The
binding link of "I and mine" is in the mind. If we have not this link
with the body and with the things of the senses, we are non-attached, wherever
and whatever we may be. A person may be on a throne and perfectly non-attached,
another may be in rags and still very much attached.
Class
on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.101.
[To
a group of college students] Think of this infinite universe with its millions and millions of
solar systems, and think with what an infinite, incomprehensible power they are
impelled, running as if to touch the Feet of the One Unknown--and how little we
are! Where then is room here to allow ourselves to indulge in vileness and
mean-mindedness? What should we gain here by fostering mutual enmity and
party-spirit?
Conversations
recorded in Bengali by Surendra Nath Das Gupta. Complete Works, 5.330.
I am Ramakrishna's slave, having laid my body at his feet
"with Til and Tulasi leaves." That great sage laid down his life
after having attained to superhuman heights of jñāna, bhakti, love, and powers,
and after having practiced for forty years stern renunciation, non-attachment,
holiness, and great austerities. I trust his words as the words of one
identified with truth.
Letter
to Pramada Das Mitra. Written in Bengali from Kolkata on May 26, 1890. Complete
Works, 6.239.
We must first attain the state of non-attachment and then we must
work incessantly. Karma yoga gives us the method that will help us in giving up
all attachment, though it is indeed very hard.
Class
on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.101-102.
There are two ways of giving up attachment. One is for those who
do not believe in God, or in any outside help. They are left to their own
devices. They have simply to work with their own will, with the powers of their
mind and discrimination, saying, "I must be non-attached."
Class
on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.102.
For
those who believe in God, there is a much less difficult way of giving up all
attachment. They give up the fruits of work to God. They work and are never
attached to the results. Whatever they see, feel, hear, or do, is for God.
Class
on Karma Yoga. New York, January 10, 1896. Complete Works, 1.102.
See Gita, 9.27: "Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer,
whatever you give away, whatever austerities you practice
--do all of that as an offering to God."
