As St. Augustibe advised: "Be in the world, not of the world." We may live in the world, but that must not make us worldly...In a similar vein Sri Ramakrishna said: "There is no harm if the boat is in the water, but the water should not be in the boat." We can be in the world, but the world must not be in us. This is the attitude of detachment which gives rise to the love of God. The quality of detachment is referred to repeatedly in the Hindu Scriptures. For example, we read in the Bhagavad-Gita: "He who works renouncing attachment, offering his actions to Brahman, remains unstrained by sin (even as the lotus leaf remains untouched by water). This is the way we must live in the world. If we are detached from our actions, we will not be bound by them. The repetition of the Lord's name, meditation, prayer and worship are extremely valuable when they are practiced without attachment. "To work in such a spirit of detachment is known as Karma yoga", work in a detached spirit, not craving the work's results.
The complete works of Swami Vivekananda
