Karma Yoga -Part 1 -What and Why

For the longest time, I was under the impression that the term Karma yoga only means doing social service -maybe sweating it out in a beach clean up, sweeping the temples, cleaning the animals in a shelter and doing physical work for charities and NGOs. And needless to say, I felt that Karma Yoga makes no sense because I didn't have enough time to walk around with a broom stick. Looking back, it kind of feels funny that I have always associated Karma Yoga with sweeping and mopping. 

Then came my initial Vedanta classes. When our Acharya used to talk about unselfish action, not working for fruits of action, work for work's sake, working without attachment and so on, I was still left scratching my head -not because of what she was telling, but because of my limited understanding and evolvement. At that time, I was still working in corporate and I often used to wonder, what it meant to work unselfishly? It is not that I was a selfish person anyways, so where am I going wrong? Why so much emphasis on not getting attached to fruits of action? And I still didn't have time for karma yoga because all I had time was to go to office and come back home and take care of the house. 

Even our go to google says Karma Yoga is -"One of the paths to spiritual liberation in Hinduism, karma yoga is the path of unselfish action. It teaches that a spiritual seeker should act according to dharma, without being attached to the fruits or personal consequences." WHAT DOES THIS EVEN MEAN???? 

What exactly is Karma Yoga? What are the actions that qualify as karma yoga? More importantly, why should one practice karma yoga? Lastly, how to do karma yoga? Let us tackle this logically.

Let us start with the most basic question.

What is Karma?

Karma literally means action. Life expresses as action. All living organisms are constantly engaged in some action or the other -be it voluntary or involuntary like circulation, digestion etc. Not even for a single nano second can we exist without some form of action taking place in our body. 

Setting aside the involuntary actions that the body does automatically, without any conscious effort from our side, let us focus on all our conscious actions -even basic essential ones like brushing the teeth, bathing, walking, sitting, talking etc etc. As long as we are awake, we constantly engage in some action. These  voluntary actions can be categorized again into two:

1. Actions done with full awareness and with mindfulness:

This means focusing completely on the task in hand- the body mind and intellect working in tandem and fully focusing on the task that we are doing. Even a simple act of drinking water can be done mindfully.

2. Actions done without being fully aware and mindful:

This means that the body does the action, but the mind is chasing butterflies elsewhere. I may be engaged in a big task or even office work, but my mind and intellect is not fully present in the task on hand. My thoughts are scattered and am often day dreaming, or ruminating about the past or worrying about the future and often wishing I am anywhere else, doing something else than the work at hand. 

What prompts action?

Let us explore what prompts us to act. 

A little observation reveals that all actions start as a thought. First, the action germinates as a thought, then the brain commands the body to carry out the action. And it all happens in a flash! Most of the times, without even being aware that the thought has been formed our head, we just act. Whatever be the nature of our action -whether spontaneous or pre meditated, it first starts as a thought.

Now, let us go further. What causes a thought? All thoughts are nothing but an expression of a desire. How?. Take any example. A little analysis reveals that all actions have a desire prompting the action.

Action	Desire
Brushing the teeth	Get rid of bad morning breath / want to feel awake and fresh / food particle stuck uncomfortably
Walking	need to go somewhere / exercise / have to hit 10,000 steps in Fitbit / Should reduce weight
Eating	Appeasing hunger / boredom/ craving
Going to work	Need to earn money / support family / pride in the work I do / meeting colleagues / exciting work place

It is kind of fun to look into why we are doing any particular action. We all have different desires prompting us to do a particular action. I may read a book because I am bored and another may read the same book because she wants to gain knowledge. 

Even the same action performed by the same person can have different desires prompting the action at different time. For example, as soon as I wake up, I drink coffee to feel fully awake and in the evening, I may drink coffee to get rid of a headache.

So, we can safely say that all actions come from thoughts, which are prompted by desires.

What causes desires?

We desire something because we feel that we will be happier by attaining the desired object/emotion /situation. Desire is the fuel that propels us to act -physically, mentally and intellectually.

The human nature is such that we always intuitively seek for improvement / betterment. Even if we are currently happy with the way things are, a part of us seeks more, so that happy becomes happier, clean becomes cleaner, success becomes more successful, calm becomes calmer, high becomes higher...you get the drift, right? This is called desire.

Why do we have desires?
All this is fine, but why are we tuned this way? it is not only you and me, every one on this planet is tuned this way. Why? Why is this seeking for betterment in our nature?

It is because we are ignorant of our true nature. All Masters declare that ignorance is the cause of desires.

Ignorance of what?
Eh? What it is that I am ignorant of? We all may be ignorant of many things -starting from world affairs, to how to make sambar. These aside, we all are ignorant of the most basic, fundamental thing -"Who am I?"

All Masters of across religions declare that we are nothing but pure existence-conscious-bliss. Ever complete, ever blissful and pure awareness, this is our true nature. But we identify ourselves with this body, mind and intellect and chase experiences in this world of names and forms to capture the essence of our True Self.

This ignorance or non apprehension of the True Self causes misapprehension that I am the body, mind and intellect. This misapprehension always leaves us wanting for more and this causes desire.

To sum up:

Ignorance of True Self ------> Desire -------> Thoughts ------->Action (karma)

Now that we know the nature and cause of action, let us see in the next post, how we can use this action as a means to realize our True Self, thereby transforming Karma into Karma Yoga.