This summary is about bringing karma yoga into everyday life. It holds no new verse. The old verses are used here as questions for daily practice. It is the last stop on The Path of Karma Yoga. Before it is Freedom Through Action, and its foundation is Karma and Akarma: Acting Without Being Bound.

The answer in one line

Give every task four moments. Before the work, an intention. During the work, full attention. After the work, handing over the result. And at the end of the day, a check with three questions. Each moment has one short line and one question, and each comes out of a verse. All of it is done in small measure, every day. That is why it is called practice (Gita 6.35).

It is not carelessness, because skill stays. And it is not self-blame, because the evening check is only for seeing.

What problem this answers

Understanding the Gita is one thing. Living it on a crowded Monday morning, with the phone ringing and the mind running, is another. There, "do not worry about the fruit" is only a fine sentence.

The four moments

Before the work: settle what is in your hands

The first question is: what is in my hands right now? The doing is in my hands. What the other person will think is not (Gita 2.47).

The second question is: am I starting this because it is right to do, or because I will get something from it? Action done because it ought to be done, giving up attachment and fruit, is pure renunciation (Gita 18.9). The full lesson is in Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action.

The line for this moment is: "This step is mine, the result is not."

During the work: attention on the next step

One who has let go of the grip on the fruit stays fully engaged in work and is not bound (Gita 4.20). Letting go of the fruit does not slacken the work. Yoga is skill in action (Gita 2.50). The question for this moment is: is my whole attention on this step?

The mind will run. Then say one word, "next step", and come back to the work. One whose every undertaking is free of desire and of the grip on the fruit is called wise (Gita 4.19). Each return from the result to the step is a small share of that freedom.

After the work: hand over the result

The Lord says: surrender all actions to Me, give up hope and the sense of mine, give up the inner fever, and act (Gita 3.30). The question for this moment is: what am I still hoping for, and what am I still calling "mine"?

The line for this moment is: "My part is done."

Notice also how even the mind stayed in praise and in criticism. That evenness is yoga (Gita 2.48).

In the evening: three questions, two minutes

The first question is where today I worked with full attention. The second is when my mind ran towards the result, and what I did then. The third is which one step of tomorrow I will take in this same way.

This check is not for giving marks. It is for seeing. One who is content and even-minded in whatever comes of itself is not bound though acting (Gita 4.22). The wise who give up the grip on the fruit reach a state free of sorrows (Gita 2.51). The way towards that is this small daily check.

How to run the first week

You do not have to do everything from the first day. Add one thing after another.

On the first and second days say only the line before the work. On the third and fourth days add "next step" during the work. On the fifth day add "My part is done" after the work. And on the sixth and seventh days add the three evening questions.

Practice means doing the same small thing again and again. The mind is restless and hard to hold, but it can be held by practice and detachment (Gita 6.35). If one day is missed, return the next day at the same measure.

Where practice goes astray

The first way it goes astray is turning the letting go of fruit into carelessness. "The result is not in my hands" does not mean slackening the step. Skill is part of yoga (Gita 2.50). The quality of the work should stay the same, or rise.

The second is making the evening check a time for passing judgment on yourself. The work is to be looked at. "My mind ran four times" is enough to know.

The third is waiting for the mind to feel light. The feeling comes later. The lines are said first.

The short form

If the whole order feels heavy, pick one task for today and say three lines over it: the one before, the one during and the one after.

If you have to explain it in thirty seconds

Living the Gita on a crowded Monday morning is the real work. Give every task four moments. Before beginning, say, "This step is mine, the result is not" (Gita 2.47). During the work keep attention on the next step, and when the mind runs, say "next step" and return (Gita 4.20). After the work say, "My part is done," and hand over the result (Gita 3.30). And in the evening look with three questions, without passing judgment. Letting go of the fruit is not carelessness, for skill itself is yoga (Gita 2.50), and this small daily habit brings the mind under control through practice (Gita 6.35).

Related hubs: The Path of Karma Yoga (path) · Freedom Through Action (before) · Karma and Akarma: Acting Without Being Bound · Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action