Esoteric Teaching Seminars: Karma-yoga Part 1

For some time I have wanted to do a series on karma-yoga. Karma-yoga is covered especially in the Third and Fifth Chapters of Bhagavad-gita, but it is generally the applied principle of the theory of spiritual existence given in the Second Chapter as the basis and essence of all Vedic spiritual philosophy. Many people misunderstand karma-yoga to be similar to 'good works' or charity, but this is incorrect. Simply being nice to others or giving superficial material benefits to unqualified random people is not karma-yoga. The distinguishing characteristic of karma-yoga is that it is work on the basis of spiritual understanding, done for the satisfaction of the Supreme:

niyataṁ kuru karma tvaṁ
karma jyāyo hy akarmaṇaḥ
śarīra-yātrāpi ca te
na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ

yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra
loko 'yaṁ karma-bandhanaḥ
tad-arthaṁ karma kaunteya
mukta-saṅgaḥ samācara

"Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better than inaction. A man cannot even maintain his physical body without work. Work done as a sacrifice for Viṣṇu has to be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world. Therefore, O son of Kuntī, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage." [Bhagavad-gita 3.8-9]

First of all, we must work, if only to maintain our physical bodies. But everything we do in this material world generates unintended consequences, or karma, that binds us to the material world. Our actual intention is to become free from material existence, which is the source of all miseries, and return to our original home in the spiritual world. But the reactions of work entangle us in a complex network of cause and effect that keeps us in the material world to experience the results of our work and other activities.

The solution is to work for the satisfaction of the Supreme Lord instead of our own personal satisfaction. When we do this, giving up the result of our labor to the Lord in sacrifice, He nullifies the karmic reactions to our work, freeing us from the chains of material cause and effect. When we work for our own benefit, we have to accept the responsibility for the result. But when we work for the benefit of Krsna, He assumes the responsibility and we are free.

The psychological and spiritual effects of such karma-yoga are profound. When we work for ourselves, we become emotionally attached to the result. If something goes wrong and we don't get the result we intended, we become upset and suffer due to material attachment. The same is true if we work to get something, and then lose it.

But it is certain that we will lose the result of any work done in this material world. Because everything in this material world is subject to the influence of time, everything will be taken away by cruel death, if not before. Therefore it is far better to work with detachment, giving up the result in sacrifice to the Lord, because by working in that way we will not become attached to the result; nor will we suffer if the result is unexpected or lost due to the influence of time.

Karma-yoga is thus the art and science of working on the spiritual platform, and the results of such spiritual work are also spiritual and eternal. As Lord Jesus Christ said, "But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal." [Matthew 6.20] When we work for the Lord, offering the results of all our activities unto Him, we become free from the reactions of our work and enjoy detachment from its result. Karma-yoga is therefore the key to liberation from material existence and karma.