Swami Vivekananda, in his lecture series on Karma Yoga, said:
“This world is like a dog’s curly tail, and people have been striving to straighten it out for hundreds of years; but when they let it go, it curls up again.”
For the longest time, this quote really bothered me — how could anyone, especially a saintly personality like Swamiji, just give up on the world like that? To say that there is nothing a person can do to solve the problems of the world is to say that there is no hope…and from that, the next logical thought is — well, if there is no hope for this world, then why bother working to make it a better place? Why spend so much effort, so much emotion, so many tears, trying to help others when ultimately, it will make no difference?
During FUP, we discussed this problem many times — and at one point, one of my FUP leaders, in his speech, said — “The world is shattered.” He just kept repeating it, distraught at how so much could be wrong with the world, frustrated at how no matter what we do, there seems to be no way to solve all of the corruption and inequality in the world. His words really affected me — and I kept thinking back to Swamiji’s words.
And then I realized that Swamiji’s words aren’t meant to discourage us from working — they are meant to discourage us from working for the wrong reasons. A Karma Yogi shouldn’t be working because he thinks the world is messed up; a Karma Yogi shouldn’t be working because he thinks that he alone has the power to change the world a Karma Yogi shouldn’t be working so that the world will remember his contribution; anyone who works for those reasons isn’t a true Karma Yogi. As Swamiji later explains in Karma Yoga, “We help ourselves, not the world.” In other words (as Swami Tyagananda said during his Sunday lectures in the Vedanta Center), in the process of trying to straighten out the dog’s curly tail, we straighten ourselves out. We should not be working because we feel bad for the world, we should be helping the world because it is good to help. So, it doesn’t matter if the dog’s tail becomes curly again, it doesn’t matter if the fragile glass of the world shatters again — we must keep on straightening it, we must keep on piecing together the fragments of the world, so that we can ourselves get straighten out, and we can ourselves glue together the pieces of our fragmented thoughts.
Related to these ideas is the following poem by Mother Teresa — whenever I am frustrated that things don’t turn out as I desired, this poem always inspires me to keep working to straighten out the world.
Anyway
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
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2 Comments
It’s interesting that you say Vivekananda has “given up” on the world, because he urges giving up — renunciation — everywhere in his works. Yes, the analogy is grim, and yes, it seems like Vivekananda is saying that the world cannot be helped at all, but here I think he’s addressing a specific audience with his turns of phrase — fanatics, people who think the world needs their help.
Like Saketh said, for students all over the world – not only in the community – this lecture by Vivekananda serves as a morality boost. It reminds me the of the Gita, which stresses that a person who has gained enlightenment does not perform actions for their fruits, but rather because it is their duty to perform certain actions. For us students, whether it be studying, working, or volunteering, it helps to remember we are doing so to gain more insight into ourselves and the world. And yes, if through this the dog’s tail does straighten out for good, it’s definitely a huge plus.
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