Path

The Path of Karma Yoga

Action without bondage: duty, results, doership, offering, equanimity.

14 steps About 167 min in total Suggested level: In Depth

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Steps

  1. Step 1 of 14 Buddhi Yoga: The Resolute Intellect How the Gita turns the knowledge of the self into a steady, resolute intellect: one aim in place of many branching thoughts, what scatters the mind, and the rest in the Self where yoga begins. Simple · 4 min In Depth · 11 min Deeper · 16 min
  2. Step 2 of 14 Action Without Claiming the Fruit Can we work hard and still not be eaten up by the result? Gita 2.47 to 2.51: the work is ours, the result is not, and work done this way is better work. Simple · 6 min In Depth · 10 min Deeper · 14 min
  3. Step 3 of 14 Can We Simply Stop Acting? Arjuna asks why he must act if knowledge is higher. The Lord's answer in Gita 3.1 to 3.8: stopping does not free anyone, no one can stop, and the better way is a ruling mind with unclinging work. Simple · 6 min In Depth · 12 min Deeper · 16 min
  4. Step 4 of 14 One's Own Duty Why do we tire ourselves wearing someone else's way? The Gita says one's own duty, done imperfectly, is better than another's done well. Start here for readings at three depths. Simple · 6 min In Depth · 15 min Deeper · 19 min
  5. Step 5 of 14 Work as Sacrifice Why does work feel like a load, and what does the Gita mean by work as sacrifice? Start here: work done as an offering frees, and life runs on giving and receiving. Simple · 6 min In Depth · 14 min Deeper · 19 min
  6. Step 6 of 14 Acting for the World If someone is content within and needs nothing, why would that person still work? The Gita says: for the good of the world, free of clinging, and as an example that others follow. Simple · 6 min In Depth · 14 min Deeper · 19 min
  7. Step 7 of 14 Karma and Akarma: Acting Without Being Bound What is action, what is wrong action and what is inaction, and how can a person act all day and not be bound? Gita 4.16 to 4.24: five marks of the free actor and the act seen as an offering. Simple · 5 min In Depth · 9 min Deeper · 11 min
  8. Step 8 of 14 Who Is the Doer? The Gita says nature's modes perform all action and the self is a non-doer, yet it counts the doer among five causes. Gita 3.27-29, 5.8-14 and 18.13-17 on the mistake of 'I do it all' and how it is mended. Simple · 6 min In Depth · 13 min Deeper · 16 min
  9. Step 9 of 14 Offering All Actions Lord Krishna asks that all actions be offered to Him with the mind steady, without expectation, possessiveness or fever. Gita 3.30-32 and 5.10-12 show how such work leaves no stain and brings lasting peace. Simple · 5 min In Depth · 12 min Deeper · 14 min
  10. Step 10 of 14 Equanimity Keeping the mind level when pleasure and pain, gain and loss, praise and blame come and go: the Gita's teaching of evenness on three fronts, and what it is not. Simple · 5 min In Depth · 12 min Deeper · 15 min
  11. Step 11 of 14 Renunciation or Karma Yoga? Must you give up everything for peace, or can you keep working and still be free? Start here: the Gita's answer is that real renunciation is inside, and both paths reach one goal. Simple · 6 min In Depth · 14 min Deeper · 19 min
  12. Step 12 of 14 Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action What exactly does the Gita ask us to give up, and what must we keep? Start here: renunciation drops desire-driven acts, relinquishment drops the claim on the fruit, and duty stays. Simple · 6 min In Depth · 13 min Deeper · 16 min
  13. Step 13 of 14 Freedom Through Action How action stops binding, what the mind must gather and give up, and how serenity ripens into devotion: the subject of Gita 18.49 to 18.56. Simple · 6 min In Depth · 13 min Deeper · 19 min
  14. Step 14 of 14 Karma Yoga in Practice How does working without clinging to the fruit become part of an ordinary day? Four moments for every task: intention before, full attention during, handing over after, and an evening review, drawn from Gita 2.47-51, 3.30 and 4.19-23. Simple · 3 min In Depth · 5 min