A Comprehensive Collection - Swami Vivekananda

KARMA-YOGA. 79Some of you have read, perhaps, the Bkagavad-Gita yand many of yo^in Western countries, may have felt astonished at the first chapter wherein our Sri Krishna callsArjuna a hypocrite and a coward, on account of his refusalto fight, or offer resistance, because his adversaries werehis friends and relatives, his refusal on the plea that nonresistancewas the highest ideal of love. There is a greatlesson for us all to learn, that in all things the two extremesare alike ;the extreme positive and the extreme negativeare always similar when the vibrations of : light are tooslow we do not see them, nor do we see them when theyare too rapid ;so also with sound ;when very low in pitchwe do not hear it,when very high we do not hear it either.Of like nature is the difference between resistance and nonresistance.One man does not resist because he isweak,lazy, and cannot ;not because he will not ;the other manknows that he can strike an irresistible blow if he likes, yetnot only does not strike, but blesses his enemies. The onewho, from weakness, resists not evil commits a sin, andcannot derive any benefit from his non-resistance ;theother would equally surely commit a sin by offering resistance. Buddha gave up his throne and renounced hisposition ; that was true renunciation ;but there cannot beany question of renunciation in the case of a beggar whohas nothing to renounce. We must always be carefulabout what we really mean when we speak of this nonresistanceand ideal love. We must first take care tounderstand whether we have the power of resistance ornot. Then, having the power,if we renounce it and donot resist, we are doing a grand act of love but if we;cannot resist, yet, at the same time, try to make it appearand ourselves believe that we are actuated by motives of\>hehighest love, we are doing the exact opposite of what