The practice of yoga must not be restricted to our yoga mats.
To define Karma yoga is to say it is a practice of selfless service. It is about taking action and doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do. Karma means action. Acting on your good intentions, where one offers service unselfishly and with a pure motivation.
A karma yogi lives without attachment and remains cool in failure or success.
Karma yoga is known to purify our heart and help attain self-knowledge. Karma yogis strive to serve humanity without harboring ego or attachment. We as people cannot remain without performing some action. Attachment and a sense of doership keep us bound. In order to gain liberation, we must perform actions selflessly without undue expectation of favorable results.
To effectively perform karma yoga we must practice non-attachment.
Such a state of mind gives us freedom from fear and sorrow. We become fearless and bold. We will start enjoying our actions without burden or strain. Performing selfless service makes our heart pure. Slowly, negative qualities like superiority complex, jealousy, hatred, egoism vanish from our mind. Instead, we will develop mercy, sympathy, tolerance, humility and pure love. Our view on life
will become liberal and open-minded. We will start to feel oneness and unity with all beings. Eventually, we will gain self-knowledge and realize that all is one and one is all.
Emphasis is placed on watching ones mind and having positive relations with others and your surroundings. Karma yoga is often combined with meditation practice such as mindfulness or watching the breath. In essence it’s about doing positive deeds “creating good Karma / energy” and enriching lives. Karma Yoga is much like volunteering or giving charity.
Karma Yoga programs are held at most Buddhist and some Yoga centers, but to offer service doesn’t have to take place in a center, even the act of conscious parenting can be looked at as an offering and therefore karma yoga.
Man generally plans to get the fruits of his works before he starts any kind of work. The mind is so framed that it cannot think of any kind of work without remuneration or reward. A selfish man cannot do any service. He will weigh the work and the money in a balance. Selfless service is unknown to him.- Swami Sivananda
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