What is Karma Yoga?

Karma-Yoga is the Yoga of service to others and to God. It is a suitable orientation for those of an active nature, those who wish to work for the manifestation of the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. The main thrust of the practice is the renunciation of fruits of action. That is, activities are undertaken for their own sake, the results being left to God. Activities are assumed for the benefit of the greater good, without concern for personal benefit. The path of Karma-Yoga is described in detail in the Bhagavad-Gîtâ.

The advantage of Karma-Yoga is that it transforms activity from selfish, goal based-action that results in binding karma, to selfless, ego-free action which produces no karma. In addition, Karma-Yoga is suitable for everyone. As Shri Krishna points out in the Bhagavad-Gîtâ, no one is free from action for even a moment. Life in a body is based on action, and even the most reclusive hermit is constantly involved in some form of activity, no matter how subtle. The applicability of Karma-Yoga for the busy modern person, whose responsibilities certainly exceed those of the hermit, is thus apparent.

The disadvantage of Karma-Yoga is that it can quickly become a slippery slope of workaholism in the guise of spiritual endeavor. The world is always going to need healing. If one were to work at service twenty-three hours a day, when he laid his head down to rest on the twenty-fourth hour there would still exist a multitude of uncompleted tasks and projects. Shankara's objection to Karma-Yoga was that no amount of activity can produce spiritual growth because spiritual growth is the result of wisdom born of inner stillness. If this stillness is lost to an outer focus, regardless of good intentions, then Karma-Yoga becomes a force of positive social action, but nothing more profound.

Reprinted with Permission
Georg Feuerstein
Yoga Research and Education Center
http://www.yrec.org
All rights reserved

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