The Path of Karma Yoga
“Serve, Love, Meditate, Realise”
Swami Sivananda
The four paths of yoga
Many schools of yoga have flowed in the downward stream of time from the ancient source of Mother Yoga. While styles and emphases may differ, they all embody one or more of the four ancient paths of yoga. These are woven together in the sacred symphony of the Bhagavad Gita: Gyana/Jnana Yoga the path of wisdom, Raja Yoga the path of meditation, Bhakti Yoga the path of love, and Karma Yoga, the path of work. Hatha Yoga is considered part of Raja Yoga and not as a separate path.
These four paths were intended for distinct types of seekers with distinct characteristics, but ideally to be combined to ensure an integrated cultivation of the personality: “the yoga of head, hand and heart”. In a mysterious manner, each path opens one to another, and this is the case with Karma Yoga, the path we will consider in this journal post.
Karma Yoga and the Bhagavad Gita
The Bhagavad Gita is an inner dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, representing respectively the Higher Self and the lower self, or the Spirit and ego. It is set on the battlefield of life, “the Field of Karma”, and as such brings the higher, abstract and more rarefied wisdom of the Upanishads down to a more human level.
In the opening of the Gita, Arjuna is stricken by a great moral dilemma and his first impulse is to flee the battlefield and to renounce his duties in the spirit of a renunciate (Sannyasin). Krishna, in the role of Inner Guru, encourages him to face his responsibilities and teaches him the path of Karma Yoga.
It is said that in India at one time, many people of all ages and social classes were renouncing domestic and social responsibilities to become sannyasins. There was a danger that society may suffer an imbalance and the “Wheel of Dharma” would not be turned. To preserve order (Rita), Krishna offered an ingenious alternative: rather than renounce societal responsibilities, one could instead perform them but relinquish or let go off the result (fruit) of their responsibilities as an offering (Yajna) to the Supreme: this was the restitution of the great path of Karma Yoga. The dichotomy between renunciation (Sannyasa) and relinquishment (Tyagi) are played out in Arjuna’s initial dilemma.
Karma and Karma Yoga
Karma means “act” or “action”, but this definition includes thought; our thoughts are ripples which condense on the material plane. As all actions are contained in the inter-playing field of cause and effect, Karma is also commonly associated with the law of compensation, “as you sow, so you shall reap”.
At every moment we are reaping, sowing, creating and storing seeds of Karma. The Gita reminds us that we are caught in a constant wheel of action, and even if we escape to a cave in the Himalayas, our thoughts will be caught in the clutches of karma!
Karma yoga encourages us to become aware that our thoughts and actions have repercussions in the outworking of our lives; and affect our fellow beings in all the planes of reality, domestic, social, environmental, and beyond. For better or worse, we are increasingly aware today of the inter-connectedness of humanity and our planet, and our mutual karmic responsibilities.
Principles of karma yoga
Karma yoga is known variously as meditation in action, spiritual action, non- doing, working with awareness and selfless service. It is nishkama karma (non-doing). It is a profound subject and there is no substitute for experience, especially in an ashram setting where it is woven into the texture of daily life. In the words of Swami Nishchalananda Saraswati:
Karma Yoga means to perform work to the best of our ability, and with awareness, without being overly attached to the outcome or the results (or to the fruits, the term used in Yoga and in the Bhagavad Gita). The work is done more and more without the obsessive sense of “me”, “I” and “mine”. One becomes an instrument of action.
Karma yoga is more concerned with the means than the end. Karma yoga encourages us to offer up the result or fruit of action in a spirit of sacrifice to God, the Supreme, or what represents the Highest for you. In so doing, the action becomes ritualised and spiritualised, because the true meaning of sacrifice is “to make sacred”.
Set thy heart upon thy work, but never on its reward. Work not for a reward; but never cease to do thy work.
Do thy work in the peace of Yoga, and free from selfish desires, be not moved in success or failure. Yoga is evenness of mind, a peace that is ever the same. (2.47-48)
Whatever you do, or eat, or give, or offer in adoration, let it be an offering to me.
He who offers to me with devotion only a leaf, or a flower, or a fruit, or even a little water, this I accept from that yearning soul, because with a pure heart it was offered with love (9.26)
Karma yoga and the other paths
Raja yoga and Gyana yoga both investigate the nature of the ego and reverse its dominance over the Higher Self, like the removal of an eclipse of the “inner sun”. Karma Yoga subtly removes the sense of “doer-ship” or agency on which the ego is constructed and depends.
In turn, when we relinquish and offer up the fruits of action, we are of course practising Bhakti Yoga.
Hatha Yoga can be practised in the spirit of Karma Yoga. We are familiar with the exhortations to “be here now” and “have no-expectation” which are intended to keep the practitioner in the moment. The yamas and niyamas instil the very same attitude: we are discouraged from end-gaining and to practise contentment (santosha). When we let go of/relinquish the end result this is aparigraha (non-grasping); when we offer up the fruit of our efforts, this is ishvarapranidhana (surrender).
In this way, there is just the asana performing itself, and the performer has left the stage: the dancer has become the dance: this is Karma yoga.
Skill in action/evenness of mind
The Bhagavad Gita describes Karma yoga as “skill in action” and “evenness of mind”. It encourages us to act with awareness and to perform our actions to the best of our ability; after all, what is offered up should be the best we can offer. At the same time Karma yoga teaches us that we can never count on the outcome, whatever our best efforts: this is not in our hands.
However, if we perform to the best of our ability, without undue attention on the result, then the end-result will look after itself; we will have played our part; whatever the result, we can accept it with equanimity: skill in action and evenness of mind. Easy to say, but difficult, of course. Nonetheless, the Gita encourages us to take this path.
Washing dishes to wash dishes
Karma yoga, under different names, is a wisdom found in other Eastern traditions. It is woven into the Tao Te Ching, which encourages us “to act without acting”. On discouraging end-gaining, Chuang Tsu says:
When you are betting for tiles in an archery contest you shoot with skill. When you are betting for fancy buckles, you worry about your aim. And when you are betting for gold you are a nervous wreck.
The same skill is there, but we are in the moment, and relaxed. Think of the Zen archer who spends months or years drawing the bow, until finally the arrow releases itself! Think of the Japanese tea ceremony, where the ritual of preparation supersedes the drinking; or calligraphy where the letters write themselves. Consider the attention given in the Buddhist tradition to walking meditation - the destination is less important than the mindful walking. This is both liberating and relaxing and teaches us to “go with the flow”. It is indeed a “philosophy of relaxation” or “poised living”.
Path of service
Service (seva) and charity (dana) to others are of course a mixture of Karma and Bhakti yoga. Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa and Swami Sivananda were all great karma yogis; as indeed are all the unsung carers in society, in the inherent recognition that the same Self underlies all beings.
Turning the wheel of dharma
The Gita teaches that “all life is sacrifice” because at every moment something gives of itself to allow us to be. Since sacrifice supports life, Krishna encourages us to play our part in this cosmic drama by offering up all our work and duties as a sacrifice:
All life turns on this law, Oh Arjuna.
From food, creatures come into being; from rain is the birth of food; from sacrifice rain comes into being and sacrifice is born of work. (3:13)
When we perform actions in the spirit of yajna, we help to turn the “wheel of dharma” and to contribute to the natural order. We fulfil our functions as human beings in the intricate balance of creation.
Be like the lotus flower
The Gita states that no karma attaches to actions performed in the spirit of Karma yoga. It likens this attitude to the lotus flower resting on the lake surface, its petals untouched by water, “in the world, but not of the world”:
One who resigns all his actions to the Supreme Being and works without any personal attachments, is not soiled by sin, as a lotus leaf is not wetted by water. (5:12)
A modern path
Along with Bhakti yoga, it is said that Karma yoga is the most suitable and accessible path for the modern era. It was reinstated for us by Krishna from the deepest antiquity:
…in the revolution of times immemorial this doctrine was forgotten by men.
In this frantic age of getting and spending, where many of us have little time to sit and meditate, Karma yoga is a precious gift.
OM Tat Sat
Yogacharya Michael McCann
