THE SECRET OF WORK - 2

This is the on central idea in tile Gita: work incessantly, but be not attached to
it. Samskâra can be translated very nearly by "inherent tendency". Using the
simile of a lake for the mind, every ripple, every wave that rises in the mind,
when it subsides, does not die out entirely, but leaves a mark and a future
possibility of that wave coming out again. This mark, with the possibility of the
wave reappearing, is what is called Samskâra. Every work that we do, every
movement of the body, every thought that we think, leaves such an impression
on the mind-stuff, and even when such impressions are not obvious on the
surface, they are sufficiently strong to work beneath the surface,
subconsciously. What we are every moment is determined by the sum total of
these impressions on the mind. What I am just at this moment is the effect of
the sum total of all the impressions of my past life. This is really what is meant
by character; each man's character is determined by the sum total of these
impressions. If good impressions prevail, the character becomes good; if bad, it
becomes bad. If a man continuously hears bad words, thinks bad thoughts, does
bad actions, his mind will be full of bad impressions; and they will influence his
thought and work without his being conscious of the fact. In fact, these bad
impressions are always working, and their resultant must be evil, and that man
will be a bad man; he cannot help it. The sum total of these impressions in him
will create the strong motive power for doing bad actions. He will be like a
machine in the hands of his impressions, and they will force him to do evil.
Similarly, if a man thinks good thoughts and does good works, the sum total of
these impressions will be good; and they, in a similar manner, will force him to
do good even in spite of himself. When a man has done so much good work and
thought so many good thoughts that there is an irresistible tendency in him to
do good in spite of himself and even if he wishes to do evil, his mind, as the
sum total of his tendencies, will not allow him to do so; the tendencies will turn
him back; he is completely under the influence of the good tendencies. When
such is the case, a man's good character is said to be established.
As the tortoise tucks its feet and head inside the shell, and you may kill it and
break it in pieces, and yet it will not come out, even so the character of that
man who has control over his motives and organs is unchangeably established.
He controls his own inner forces, and nothing can draw them out against his
will. By this continuous reflex of good thoughts, good impressions moving over
the surface of the mind, the tendency for doing good becomes strong, and as the
result we feel able to control the Indriyas (the sense-organs, the nerve-centres).
Thus alone will character be established, then alone a man gets to truth. Such a
man is safe for ever; he cannot do any evil. You may place him in any
company, there will be no danger for him. There is a still higher state than
having this good tendency, and that is the desire for liberation. You must
remember that freedom of the soul is the goal of all Yogas, and each one
equally leads to the same result. By work alone men may get to where Buddha
got largely by meditation or Christ by prayer. Buddha was a working Jnâni,
Christ was a Bhakta, but the same goal was reached by both of them. The
difficulty is here. Liberation means entire freedom — freedom from the
bondage of good, as well as from the bondage of evil. A golden chain is as
much a chain as an iron one. There is a thorn in my finger, and I use another to
take the first one out; and when I have taken it out, I throw both of them aside; I
have no necessity for keeping the second thorn, because both are thorns after
all. So the bad tendencies are to be counteracted by the good ones, and the bad
impressions on the mind should be removed by the fresh waves of good ones,
until all that is evil almost disappears, or is subdued and held in control in a
corner of the mind; but after that, the good tendencies have also to be
conquered. Thus the "attached" becomes the "unattached". Work, but let not the
action or the thought produce a deep impression on the mind. Let the ripples
come and go, let huge actions proceed from the muscles and the brain, but let
them not make any deep impression on the soul.