Purpose in work brings enthusiasm and joy

Now, when we turn to our own country, one of the things that strikes us is a lack of this sense of purpose, this sense of direction, this sense of enthusiasm in the work that we do. Swami Vivekananda had told us that national work should be suffused with national vision and enthusiasm and a spirit of joy. Otherwise, all work, he said, would become static, stereotyped, and meaningless, and a source not of freedom but of bondage. Whether it is teaching or learning, whether it is the simple household duties or the larger duties of government and administration, what we need to capture in every sphere of life is this national purpose and enthusiasm. Our country has become free after centuries of political and social immobilization; it has now got the opportunity to build the structure of an enduring society on the basis of justice and equality, human dignity and unity, inspired by the vision of general human happiness and welfare. Swami Vivekananda exhorted the youth of the country to be up and doing to achieve this goal. It was not the time to sleep he said, nor to waste time in idle talk, but to work intelligently, moved by the spirit of love of man; for ‘on our work depends the India of the future’, said he.

I would request you to keep this idea constantly in your minds. Inspired by this vision and idea, whatever work you do, little or big, in any nook or corner of India, will have telling effect on the march of India to prosperity and progress. It is the cumulative result of such work by millions of dedicated men and women that creates a nation. Swamiji gave us this national vision – this vision which imparts a sense of urgency, a sense of sacredness, to a mission, a sense of faith to the work we do. Every citizen must be imbued with the sense of a mission, a sense of faith in his own work. The work that is done with faith, the work that is done with an awareness of the worth of one’s contribution to the making of the nation, that work becomes most effective. In our Chhandogya Upanisad, written nearly three or four thousand years ago, we find this definition of work efficiency (I.1.10). Yadeva vidyaya, vidyaya karoti, sraddhaya, upanisada, tadeva virayavattaram bhavati – ‘Whatever work is done with vidya, knowledge, through sraddha, faith, and backed by upanisad, meditation, that alone becomes most effective.’

Vidya, knowledge, is necessary, knowledge of the methods and techniques of work, of the theoretical and practical aspects of a subject. But this knowledge will remain static until it is energized by sraddha. And that energy needs to be disciplined and properly directed by upanisad, calm meditation. Any work which has these three sources of strength behind it will be most efficient. It alone will have world-moving power. Our country needs work of this type today in every department of national activity.

EXTRACTS FROM: Eternal Values for a Changing Society Volume III – Education for Human Excellence; 3 – Education for Man-Making (Pg:50-51; ed. 1995)
This was an address to the trainees of the Senior Basic School of the Ramakrishna Mission Boys Home, Rahara, on January 9, 1962.