1) The document discusses a lecture by Swami Vivekananda on "Work Without Motive" where he explains the message of the Bhagavad Gita. 2) Vivekananda argues that working without attachment to the fruits of action and with complete concentration on the work, without thought of ego or desire, leads to the best results and freedom. 3) He addresses people who think it means working like animals without feeling, stating true egoless work done with awareness of God leads one to help others without personal benefits.

1. WORK WITHOUT MOTIVE
Presentation
by
Dr.SHOBHA RAMASWAMY
Assistant Prof. of English
KongunaduArts and Science College
Coimbatore 641 029

2. WORK WITHOUT MOTIVE
Swami Vivekananda

3. SWAMI VIVEKANANDA
Swami
Vivekananda is one
of the most
influential spiritual
leaders of
India.The swami
was the chief
disciple of
Ramakrishna
Paramahamsa and
founder of the
Ramakrishna Math
and Ramakrishna
Mission.

4. KARMA YOGA
• The Swami believed in
Karma Yoga, the path of
worship through work.
• He said that an
individual can be free
only if all human beings
are free.
• Even desire for personal
salvation was to be given
up and only tireless
work for the salvation of
others was the true goal
of an enlightened person.

5. THE CHICAGO LECTURES
The Swami introduced Yoga and Vedanta to the West with
his seminal lectures and private discourses on Vedanta
philosophy
• He introduced Eastern thought to the West at the
Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893.
• Here, his first lecture which started with the words,
“Brothers and Sisters of America” made the audience
clap for two minutes just before the address.

6. • At the forty-second meeting of the Ramakrishna
Mission held at the premises of No.57, Ramakanta
Bose Street, Baghbazar, Calcutta, on the 20th
of
March, 1898, Swami Vivekananda gave an
address on “Work Without Motive.”
• In this lecture, he set forth the central message of
the Bhagavad Gita, which was to work tirelessly,
unselfishly and with non-attachment to the fruits
of one’s action.

7. The Two Conflicting Sects
• When the Gita was first
preached, there was a
great controversy going
on between two sects.
One party considered
the Vedic Yagnas,
animal sacrifices and
such like Karmas to
constitute the whole of
religion.

8. The Other Sect
• The other group of
people, mostly
Sannyasins and
followers of Jnana
believed that the
giving up of all work
and the gaining of the
knowledge of the Self
was the only path to
Moksha.

9. What the Bhagavad Gita
said
• By the preaching of
His great doctrine of
work without motive,
the Author of the Gita
set at rest the disputes
of these two
antagonistic sects.

10. What is the meaning of working
without motive?
• Nowadays many understand
it in the sense that one is to
work in such a way that
neither pleasure nor pain
touches his mind.
• If that be its real meaning,
animals might be said to work
without motive.
• Animals kill instinctively
without thought or
consideration.
• Is working without feeling not
bestial? Can this be the
message of the Gita?

11. Inanimate objects are without feeling
• The walls have no feelings of pleasure or
pain; neither has a stone; and it cannot be
said that they are working without motive.

12. Is working without motive=working
without feeling?
• If the meaning be
such, then one who
has a stony heart, the
worst of criminals,
might be considered to
be working without
motive.

13. Can the Gita’s Message be
Dangerous?
• In the above sense the doctrine is a potent instrument
in the hands of the wicked. They would go on doing
wicked deeds, and would pronounce themselves as
working without motive.
• If such be the significance of working without a motive,
then a fearful doctrine has been put forth by the
preaching of the Gita.

14. • If we look into the lives of those who were
connected with the preaching of the Gita, we
should find them living quite a different life.
Arjuna killed Bishma and Drona in battle, but
withal, he sacrificed all his self-interest and
desires and his lower self millions of times.

15. The Gita teaches Karma Yoga,
which means
Concentration in Action

16. Be Egoless
• In such concentration
in action (Karma
Yoga), there is no
consciousness of the
lower ego present.

17. Is This Possible?
• The Western people
do not understand this
concept. They say that
if there be no
consciousness of ego,
if this ego is gone,
how then can a man
work?

18. Concentration leads to better work
• In reality, when one
works with
concentration, losing
all consciousness of
oneself the work that
is done will be
infinitely better.

19. The Good Painter
• If the painter, losing
the consciousness of
his ego, becomes
completely immersed
in his painting, he will
be able to produce
masterpieces.

20. The Good Cook
A good cook concentrates his whole self on
the food material he handles: he loses all
other consciousness for the time being.
But the cook and the painter are only able
to do perfectly a
single work in this way, something
to which they are habituated

21. ALL WORK SHOULD BE DONE
WITH CONCENTRATION
• The Gita teaches that all
work should be done
thus.
• He who is one with the
Lord through Yoga
performs all his work by
becoming immersed in
concentration, and does
not seek any personal
benefit.

22. Egoless Action Brings Only Good
Results
• Such performance of
work brings only good
to the world, no evil
can come of it.
• Those who work thus
never do anything for
themselves.

23. Ordinary work is a mixture of good
and evil
• The result of every work is mixed with
good and evil. There is no good work that
has not a touch of evil in it.
• Like smoke round the fire, some evil always
clings to work.
• We should engage in such works as bring
the largest amount of good and the smallest
measure of evil.

24. THE EGOLESS ARE
UNAFFECTED BY EVIL
• Those who work
without any
consciousness of their
lower ego are not
affected with evil, for
they work for the good
of the world

25. THE TRUE MESSAGE OF
THE GITA
To work without motive,
to work unattached,
brings the highest bliss
and freedom. This
secret of Karma-Yoga
is taught by Lord
Krishna in the Gita.

26. THANK YOU