Karma yoga (Sanskrit: कर्म योग), also called Karma Marg, is one of the four classical spiritual paths in Hinduism, one based on the “yoga of action”, the others being Jnana yoga (path of knowledge), Raja Yoga (path of meditation) and Bhakti yoga (path of loving devotion to a personal God). To a karma yogi, the right action is a form of prayer. The three paths are not mutually exclusive in Hinduism, but the relative emphasis between Karma yoga, Jnana yoga, and Bhakti yoga varies by individual. Karma yoga is a path of devotion to the work. One loses his identity while working, only selfless work remains. Non-attachment with the work and becoming the perfect instrument of the super consciousness in this manifested universe is the ultimate aim of Karma yoga. Siddha Spirituality of Swami Hardas Life System also believes in Karma yoga – the selfless services towards mankind.

What is Karma?

Karma literally means “action”.  Action always comes with the consequence of the action. The law of karma is the law of action and reaction, illustrated by the well-known saying “what we reap is what we sow”, and also the law of retribution, which explains that “what we receive is the result of what we did in the past”.

Nothing is by accident, merit, demerit, honor, or dishonor; any happening in our lives is the result of karma. The philosophy of karma is at the foundation of all oriental philosophical thought, Hindu and Buddhist.  Understanding how this law applies in life helps us to spiritualize our life and progress.

What is Karma yoga?

“Karma yoga is the Selfless Devotion of all the inner and outer activities as a sacrifice to the Lord of All Works, offered to the Eternal as Master of all the Soul’s energies and austerities.” – Bhagavad Gita.

“Work done in the right attitude becomes consecrated; becomes a sacred act.  A life consecrated in doing selfless acts will become a divine life.” – Swami Sivananda.

Karma yoga holds the key to our liberation

As our life is the result of karma, our life itself holds the key to our liberation. The idea is to spiritualize our life and our actions in order to be free. 

The problem is that we are very attached to our actions and our works; we constantly identify with our actions and take pride in what we are doing. Our ego is very much invested in our talents, skills, knowledge, and activities.  It takes detachment towards our actions in order to see ourselves and our actions in a different light. In the cultivation of the spirit of Karma yoga lies our freedom and spiritual release.

The essence of Karma yoga

The essence of Karma yoga as extracted from ‘Bhagavad Gita’ says: The world is confined in its own activity except when actions are performed as worship of God. Therefore one must perform every action sacramentally and be free of your attachments to the results.

Types of Karma yoga

There are three types of Karma yoga:

Sanchita Karma

One that arises out of being foolish or ignorant. It is often created unconsciously.

Prarabdha karma

Prarabdha focuses on the present. What you do now, your actions and their result is what your present life is all about.

Agami

The other kind is the Agami. The actions that will take place in the future are the result of your present action. This is Agami. When this yoga is performed by the right means it doesn’t harm anybody being in the law of dharma. This helps you gain the fruit of your actions to the divine love and makes you understand to help, heal, and share.

Important elements of Karma yoga

Start by practicing deep breathing:

• Keep your mind in a calm state,
• Get away from any negative thoughts in the mind including joyously, hatred, bribery,
• Do some social service activities while practicing Karma yoga, and
• Always be there to help others.

How to practice Karma yoga?

Curtail and reduce desires

Karma arises due to desires and not from our actions. All the desire-ridden actions will bind us, and the cycle of birth and death will continue to bind us. So curtail and reduce your desires, but continue with your activities even if they are unpleasant or painful to perform.

Never neglect daily duties and responsibilities

Do not neglect your daily duties and responsibilities. Bring your spirituality and balanced approach to all your actions. Try to make it a part of your daily living.

Do duty with detachment

Actions govern our existence. Higher consciousness created life and living by action and collective action (karma) of living beings keeps the world going. So do your duty with detachment.

Render selfless services

Renunciation is not to be mistaken for an escape from our daily duties and responsibilities. Doing so would add to our selfish karma. True renunciation is giving up of the desires for the fruit of our actions and surrendering to the will of higher reality should be our approach.

Perform actions with a sacrificial attitude

Learn to engage your minds in contemplation. Make an effort to remain in an absorbed state and perform actions with a sacrificial attitude.

Be completely free from attachments and desires

When performing any action be completely free from attachments and desires but engage in actions to uphold your Dharma (attend to your daily duties and attend to the regularities of the world).

Do Karma without attachments to the fruits

Keep doing your actions without attachments to the fruits. “Karm Karo Sirf Aur Phal ki Chinta Mat Karo!” (कर्म करो सिर्फ और फल की चिंता मत करो!)

Learn to Enhance your personality – physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually through yoga. Gain confidence, health, and a higher perspective through the yoga way of life.

Another way of practicing Karma yoga

Include Karma yoga in your life

In case the principles of Karma yoga still feel a bit abstract to you, don’t worry. There are a couple of easy things that you can do to include Karma yoga in your life. When this yoga is performed by the right means it doesn’t harm anybody being in the law of dharma. This helps you gain the fruit of your actions to the divine love and makes you understand to help, heal, and share.

Some methods of Karma yoga

You can do Karma yoga through several methods of yoga such as:

• Sit on a yoga mat,
• Keep your hands and knees down,
• Keep your hands straight aligned to the shoulders,
• Take your toes under the knees. Don’t move your knees,
• Push the mat, when you are in the right direction,
• Move your leg up to form “v” of the body,
• Be in this step till 5 breathe, and
• Gradually come back to the normal position.

Lunges

• Stand on the feet, keeping them together,
• Move forward, as if you want to walk,
• Lower your back leg,
• Your back leg must be above the ankle,
• Keep your body straight, and
• Repeat this with alternate feet.

Hatha yoga

‘Ha’ means “sun” and ‘tha’ means “moon,” which unites the pairs of opposites. This is also known as “forceful yoga”, as it needs loads of physical effort. Hatha yoga concentrates on practicing the postures and breathes control that helps to energize the nadis. This is the practice of any real meditation and brings health and energy to the body and mind. It also aids in strengthening the power of will and concentration by the senses. Pranayama in hatha yoga is important to master the breathing technique that activates the kundalini energy.

Bhakti yoga

Bhakti yoga describes the Hindu philosophy to spread love, faith, and surrender to God. The meaning of this Bhakti yoga is to realize God by creating human-human relationships. This can be friend-friend, parent-child, beloved-lover, and master-servant. It also signals the devotion towards personal God. Among the many spiritual paths in Hinduism, Bhakti yoga is one path. It is a path to self-realization.

Jnana yoga

The meaning of Jnana is wisdom or discernment. Jnana meditation helps to withdraw the mind and emotions from one’s life and live in reality or spirit. The mind plays a crucial role in Jnana yoga. The mind is made to inquire into its nature and to surpass the identification of the mind with ego and its own thoughts. This is yet another path to self-realization, where the power of the mind is used to separate the real and unreal things of the world.

Raja yoga

Raja yoga is also known as “royal yoga” due to its many styles. It helps to stimulate the benefits of meditation for self-realization and leads to consciousness. It is a path to self-discipline and practice. Yoga is organized into eight paths. It is aimed at the goal of yoga, which is samadhi, and not just attaining it. Raja yoga is sometimes known as Royal yoga.

A lot of people think that proper meditation is done sitting down somewhere on the floor in the corner of a room. And afterward, when you’re enlightened, you get up and go out and live your life. However, Karma yoga is about taking the things you do on a daily basis and doing them from a meditative perspective. For example: Don’t do the dishes and think about your plans for the rest of the day. Do the dishes and immerse into just that. Quiet your mind and be in the moment. That’s meditation.

What will the practice of Karma yoga bring?

– You will develop and learn new skills,
– It will help personality growth, health, and fulfillment,
– It will thin out the ego and remove selfishness,
– You will achieve purification of the heart,
– You will overcome the “likes and dislikes” of your mind,
– It will help eliminate prejudices,
– You will feel oneness, unity, and unbounded joy,
– You will become more loving, balanced, and sattvic,
– It will help have a more flexible mind and a more tolerant attitude (less rigid),
– You will broaden your outlook on life,
– It allows you to spiritualize your activities, and
– It will keep you focused on God throughout the day.

What are the amazing benefits of Karma yoga?

Most of our activities and actions in daily life either attract attention or avoid attention. However, the spiritual path of Karma yoga emphasizes performing all our actions without any misgivings or expectations. Let us understand the benefits of karma yoga practice:

New skills

By doing your best, you will quickly learn new skills and become better at what you do. There is no loss in devoting yourself to a task.

Activeness

Being alive means being active. Activeness is the key to self-development. You alone can decide how those actions will affect your present and future.

Achievement of goals

Practicing Karma yoga will help you achieve your goals – professionally and personally. Think about it: Loving the work you do and giving it your all will prove your ambition to your employer, colleagues, or partners. Doing the same with your duties in your personal life will strengthen your relationships.

Calmness

As your mind becomes more flexible, you will be more tolerant and calm, eliminate prejudices, broaden your outlook on life and spiritualize your activities.

Joy

Removing selfishness and achieving purification of the heart leads to experiencing unity and joy. This positive thinking will help your personality to grow, which in turn allows you to practice Karma yoga with enthusiasm and energy.

Positive Energy

What goes around comes around.

Faith

Faith in higher reality is a must. Nurturing faith by keeping the company of pious spiritual people is advocated. Infuses positivity and wisdom of better living.

Right knowledge

Without the right knowledge, we continue to engage in egocentric actions, and that way we keep on collecting immoral karma. The Bhagavad Gita recommends Jnana – karma yoga which is the yoga of practicing selfless actions with the right knowledge as the correct approach.

Purity

Karma yoga cannot be experienced with an impure mind. An impure mind is filled with tainted thoughts and purposes. The purity of the mind has to be maintained at all three levels, i.e. intent thought, and action. All desire-ridden actions arise since the Tri-Gunas are at play viz- Sattva, Rajas, and Tamas. They are responsible for binding actions of selfishness, egoism, and ignorance. The predominance of Sattva guna should be inculcated so that one can transcend all the gunas and engage in desire-less actions.

Discernment

The seekers of spiritual liberation should avoid indiscriminate application of the principles of Karma yoga to any action without giving it careful thought. The purpose of Karma yoga is to do one’s duties and serve the righteous purposes of creation. The Holy Scripture Bhagavad Gita recommends the cultivation of discernment or buddhi in order to practice true Karma yoga.

Self-absorption

Bhagavad Gita describes the Atma-samyama- yoga which helps a Karma yogi to continue his efforts with equability and dispassion.

Devotion

Devotion is the final fruit of a karma yogi. Pure devotion arises from the predominance of Sattva guna where the devotee has completely dedicated himself to the service of humanity or higher reality through the persistent practice of Karma yoga, after having acquired the right knowledge and by renouncing the fruits of his actions, cultivated right discrimination and steadied his mind in the contemplation of higher consciousness through the practice of contemplation and meditation.

Who gave the concept of Karma yoga?

The spiritual practice of selfless action

According to Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita, Karma yoga is the spiritual practice of “selfless action performed for the benefit of others”. Karma yoga is a path to reach moksha (spiritual liberation) through work. It is rightful action without being attached to fruits or being manipulated by what the results might be, a dedication to one’s duty, and trying one’s best while being neutral to rewards or outcomes such as success or failure.

Only dharmic action

The tendency for a human being to seek the fruits of action is normal, state Hindu texts, but an exclusive attachment to fruits and positive immediate consequences can compromise dharma (ethical, rightful action). 

According to Stephen Phillips, a professor of philosophy and Asian studies, “only dharmic action” is suitable in Karma yoga, where one downplays one’s own exclusive role or one’s own exclusive interests. Instead, the karma yogi considers the interests of all parties impartially, all beings, the elements of Prakṛiti, and then does the right thing. 

Dedication to the Lord

Karma yoga, states Bilimoria, does not mean forfeiture of emotions or desires, rather it means action driven by “equanimity, balance”, with “dispassion, disinterest”, avoiding “one-sidedness, fear, craving, favoring self or one group or clan, self-pity, self-aggrandizement or any form of extreme reactiveness”. 

A Karma yogi acts and does his or her duty, whether that be as “a homemaker, mother, nurse, carpenter or garbage collector, with no thought for one’s own fame, privilege or financial reward, but simply as a dedication to the Lord”, states Harold Coward – professor of Religious Studies with a focus on Indian religions.

Meditative introspection

According to Phillips, Karma yoga applies to “any action in any profession or family activities”, where the Karma yogi works selflessly to others’ benefit. This is in contrast to other forms of yoga which focus on self-development and self-realization, typically with isolation and meditative introspection. The “disinterested action” idea, states Phillips, is not unique to Hinduism, and similar disinterested non-craving precepts for monks and nuns are found in Buddhism and Jainism.

Karma yoga as per Bhagavad Gita

According to the Bhagavad Gita, selfless service to the right cause and like-minded others, with the right feeling and right attitude, is a form of worship and spirituality.

Karma yoga process

The Bhagavad Gita gives a summary of the Karma yoga process. The Gita itself is a chapter from the epic known as Mahabharata, wherein a dialogue takes place between the prince Arjuna, and his friend and chariot driver, Lord Krishna, on the brink of a great dynastic war. 

In reply, Krishna then elucidates upon a number of philosophical yoga systems and practices (including Karma yoga) by/through which Arjuna should indeed continue with the fight on righteous principles.

In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna says:

“Tasmad Asaktah Satatam Karyam Karma Samacara Asakto Hy Acaran Karma Param Apnoti Purushah”

Meaning: Therefore, without being attached to the results of activities, one should act as a matter of duty, for by working without attachment one attains the Supreme.

Karma yoga as per Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda – a karma yogi, often goes hand in hand. Karma yoga or the yoga of action is a book of lectures by Swami Vivekananda. 

The main theme of the book revolves around the concept of Karma in the Bhagvat Gita. He describes it as a mental discipline, one that will let us carry the work or duty as a serviceman to the world. Some of the prominent chapters include ‘Karma in its Effect on Character’, ‘The secret of Work’, ‘What is duty’ etc.

Karma yoga as per other Hindu texts

Brihadaranyaka Upanishad

The earliest texts that are forerunners of the karma yoga ideas in the Bhagavad Gita are the ancient Upanishads, such as the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. Other Vedic texts, as well as post-Vedic literature of the Mimamsa school of Hindu philosophy, mention karma marga, but these contextually refer to the path of rituals. According to Raju, the Mimamsa ideas, though orthodox, were the fertile grounds on which the later ideas of Karma yoga developed.

Bhagavata Purana

Karma yoga is discussed in many other Hindu texts. For example, section 11.20 of the Bhagavata Purana states that there are only three means to spiritual liberation:

• Jnana yoga (knowledge), 
• Karma yoga (action), and 
• Bhakti yoga (devotion).

Those who prefer emotional connection, prefer the “devotional path”. These three paths overlap, with different relative emphasis.

Karma yoga versus Kriya yoga

According to Constance Jones and James Ryan, Karma yoga is “yoga of action” while Kriya yoga is “yoga of ritual action”. Kriya yoga is found in tantric texts and believed by its practitioners to activate chakra and energy centers in the body. In that sense, Kriya yoga is a subset of Karma yoga.

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