Sri Sai Baba`S:Charters And Sayings

FOURTH TALK 69

worth following and what is not worth following.
Then he finds he has to develop the second Qualifica-
tion, to which* our Master here gives the name of
Desirelessness. Mrs. Besant, previously translating
it, had called it Dispassion, or Indifference. This is
the Hindu Vairagya, and does mean indifference to
the result of one's actions. The Buddhist statement
of it, however, is just a little different. Buddhism
calls that second stage by the Pali word Parikamma,
<( preparing for action," the stage in which the man
is learning to do right for right's sake, not for the
sake of anything he may gain from it in any way,
but just because the thing is the right thing to do.
That is only another stage of Indifference—namely,
indifference to the fruit of your action; but you must
not, please, misunderstand that. Some people do. They
say that indifference to the fruit of your action means
that you must perform your duty without taking into
account how it will affect any one else. Now that
is right in one way and wrong in another. It is
your duty to think of the effect of your action, not
to act carelessly, but to try to see how what you do
will affect other people. It is true that there are
times when you must act independently of these con-
siderations. As this book tells you later on : <( That
which is right you must do, that which is wrong you
must not do," whatever the consequence may be.
But this does not mean you shall go ahead doing
just what you like without thinking how your action