"Indefatigable in Action"
That is: never to allow that sweet sustaining devotion to relax: fatigue, monotony, apparent barrenness in results, notwithstanding. The outer immediate results are not the real index, or crown, of unselfish endeavor.
For this inherent devotion to the greater Ideal is one with the mystic current of Life, that tide of vital renewing which swings the orbits of all beings into harmonious action.
"Look thou within; within thee is the fountain of all good, and it will ever spring if thou wilt ever delve," says the wise Marcus Aurelius. And Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita, Chapter III: "There is nothing, O son of Pritha . . . which it is necessary for me to perform . . . and yet I am constantly in action. If I were not indefatigable in action all men would presently follow my example. If I did not perform actions these creatures would perish."
What is this action? One thing is certain: the action here referred to is not hurry and bustle, the sensation-born impulse to do things. It is the inner spirit of devotion that ensouls all actions with moral beauty and power.
"Even sages have been deluded as to what is action and what inaction. . . . One must learn well what is action to be performed and what is not to be, and what is inaction. The path of action is obscure." The man who sees inaction in action and action in inaction is wise among men; he is a true devotee and a perfect performer of all action.
"Perform thou that which thou hast to do, at all times unmindful of the event: for the man who doeth that which he hath to do, without attachment to the result, obtaineth the Supreme. . . . For whatever is practiced by the most excellent men, that is also practiced by others. The world follows whatever example they set." And again: "O son of Bharata, as the ignorant perform the duties of life from the hope of reward, so the wise man from the wish to bring the world to duty and benefit mankind should perform his actions without motives of interest."
And Devotion gladly accepts its responsibilities as well as its duty, and first among these is constancy in sustaining and transmitting the vital current of Being of which it is a link, a living vehicle. But more: as increase of life and power grows with practice in any art, so does an influx of higher energy and stamina enter the moral fiber of those in whom devotion has become a second nature, a regenerative, revivifying agent of the soul.
"The Fountain of all Good: and it will ever spring if thou wilt ever delve."