Why Serve? : Part-2. Swami Chinmayananda

 =============================================================

==============================================================

Sunday, January 23, 2022. 06:00.

Address At Leslie Sawhny Anniversary Function On 15th May, 1983

Part-2.

==============================================================

All those who are working, sweating and labouring, all physically endeavour; but this cannot be termed as "work". Physical labour, functioning under the impulses of the moment, is the life of an animal, not the glory of man. Though the animals in their functions also act, it is not called work, even though their work is generally beautiful, often even splendid the weaving of the spider, the beehives that the bees construct. We don't say that the bees are structural engineers or architects, because they are all doing it instinctively; they are not intelligently acting. There can be no creativeness in their work. They are merely acting. But man, on the other hand, with his intelligence, can analyze the problem that is in front of him, study the problem exhaustively, and can try to intelligently act upon the present problem to reshape it into a more covetable beauty for the future.

Intelligent action is called "work". It is through work that we have progressed from the cave-man of the stone-age to the modern citizen. All these achievements are built with work and not with impulsive actions. Animals act, and they have been acting, but there is no progress about them. In the past there were beehives, and even today they are but the same beehives. Never have the bees ever thought of putting a porch so that they can come and dry themselves under the porch in the rainy season. They have never thought about it and they will never think about it. They can make only the same beehive even today. Intelligently they cannot initiate any new program or independent action. Man alone can do this : hence his achievements.

"Intelligent action" in the outer field is called "work?". When individuals are working, blindly prompted by selfishness and goaded by selfish desires, the great masters encourage them; for at least they are men alive, and are doing their best to achieve, though perhaps towards wrong ends. All work continuously all people sweat and toil. Yet, there is a contradiction we watch in the human society. 

When we look around, we see that when A, B and C are functioning in the same field with equal sincerity, yet only C spectacularly achieves, while A and B exert laboriously, but nothing appears to come out of it all. Somehow or the other, great results do not come from all efforts. When we watch this, we act confounded at the palpable injustice in nature. Why should A, B and C, three persons, work equally hard in the same field outside, when only one individual succeeds, while all others are marked as failures?

We think it is a question of luck, it is a question of fate, a lack of God's grace: so many vague notions are accepted, in order to explain this repeated paradox in life.

The scientific thinkers are not satisfied by these kinds of unintelligent conclusions. 

They, the Rishis, analyzed and reached some beautiful conclusions with which today, surprisingly enough, our modern psychologists also have fully concurred.

Next-Part-3.

==============================================================