Harmony at Work

Listen: Download Audio MP3 (2 MB). This post is Part 1. See also Part 2.

(Excerpted from Swami Kriyananda’s First Things First, Lesson 6 of Success and Happiness through Yoga Principles)

There is an expression in America today: “the bottom line.” I don’t know if this expression is used in England or in other countries where, as in India, English is widely spoken. Usually the expression refers to monetary profit. By extension, it also indicates something of fundamental importance to an undertaking. Because profit is so often people’s concern, unless they make it clear that they mean something different it is generally understood that they are talking about money.

Let me clarify what I mean, then, in naming this lesson as I have. For this course of lessons serves a dual purpose, and may be said, in this sense, to have two “bottom lines.” First, it accepts the common equation of material success with monetary profit. It also attempts to show, however, that monetary profit, without corresponding inner satisfaction, is a hollow victory. As the Bible puts it, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world, but lose his own soul?” (more…)

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