Karma Yoga is essentially Acting, or doing one’s duties in life as per his/her dharma, or duty, without concern of results – a sort of constant sacrifice of action to the Supreme. It is action done without thought of gain. In a more modern interpretation, it can be viewed as duty bound deeds done without letting the nature of the result affecting one’s actions. Krishna advocates Nishkam Karma (Selfless Action) as the ideal path to realize the Truth. Allocated work done without expectations, motives, or thinking about its outcomes tends to purify one’s mind and gradually makes an individual fit to see the value of reason and the benefits of renouncing the work itself. These concepts are vividly described in the following verses:
“To action alone hast thou a right and never at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive; neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction”[46]
“Fixed in yoga, do thy work, O Winner of wealth (Arjuna), abandoning attachment, with an even mind in success and failure, for evenness of mind is called yoga”[47]
“With the body, with the mind, with the intellect, even merely with the senses, the Yogis perform action toward self-purification, having abandoned attachment. He who is disciplined in Yoga, having abandoned the fruit of action, attains steady peace…”[48]
In order to achieve true liberation, it is important to control all mental desires and tendencies to enjoy sense pleasures. The following verses illustrate this:[49]
“When a man dwells in his mind on the object of sense, attachment to them is produced. From attachment springs desire and from desire comes anger.”
“From anger arises bewilderment, from bewilderment loss of memory; and from loss of memory, the destruction of intelligence and from the destruction of intelligence he perishes”
How right you are, Sir! Unfortunately in today’s world, power (political, money and Media) seems to rule the world whereas success is to be judged by Him – the Eternal within, the ‘Sahaja’ (‘saha jayate iti’), the other bird on the tree who (Updrushta, Anumanta cha bharta bhokta maheshwarah, parmatmepi chapyukto dehesmin purusha parah) who accompanies the soul in all its births whether into level, higher (swarga) or lower (hell). How much one listens to Him determines whether we become Arjuna (the ‘saral’ letting the flow of the Eternal through him or Duryodhana (the ego centric who almost stifles the Eternal and its voice out from his inner world, Antahkarana, allowing ‘Kama’ to overrule his better judgment for ‘Preya’ rather than ‘Shreya’).
Karma Yoga is essentially Acting, or doing one’s duties in life as per his/her dharma, or duty, without concern of results – a sort of constant sacrifice of action to the Supreme. It is action done without thought of gain. In a more modern interpretation, it can be viewed as duty bound deeds done without letting the nature of the result affecting one’s actions. Krishna advocates Nishkam Karma (Selfless Action) as the ideal path to realize the Truth. Allocated work done without expectations, motives, or thinking about its outcomes tends to purify one’s mind and gradually makes an individual fit to see the value of reason and the benefits of renouncing the work itself. These concepts are vividly described in the following verses:
“To action alone hast thou a right and never at all to its fruits; let not the fruits of action be thy motive; neither let there be in thee any attachment to inaction”[46]
“Fixed in yoga, do thy work, O Winner of wealth (Arjuna), abandoning attachment, with an even mind in success and failure, for evenness of mind is called yoga”[47]
“With the body, with the mind, with the intellect, even merely with the senses, the Yogis perform action toward self-purification, having abandoned attachment. He who is disciplined in Yoga, having abandoned the fruit of action, attains steady peace…”[48]
In order to achieve true liberation, it is important to control all mental desires and tendencies to enjoy sense pleasures. The following verses illustrate this:[49]
“When a man dwells in his mind on the object of sense, attachment to them is produced. From attachment springs desire and from desire comes anger.”
“From anger arises bewilderment, from bewilderment loss of memory; and from loss of memory, the destruction of intelligence and from the destruction of intelligence he perishes”
How right you are, Sir! Unfortunately in today’s world, power (political, money and Media) seems to rule the world whereas success is to be judged by Him – the Eternal within, the ‘Sahaja’ (‘saha jayate iti’), the other bird on the tree who (Updrushta, Anumanta cha bharta bhokta maheshwarah, parmatmepi chapyukto dehesmin purusha parah) who accompanies the soul in all its births whether into level, higher (swarga) or lower (hell). How much one listens to Him determines whether we become Arjuna (the ‘saral’ letting the flow of the Eternal through him or Duryodhana (the ego centric who almost stifles the Eternal and its voice out from his inner world, Antahkarana, allowing ‘Kama’ to overrule his better judgment for ‘Preya’ rather than ‘Shreya’).
if someone wants to achieve success in this materialistic world, then how he could free himself from the very nature of getting shreya.