Karma Yoga in Geeta

[chandresh_kumar]

Namaste

Karma Yoga is the Yoga of selfless action, without any expectation of fruits. It is a geat way of removing the impurities of the mind. By cleaning the mind, it prepares the mind for the reception of Divine Grace and the Lord itself. Karma Yoga librates one from the bondage of Karma and the endless cycles of birth and death. Basic principle is that when there is no selfish motive or ego, action becomes an inaction. And then you are not bound by an action.

* A Karma Yogi sees God in every face. He understands that the Lord resides in the heart of all creatures. So, he tries to give something to everybody considering that he is offering it to the Lord Himself. He looks for opportunities to serve.Karma Yogi never says things like “I have helped that man” and in fact feels that“That man gave me an opportunity to serve.” He serves the saints, the sick, the poor, his parents and humanity in general. Whenever he serves anyone he thinks that he is serving the Lord himself. So, He doesnot expect anything in return from the person he serves.

* Service or work is Karma Yoga only if it is selfless and without any ego. So, a Karma Yogi always scrutinises his own inner motives. He destroys any selfish motives. To get rid of any ego that arises out of work or service, he creates a feeling that he is just an instrument in the hands of the Lord. A Karma Yogi understands that God is the only doer. He and his body is just an instrument of the God. Hence, he surrenders himself, his actions and fruits of his actions to the Lord.

* Karma Yogi does not make any difference between menial and respectable work. Any work or service done as service to the Lord is not small. Our selfish motives make any work small. Karma Yogi looks for opportunities to help the poor and the decrepit. He looks to feed the poor and clothe the naked. He is ready to do any service by which he can comfort other living creatures without caring for his own comfort.

* Basic principle of Karma Yoga is "As you sow, so you reap.". Virtue gives you happiness. Vice gives you pain. You are the master of your destiny. You sow an action, reap a habit. You sow a habit, reap a character; you sow your character and reap a destiny. Destiny is your own making. Abandon desires and change your mode of thinking. Try to win over your selfish motives and ego of doing work. You will conquer destiny.

* Karma Yogi is not attached to the work itself. A Karma Yogi must be able to give up the work at any moment.

* Karma Yogi is not affected by fruits of action. He is same in happiness and sorrow, grace and disgrace, profit and loss. He focuses on what he can do, on his own duty. He understands that his control is only upto the limit of doing action. After that, fruits come as per laws af nature or by God's grace.

[KARTIK]

very nice jist of karma yoga sir...
and one of the great lesson that i learnt in life amongst miseries from bhagwat gita is the real interpretation of work that you have explained too. we often do some work and think it as duty. people today are running behind materialistic things and believe it as duty. but gita says WORK INCESSANTLY BUT DONT GET ATTACHED. i think that is the real definition of work . working in the world and NOT GETTING ATTACHED to it.