Overview

Karma Yoga is when time has stopped for you. Karma Yoga is that the doing is not for some objective outside of itself; the doing itself is the objective. Karma Yoga means: work is life. Karma Yoga is the same as ‘Desireless Action’; which is niśkāma-karma.

In Karma Yoga, you are celebrating your way to success. You are dancing towards victory. You are dancing not towards victory; you are dancing in victory. You are continuously victorious, and you are continuously celebrating.

Can you work without attachment?

Questioner(Q) : How will I get motivation to work if I am not attached to the result of the work?

Acharya Prashant (AP) : When you come to this hall, you are probably prompted by some desire, aren’t you?

Q : Yes.

AP : There are desires, there are calculations, there are pluses and minuses. You probably weigh the pros and cons. All those things are there. Sometimes there is a nagging question that you want to get rid of, therefore you come. That is how the thing mostly starts.

So, this is sakāma-karma (action with desire for results). Your movement to this hall is motivated by a desire. You want something, therefore you do. This is the common sakāma-karma. You do because you want, so the action is a means of fulfilling the desire. This is normal sakāma-karma. That’s how things are at noon. You are sitting ready to fire your questions. You have a purpose in being here. What is the purpose? ‘I want my questions answered.’ You have a definite purpose. That’s noon.

Now, how is it like at 1:30 p.m.? You came with a question, but the question has not reached here (points to his desk). You do not even intend to ask the question anymore. At noon, when you were listening, you were listening with an objective. What was the objective? The resolution of the query. And how are you listening at 1:30 p.m.? You are just listening. You are just listening.

Something is still happening, but the objective is lost. Now the happening itself is very juicy. Now the happening is not a means towards an end; the means itself has merged with the end. It is as if the means has moved into the end or the end has come to the means to bless it. Now there is no distinction. Now you are not saying that let the others’ questions be answered fast so that the speaker may take up my question. Hence, now there is no gap. Hence, now there is no waiting for the result. Hence, now time has stopped for you.

Karma Yoga is desireless action

Karma Yoga is desireless action. The doing is not for some objective outside of itself; the doing itself is the objective.

What do you work for? You work for some kind of satisfaction, call it deep contentment. You work for the sake of that. Therefore, work is never very satisfying because work to you is not the last thing; the work is just a middleman for the sake of a result. Therefore, work is just a necessary evil for you. Had it been possible, you would’ve removed the work, the process, the time interval from between, and you would’ve said, ‘Is it possible to come directly to the result?’

That is why man wants to keep gaining in efficiency. Do you see what this continuous movement towards more and more efficient processes, machines, and systems is? It is because man works for a purpose. It is because the work and the time invested in the work is itself not very likable. So, man says, ‘Minimize work, and maximize the result’.

Karma Yoga means: Work is life

Karma Yogi is who works without an attachment to the result of work because the work itself is service and devotion.

Karma Yoga means: work is life.

Work is life, anyway. Even when you think you are not working, you are actually working. So, no point fooling oneself with the effort to minimize work. Even when you think you are in a state of leisure, you are actually working. Therefore, why not work in a way that transcends work? That is Karma Yoga.

Work cannot be avoided. Life is work. You are working even when you are sleeping. You are working even when you think you are relaxing. Why not choose work with such deep discretion that work no more remains a load that you have to reduce, something that you want to outsource? Why not come to a situation where you are no longer seeking happiness in the reduction of work?

Have you seen how the common man celebrates when his work burden is reduced? That is sakāma-karma. Have you seen how students like to achieve results without working? Were it possible to somehow achieve hundred per cent marks without labouring at all, students would’ve been the happiest because as a student or as a worker, you find no joy in the process. For you, and for most people, joy is a destination. That is sakāma-karma.

Karma Yoga means: Work is celebration

Karma Yogis win doubly: First of all, work is celebration; secondly, work is the end.

And now we will come to the more horrifying part of it: Whenever work is a means to an end, the end is never really achieved. We are beaten both ways! First of all, we expended a lot of time trying to reach an end, and even if we somehow manage to reach that end, what do we discover? ‘Eh? Is this where I wanted to reach?’ And then you proceed towards another destination, and that is what is called the . . .?

Q : Vicious cycle?

AP : So, those who work towards an end find that they are defeated both in the work as well as in the end. Double defeat.

And those who work without an end, those who work because the work itself is service and devotion, they win doubly: First of all, work is celebration; secondly, work is the end.

Karma Yoga is celebrating your way to success

So, you are celebrating your way to success. You are dancing towards victory. You are dancing not towards victory; you are dancing in victory. You are continuously victorious, and you are continuously celebrating.

Compare this to the picture of the one who is striving, toiling, fighting with the dream of some distant success in his eyes. Remember that the success that he dreams of is merely his concept. It is an image because he has not yet come to it. Therefore, the success he is talking of is merely an image. When you come to it, you find that it simply does not match your expectations. Double defeat. First of all, you are striving, toiling, and making life hell for yourself— though with the pride, with the vanity that you are a fighter, that you are a warrior. You will have that satisfaction. So, it may keep egging you on for a very long time, probably even your entire lifetime.

In Karma Yoga, destination itself is the journey

Q : So, it is all about the journey, not the destination?

AP : The destination is everything, but the destination cannot be distant. The destination has to be the first step in the journey. It is not as if it is about the journey and not the destination. Obviously, the destination comes first; the journey begins upon reaching the destination.

So, reach the destination first, and then keep travelling. Destinations upon destinations. Do not travel as if the destination is elusive and far away.

Is your work an act of devotion?

Q : How to make my work an act of devotion?

AP : The work has to be worthy of devotion, first of all. Therefore, choose your work very, very carefully, every day.

Q : Is it a matter of discretion?

AP : Obviously. It is not the work; it is the destination that is commanding the work.

So, what is the work that you are talking of? That is what you must look at. The destination has to be absolutely compelling, so very compelling that you cannot even entertain the thought that it is distant. If you want something really desperately, do you want it five years hence or right now?

Q : Right now.

AP : The destination has to be that attractive. Not only very attractive, but it also has to be that indispensable.

In order to gain more clarity about the above topic, you can refer Acharya Prashant's books Bhagavad Gita - Volume1 and Karma: Why Everything You Know About It Is Wrong .

show_less