Karma yoga

Karma yoga, also called Karma marga, is one of the three spiritual paths in Hinduism, one based on the "yoga of action", the others being Jnana yoga (path of knowledge) and Bhakti yoga (path of loving devotion to a personal god). The three paths are not mutually exclusive in Hinduism, but the relative emphasis between Karma yoga, Jnana yoga and Bhakti yoga varies by the individual.

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. Karma Yoga, states the Bhagavad Gita, purifies the mind. It leads one to consider dharma of work, and the work according to one's dharma, doing god's work and in that sense becoming and being "like unto god Krishna" in every moment of one's life.

Quotes

 * It might be of value here if we dealt with the various "yogas" so as to give to the student a clear concept as to their distinctions and thus cultivate his discrimination. The principal yogas are three in number, the various other so-called "yogas" finding their place in one of these three groups:
 * 1) Raja Yoga...the yoga of the mind or will,
 * 2) Bhakti Yoga... the yoga of the heart or the devotee,
 * 3) Karma Yoga.... the yoga of action.
 * Alice A. Bailey, The Light of the Soul... a paraphrase of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book II, The Steps to Union (commentary) (1927)


 * Raja Yoga stands by itself and is the king science of them all; it is the summation of all the others...  Karma Yoga has a specific relation to physical plane activity, and to the working out into objective manifestation of all the inner impulses.  In its ancient and simplest form it was the yoga of the third or Lemurian root race and its two best known expressions are:  a. Hatha Yoga, b. Laya Yoga.  The former has specifically to do with the physical body, its conscious (not subconscious and automatic) functioning and all the various practices which give man control over the different organs and the entire mechanical apparatus of the physical body.  The latter has to do with the etheric body, with the force centers or chakras found in that body...
 * Alice A. Bailey, The Light of the Soul... a paraphrase of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book II, The Steps to Union (commentary) (1927)


 * ...if we divide the human torso into three departments it might be stated that:
 * 1) Karma Yoga resulted in the awakening of the four centres below the diaphragm,
 * 2) Bhakti Yoga resulted in their transmutation and transference into the two centres above the diaphragm, yet in the torso, the heart and the throat.
 * 3) Raja Yoga synthesises all the forces of the body in the head and from there distributes and controls them.
 * Alice A. Bailey, The Light of the Soul... a paraphrase of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book II, The Steps to Union (commentary) (1927)


 * Fiery aspiration is the sublimation of karma yoga. Devotion to Ishvara is the sublimation of bhakti yoga, whilst spiritual reading is the first step to Raja Yoga.  "Devotion to Ishvara" is a large and general term covering the relation of the personal self to the higher self, the Ishvara or Christ principle in the heart.


 * Therefore, without being attached to the results of activities, one should act as a matter of duty, for by working without attachment one attains the Supreme.[28]
 * Bhagavad Gita 3.19


 * Clearly, this notion of karma yoga is just a children's tale to keep everybody happy by boosting the non-yogi's spiritual self-esteem. What it describes is something you could call 'ethical living', and everyone agrees that this is important, but it is not yoga. In Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, it is given a place under the heading 'yama', the rules of ethical conduct .... a precondition for yoga practice, but not identical with it nor a substitute for it.
 * Elst, Koenraad (2012). The argumentative Hindu. New Delhi : Aditya Prakashan.