SECRETS OF KARMA YOGA:- This whole universe is kept up by the force of attachment. A teetotaler just tastes a small peg of champagne when he is caught up in evil company & he becomes an inveterate drunkard through attachment to liquor. A sober man just takes a whiff of Gold-flake (tobacco) and becomes a terrible smoker in a short time through attachment. There is in the mind a gummy substance which is like a mixture of castor oil, glue, mucilage. Gum-arabic, gluten paste, honey, glycerine, jack-fruit juice & all other pasty substances of this world. The mind is glued, as it were, to the objects with this mixture. Therefore the attachment is very strong. All Actions Are Sacred:- Many aspirants of the present day to do some pleasant work — some writing, some collection of flowers for puja, arranging books in the library, some type-writing, some kind of supervision & management work, ete. They dislike works such as drawing water & hewing wood, cleaning dirty utensils, washing clothes, sweeping, cooking, cleaning bed-pans & nursing the sick. They consider these works as menial. They have not tried to understand the real spirit of karma yoga & Vedanta. They need vigorous discipline & training. Then alone they will become real aspirants, then alone they will be ready for the commencement of meditation. In the west, cobblers & peasants have risen to great positions in society. Every work is respectable work for them. A boy polishes the shoes & boots of the streets of London for a penny; he sells newspapers & journals in the afternoon & works as an apprentice under a journalist during his leisure hours at night. He studies books, works hard, never wastes a minute & in a few years becomes a journalist of great repute & international fame. In the Punjab some university graduates have taken to the work of hairdressing. They have understood the dignity of labour. Real Service:- If you want to truly man, you should try to please him in all respects. You should not do anything that pleases you only. You should do such actions as can bring him immense happiness. Never, never say “I have helped this man.” Feel: “That man has given me an opportunity to serve. This service has helped me to purify the mind. I am extremely grateful to him.’ This will constitute real service. But generally, under the camouflage of serving other, people try to please themselves only. This is a serious mistake. He who gives the handle of a sharp knife to another to hold, holding the sharp blade himself, does real service. Work Without Motive:- People have various motives when they work. Some work in society for getting power name & fame; some work for getting money; some work build temples with the idea that their sins will be washed off; some do certain sacrifices foe getting a son; some dig tanks with the motive that their names will be remembered even after they die. Some make beautiful gardens for the use of the public with the idea that they will enjoy such lovely gardens in heaven; some do charity with the motive that they will be born as rich landlords in the next birth. The Mind to God: The Hands to Work:- Fix your mind at the lotus feet of the Lord. Give the hands to work. Even when you work, work like the typist or the harmonium player who types or plays while talking to you, like the woman who knits & talks at the same time. Let your mind be ever attached to the lotus feet of the Lord while your hands are at work. The mind of the girl who has the water-pot on her head is on the pot, even though she talks & jokes with her comrades while walking along the read. A cowherd while he is looking after the cows of other people has his mind fixed on his own cow. Even so, have your mind fixed at the lotus feet of the Lord while you are doing your housedold duties & office work. Though the cow grazes in the pasture having been separated from the calf, her mind is always fixed on the calf. Similarly you should fix the mind on God when you do japa, & your hands to work, which is only worship of the Lord. Renounce all attachment. You will realize God quickly. Health & Yoga:- What is health? It is a state of equilibrium of the three humours of the body, viz., vata, pitta & kapha (wind, bile & phlegm), wherein the mind & all the organs of the body work in harmony & concord, & the man enjoys peace & happiness his duties of life with comfort & ease. It is that condition in which man has a good digestion & a good appetite, normal breathing & pulse, a good quantity & quality of blood, strong nerves & a calm mind, a sound mind in a sound body, a free movement of bowels, normal state of urine, rosy cheeks, shining face & sparkling eyes. It is that state in which a man jumps, sings, smiles, laughs, whistles & moves about hither & thither with joy & ecstasy. It is that condition in which he can think properly, speak properly & act alacrity, nimbleness & vigilance.This desirable state is coveted by all. A life with good health is a great blessing indeed. What is the use of wealth & possessions if a man cannot eat wel on account of disease of the stomach, if he cannot walk on account of rteumatism or paralysis, if he cannot see the beautiful scenery of nature of nature on account of cataract or any defective vision, if he cannot copulate on account of impotency. A great thinker said: “Give me health & a day: I will make the pomp of emperors ridiculous.” Life without good health is a miserable condition, even if one is the Lord of the whole earth.