KARMA YOGA – THE PATH OF ACTION
Karma yoga is work with non-attachment to the result of that work. One works as a free agent, free from gain or loss, success or failure. Only where there is no desire for personal gain does work become spiritual.
“To the work alone you have the right, never to its fruit.
Do not let the fruit of action be your motive;
And do not be attached to non-action.” Bhagavad Gita.
Karma means action. Any activity of body or mind is karma. Every living being has to perform some sort of action, some karma, to sustain itself. Without activity there is no life. Work done without desire for personal gain, becomes a spiritual action. Work done as a spiritual discipline is called Karma Yoga.
Every action is followed by reaction. Every action creates some reaction which comes back to the doer. Thinking is also karma. Evil thoughts beget evil, good begets good. The least figment of desire for result will be the seed for future action.
Thus karma also implies all reactions or resultants of our actions. Here comes the law of karma, based on the law of causation. Our actions from the past are bearing results in the present and will do so in the future. Our future life will be the consequence of all actions, physical or mental of this present life.
Only right action can extricate us from this permanent vicious cycle of birth and death, of action and reaction and the law of causation presently binding us. We are responsible for what we are and what we become. We thus have to know how to perform such actions, to obtain the best results.
Work is with some motive, good or bad, lofty or puny. Any action with desire for results attaches us to the results thereof. The way out would be to work for work’s sake, not for the fruits thereof. Desires are the means to an end. They are rarely an end in themselves. Such desires should be banished if they are a source of further attachment to the world.
Work for work’s sake, without caring for name and fame, because good will come of it, is selfless work. We have to gradually make ourselves less selfish daily until we are able to do unselfish work. With faith in ourselves, we will finally reach selfless work. But we have to keep on working with as much incentive and interest as if for ourselves. Work done mechanically or instinctively is not spiritual. All work should be done with utmost awareness and attention to detail. If we manage to work selflessly, we shall live for humanity’s good, not for our selfish self. Only if the action is according to the moral code will it bring ultimate good. If against the ethical laws, only evil will result: pain, disease, loss or unhappiness.
The illumined person does not work for a result. Attachment to results leads to selfishness. Selfishness leads to further desires and further bondage. History will keep on repeating itself. The selfish man can never experience love for God. The true devotee is the true renunciant. One should cheerfully perform a duty because it is to be done, and renounce all attachment to its result. Only then can one expect to obtain the fruit of renunciation: inner peace. Work should be undertaken as if one is paying off a debt, to society, to mankind finally. Doing our best, to the most of our ability, we should not reckon success or failure.
The secret of karma yoga is not renunciation of action but renunciation of the longing for the fruit of action. Any action should depend on the exigencies of a situation. One should help without consideration of what one might gain in return. It should be unselfish, free from greed and passion. One should be able to enjoy peace of mind in defeat as in success. Finally all action will be out of love. Only the feeling of love frees the soul and brings peace and eternal happiness.
Desire for the fruits creates attachment and further desire to enjoy. When desire is unfulfilled it leads to anger and frustration which brings about ultimate destruction. All action in the world has both positive and negative sides, perfection and imperfection. Selfless action protects one from the bad karma or sin associated to the imperfection of any action. One can avoid the bondage of the causal law and work as a free agent. Only then one attains inner peace and freedom.
Sincerity and integrity is the key to success. One should not work for power or money. Any motive brings misery. Only that work brings non-attachment and bliss where we work as masters of our minds. Sense of duty is also bondage. However, devotion to our duty should be in work done as an offering to God. This is the greatest form of God worship and does not cause attachment.
Those who claim, “Work is worship”, should understand that work becomes worship only when done selflessly, not selfishly, not even unselfishly. In fact it follows that one can practice karma yoga without believing in a conventional religion or God, or adhering to any creed. Great souls, even being atheists, can follow the path of karma yoga and get the same results as theists who practice years of penance. Their actions being free from the slightest trace of selfishness confer lasting blessings upon mankind.
The karma yogi, as any other yogi, acts with the realisation that he is but an instrument of God. God alone is the doer. Service to humanity is a form of worship. As a result, the yogi’s heart is purified and becomes free of ego, greed or lust. Such action brings lasting blessing on the world. The karma yogi feels blessed that God has chosen him as one of His instruments. To him success or failure is beside the point. He works for God’s satisfaction, seeing God in all living beings. Service to mankind becomes a form of worship.