It is generally believed that our actions are governed by our character. People with good character perform good actions, while those with an evil character perform evil actions. Swami Vivekananda argued the opposite. In its widest sense, karma means action. We are performing karma all the time—when we are talking, listening, reading, writing, walking, breathing, or doing literally anything. In other words, whenever we are doing something physical or mental, we are performing karma. It all has an effect on us. He said that we mistakenly believe that happiness is the central goal of human life. It is actually knowledge. Pleasure and happiness come to an end, but not knowledge. Misery and happiness have an equal share in moulding our character, and in some cases, misery is a greater teacher. If we look at the life histories of great men, we will find that, in the vast majority of cases, it was misery that taught more than happiness; it was poverty that taught more than wealth; and it was blows, not praises, that brought out their inner fire.
All knowledge comes from within the human mind, not from anywhere outside. We say that Newton discovered gravitation. It was not sitting in a corner, waiting for him to discover it. He observed the falling of an apple, and he studied his own mind. He rearranged all previous links of thought in his mind and discovered a new link among them, which we call the law of gravitation. When this knowledge is covered and not visible, we call the mind ‘ignorant’. The process of uncovering is ‘learning’. When the covering is totally removed, the mind becomes all-knowing or ‘omniscient’. There have been omniscient men before, and there will be more in the future. Buddha and Jesus were omniscient. It wasn’t hereditary, meaning they did not learn it from their fathers. Their fathers are not known to have said anything memorable.
All the actions that we see in the world, all the movements in human society, all the works that we have around us, are simply the display of thought, the manifestation of the will of man. Machines or instruments, cities or ships, all these are simply the manifestation of the will of man; this will is caused by character, and character is manufactured by karma. As is karma, so is the manifestation of the will. We may go on accumulating things for our physical enjoyment, but only what we earn through karma is really ours.
Through our actions, we are responsible for the character we have today; and whatever we wish ourselves to be, we have the power to make ourselves through our actions.