will be a continuous life long-struggle, Praxis.

iv) And that’s why modern schooling and workplaces must provide time, environment, inspiration for reflections and practice, Praxis. Growing up should be a process of awakening Viveka and building powers of mind. Mere knowing this or that subject like history, science, literature, etc. is of secondary importance, particularly now in the era of AI, Chat GPT, etc.

3) Right attitude to all “work”, i.e., “karma”: Work doesn’t just mean actions or work that we do! Holistically, it also includes the principle of causality that governs whatever we do and or get in life as the fruit or consequences of whatever we do. We need to learn from a dry leaf surrendered to the wind. It does not complain whether the wind lifts it up, takes it forward or backward, or drops it to the ground. We too must learn to fulfil our duties, kartavya-palan, not as a drudgery, but happily, joyfully.

ii)  Let’s learn to accept both good and bad and strive to choose Shreyas now without blaming others.

iii) Knowing that the ucniverse is governed by ausality, we must make our will to work conform to the universal divine will by doing our respective duties, swadharma just as we expect servants to obey the master. Note that the entire forces of nature and all living beings are always in Rtm, Order, Harmony, following their respective swadharma.

iv) Mankind alone has freedom of choice to learn to follow or not to follow its Swadharma, Rtm, kartavya-palan to be on the path towards success with peace, prosperity and bliss for all… If we ignore Shreyas and choose path of Preyas to follow self-centered desires, we suffer the hurtful consequences of our actions.

v) We must learn to serenely accept the fruits knowing that the fruits of the present efforts are dependent on our own previous actions, which we may have forgotten! We must be convinced in the power of goodness. We must know that what we’re or get, is a result of our own past and present karmas and we always get the “fruits, results” at the appropriate time and quality!

vi) Our control is on work to fulfill our righteous duties, knowing that the Intelligent-universe, aka one God, Consciousness, is always intelligently protecting and maintaining the law of Karma, i.e. the “principle of causality or cause-effect” and is taking care of all of us.

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