Hi Folks,

I sincerely apologize for the delay in posting my article. I was caught up with lot of work which consumed most of my free time. Things are going quite well now and I could not ask for more.

My mother has been reading a biography on Swami Vivekananda for some time and once I come home from work, we have got into a habit of discussing about Swami and his works. I have said it before at this portal that Swami Vivekananda is one of my most favorite personalities and I am very eager to learn more about him. Recently, my friend shared an excerpt on Duty (Karma yoga) by Swami. The whole essay was very illuminating and I am very much keen in sharing a small story from the same which highlights the importance of Duty.

A sanyasin meditated and practiced Yoga for a very long time in a forest. After years of hard work and practice he attained a few spiritual powers. One day he was sitting under a tree when some dry leaves fell over him. He was disturbed and noticed that two birds were in a fight and in the process they had pushed few dry leaves on him. He became very wild and with his yogic powers, he burnt the birds to ashes. He felt very happy about his powers. After a few days, he went to the city to beg for alms. He went to a house and asked for some food. The lady in the house asked him to wait for sometime. He became angry and cursed the woman for making him wait. The lady immediately shouted from the house " Don't think too much about your powers. I am not the innocent birds to be burnt by your powers". The sage was startled and immediatly fell at her feet and begged for forgiveness. The sage asked how she had known about what had happened in the forest. The lady replied that she was a very common woman and she was nursing her ill husband. She had been doing her duty perfectly all her life and in the process had become illumined and thus could read his thoughts and know what he had done in the forest.

We all have heard this story many times and have forgotten it as many times. The message I get from this story is that if we do our duty with steadfastness, highest realization will dawn on us. The woman in the story performed her duty wholeheartedly and the result was that she became illumined. Right performance of our duties at any phase of our lives, without attachment to the results leads us to the highest realization.

Let us all strive to do our duty well and things will be taken care.

Signing off for now,
Krishna