Notes

Excerpts from swami Vivekananda book - Karma Yoga

-The ideal man is he who, in the midst of the greatest silence
and solitude, finds the intensest activity, and in the midst of the
intensest activity finds the silence and solitude of the desert. He
has learnt the secret of restraint, he has controlled himself. He
goes through the streets of a big city with all its traffic, and his
mind is as calm as if he were in a cave, where not a sound could
reach him; and he is intensely working all the time. That is the
ideal of Karma- Yoga, and if you have attained to that you have
really learnt the secret of work.


- Nature is composed of three forces called, in Sanskrit, Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas.
Karma-Yoga has specially to deal with these three factors.

- [Page 13] There cannot be any question of renunciation in the case of a beggar who has nothing
to renounce. So we must always be careful about what we really
mean when we speak of this non-resistance and ideal love. We
must first take care to understand whether we have the power of
resistance or not. Then, having the power, if we renounce it and
do not resist, we are doing a grand act of love; but if we cannot
resist, and yet, at the same time, try to deceive ourselves into the
belief that we are actuated by motives of the highest love, we are
doing the exact opposite.

- [Page 15] ..what I meant was that a man must be active in order to pass through activity to perfect calmness.

- Activity always means resistance. Resist all evils, mental and physical; and when you
have succeeded in resisting, then will calmness come. It is very easy to say, "Hate nobody, resist not evil," but we know what that kind of thing generally means in practice

- If you desire wealth, and know at the same
time that the whole world regards him who aims at wealth as a
very wicked man, you, perhaps, will not dare to plunge into the
struggle for wealth, yet your mind will be running day and night
after money. This is hypocrisy and will serve no purpose. Plunge
into the world, and then, after a time, when you have suffered and
enjoyed all that is in it, will renunciation come; then will calmness
come.

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