What is Yoga?
Yoga, which is derived from the Sanskrit root “yuj” meaning “to yoke, attach, or tether,” refers to the discipline and practice that utilizes physical, mental, and spiritual means of attaining moksha, or liberation from the cycle of life. The aim of yoga is to realize the oneness of creation and of God, and to release oneself from the attachments and suffering of the world.
The Bhagavad Gita describes three types of yoga: Karma Yoga (the Path of Action), Bhakti Yoga (the Path of Devotion), and Jnana Yoga (the Path of Knowledge). Later, a fourth path of yoga was introduced by Swami Vivekananda, called Raja Yoga (the Path of Self-Discipline). Each of these yogas present a different path towards liberation and moksha from the tetherings of the world.
What is Karma Yoga?
Karma Yoga is the Path of Action that one can follow to achieve moksha. Karma, which is derived from the Sanskrit root “kri“meaning “to do,” refers to all action and work. True karma yoga involves working with equanimity in the face of success or loss, with dispassion and without attachment, without thoughts for fame, fortune, well-being, or even for self-satisfaction, but rather simply as a dedication to the Lord.
Fruits of Labor
karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣhu kadāchana
mā karma-phala-hetur bhūr mā te saṅgo ’stvakarmaṇi
You have a right to perform your prescribed duties, but you are not entitled to the fruits of your actions. Never consider yourself to be the cause of the results of your activities, nor be attached to inaction. (Gita 2.47)
This is perhaps the most recognized and well-known verse of the Bhagavad Gita. In fact, J.D. Salinger (author of Catcher in the Rye) centered his entire novella, Franny & Zooey, around this verse and the essence of Karma Yoga. This verse outlines the importance of carrying out one’s duties through action, but without attachment to the outcome or results of that action.
We must first recognize the importance difference between actions and deeds. All deeds are actions, but not all actions are deeds. A deed is an action for which an outcome or result is expected, and we become bound by the expectation of outcome for that deed. This is called sakam karma yoga. It is not the deed or action that binds us to the world, but rather our expectations of the outcomes of the deed.
When we perform that same action without expectation of an outcome, we remove our attachment from our actions. This is called nishkaam karma yoga. We renounce our attachment to the fruits of our actions. We recognize that though we are the ones performing said action, we are not the real doer of the action — God is. Without the body, mind, soul, motivation, or power to perform said action, we could not do it. We must remember that God is the one that gives us these mechanisms by which we act, therefore our actions and their fruits are to be owed to and enjoyed by God. We must remove our ego and attachment to the fruits of “our” actions, and remember that God is the real recipient of those fruits. We renounce those fruits unto Him, and in doing so we discover the path to moksha and liberation.
Now one might ask, if God is the real doer of our actions, does this mean we have no free will? Are we just subjected to the predestined fate that God has laid out for us? This dilemma is discussed further in an earlier post, “Fate vs. Free Will“
The Danger of Inaction
In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was a king that was punished for his deceitful actions on Earth. He was sentenced to the Underworld and was forced to roll a large boulder up the slope of a hill. Only, every time he neared the top, the boulder would come rolling back down. No matter how much effort or perfection he put into the task, the boulder would always roll back down. His efforts were futile, forcing him to repeat this task for eternity.
The world is like the boulder, and we are like Sisyphus. No matter how much effort we put into achieving perfection, the resting state of the world is restored, and our all of our work becomes futile. Swami Vivekananda likens the world to the curly tail of a dog. He says, “People have been striving to straighten out for hundreds of years, but when they let it go, it has curled up again.” This is why we must work without attachment to the results, because we may never achieve the results that we aim for. Even if we do, it’s likely that those results won’t remain for long. The world will go on without us or our work, and we only become angry or fanatic by expecting something to come out of the work that we perform.
Now we might think, Sisyphus must be stupid. If he knows that his efforts of pushing the boulder up the hill are futile, why does he keep trying and keep working? Why should we work if we know that our efforts will be futile?
Imagine if a doctor did not fulfill his duties of seeing patients, prescribing medications, or performing surgery, because they will all die someday anyway. Imagine if an architect did not strive for perfection in constructing his buildings, because they will all be destroyed someday by Mother Nature anyway. Imagine if we stopped feeding the hungry, because they will become hungry again anyway.
Lord Krishna warns us that the greatest danger to ourselves is the danger of inaction, or akarma. The worst thing one can possibly do is to not act. Akarma must be avoided towards all costs. We must always act, and we must always strive towards karma.
To understand the reason behind this, we must first recognize that the world doesn’t need us. We are merely a tiny speck sitting in the middle of this vast creation, and it is foolish and naive to possibly think that we can do good for the world through our actions. Even if we manage to, the good that we give to the world is impermanent. The sum total of good and bad, of light and dark, and of happiness and suffering has been the same throughout the history of creation. No action of ours can increase or decrease this sum total.
By working, we are not doing a favor for the world, but rather for ourselves. When we give charity, we are not doing a favor for the beggar. He does not owe us anything, and we cannot expect anything in return from him. In reality by giving charity, we are doing a favor for ourselves. The beggar allows us to practice our charity and benevolence on him, and we must be grateful for this opportunity the beggar has given us to achieve perfection. Work is the way in which we achieve perfection, and work without attachments is the way in which we achieve liberation.
Do Your Own Duty
śhreyān swa-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣhṭhitāt
svabhāva-niyataṁ karma kurvan nāpnoti kilbiṣham
It is better to do one’s own dharma, even though imperfectly, than to do another’s dharma, even though perfectly. By doing one’s innate duties, a person does not incur sin. (Gita 18.47)
We might be dissatisfied with our own duties, or we might think our duties to be of a lesser or more impure kind than the duties of others. We must remember that there is no hierarchy of duties. The duty of a priest is no holier than the duty of a butcher, and the duty of a teacher is no greater than the duty of a student. We each have our own swa-dharma, our own duty that is suited to our disposition, and we must strive to fulfill our own duty with perfection.
What happens when we try to do someone else’s duty instead of our own? This would be like a bird trying to swim and a fish trying to fly. Neither would succeed, and they would both struggle frustratedly with trying to achieve perfection in a task they are not suited for. Imagine if Arjuna, the great Kshatriya warrior and master of archery, gave up his duty of fighting adharma on the Kurukshetra battlefield and instead withdrew to the forest to pursue a life of asceticism. Adharma would remain rampant, and he would struggle against his inner nature in trying to live the life of an ascetic.
We are each placed on this Earth for a certain reason. We must take great care in figuring out what our disposition is, what our capabilities and limitations are, and what our purpose is. Once we recognize our purpose and our duty, we must work to fulfill them wholeheartedly. Even if we are unable to achieve perfection, we must keep working at our own duty and not anyone else’s. We must strive towards perfection in our own actions, and not perfection in the outcomes of our actions or in the actions of others. The one who realizes this has realized the essence of Karma Yoga.
The Modern Hindu 