Most people will have heard of the more popular branches of yoga, such as hatha, raja, kriya or kundalini yoga, and many may practice these regularly at a yoga centre, a gym or at home. But very few know what karma yoga really is.  

What is Karma yoga? 

Karma yoga is the yoga of action and work. In other words, any action we do, any work we do, can become yoga. It is what Swami Niranjanananda calls “Yoga from moment to moment “.  

But how can work become yoga? Sri Swami Satyananda tells us that mere work is not yoga, but karma yoga can transform a mundane task into something far greater and more profound. By applying the principles of karma yoga to any task or activity, from cleaning the toilet, walking the dog, cooking a meal, eating, conversing or partying to writing a book can bring peace and equanimity into your life.   

Karma yoga is ideal for our modern world because it accepts the fact that we all live in a material world and we need to work, interact with others and function in our society. We cannot all run off to a remote cave in the Himalayas or relish the peace of a luxurious yoga retreat in a forest. In fact, a restless, negative and unhappy mind will remain so wherever it is. The reason for this, Sri Swami Satyananda explains, is that “it is very difficult to see your mental problems when there is no interaction with other people. The problems remain in the mind and act as blocks….It is in the middle of a teeming city or town, or while involved in disruptive work situations that you are faced with the most overwhelming problems. Otherwise, it is difficult to confront them, let alone remove them. A person who lives in a protected environment is not likely to know his or her problems for they will never have the unhappiness of facing uncomfortable situations. It is necessary to become involved with life and practice karma yoga.”    

The great sages tell us that to break the bondage of this material world, to transcend its limitations and attain knowledge we must work progressively by bringing in full awareness to our everyday activities, actions and interactions. 2 

How to put karma yoga into your daily life? 

Swami Sivamurti Saraswati advises her students to set aside a specific time every day and practice karma yoga for a period of time. It doesn’t matter what you are doing. You could be shopping, driving, working, entertaining. Just set your alarm to remind you to perform karma yoga for 15minutes, 30 minutes, an hour or whatever time you have available each day by implementing the precepts below.  

• Set out to do your work or duties with awareness rather than mechanically. Become the witness of your actions, taking a step back and observing yourself instead of identifying with what you are doing. Identify with the drashta – that quality within you that is silently witnessing, non-judgemental, non-critical and with no expectations.   

• Using all your skills and abilities perform the task as best as you can, paying as much attention as possible; do only this task rather than multi-tasking and keep distractions to a minimum. Absorb yourself in the present.  In this way you achieve maximum efficiency. When this is achieved, the mind which is focused and the body which performs the task, become integrated. 

• Do not become attached to the work you are doing, nor to the consequences and the results. In this way, work becomes much lighter, less stressful and more enjoyable. A beautiful film which illustrates this is Perfect Days3 where the lead character performs his work with focus, detachment and love cleaning public toilets in Tokyo. 

• By becoming detached to the work and its results you start to see it as something separate from yourself; you do not have any expectations of praise, rewards or status and you can remain unruffled to criticism, judgement or even insult. Eventually you reach the state of equilibrium and equanimity and thus able to handle both failure and success in life with a balanced attitude. Of course, all this takes continual effort and the aim here is to observe how you react to praise and criticism. What is most important in karma yoga is the inner experience which is being observed. 

• Observe your motives, thoughts and physical actions as though they are occurring outside of yourself. Be disengaged as you perform the task, whether you are sweeping the floor or giving a lecture.  

• Transform the negative into the positive. By being aware of your inner thoughts, emotions and reactions, you can work on ways to make a negative thought, behaviour or situation into a positive one. For example, if you find yourself getting irritated and having to wait for someone, you can use this time in a positive way by focusing on the breath or singing a tune to yourself, closing the eyes and enjoying the moment. 

• Act in the way that is best for the given circumstances as opposed to working and acting only to suit your personal motives and desires. Notice if you are given instructions by someone else how you respond. Do you work with people or do you experience the “I know better” syndrome and do it your way?   

• Practice non-doership. This is a very important part of karma yoga where we relinquish the idea that we are the doer. We are merely the vessel through which a higher force is working. Whether you are collecting the rubbish or teaching a yoga lesson- it is not you that is doing it. In this way, the control of the ego and your over- identification with “the little self” is gradually diminished.  

What are the benefits of Karma yoga? 

• You grow and progress along the spiritual path 

• Karma yoga will lead you to higher awareness and knowledge about yourself much faster.  How?  It is actually during work and especially when interacting with other people that you can recognise your mental problems, blockages, phobias and fears and as a result exhaust them.  

• Eventually the power of the ego will be eliminated (but this takes time and commitment). This becomes easier to achieve especially, if you work for a higher cause, then you can offer your service wholeheartedly without thoughts of personal gain or advantage and your motives will be directed to something outside of yourself. Sri Swami Satyananda explains that the ego is necessary and must always operate as it is indispensable for the synchronized functioning and harmony within the mind and body as a whole, and without an ego there would be chaos in the individual. The ego in itself is not bad, but the over-identification with the ego leads to problems.4 

• Attachment brings pain and misery while detachment brings about calmness and contentment. 

• This attitude of detachment that is necessary in developing when doing karma yoga, that is, taking a step back from your thoughts and emotions cultivates the state of vairagya [non-attachment] which then allows you to be more objective and dispassionate which will enable you to discern how to act rather than react or discriminate between right decisions and wrong decisions. This is indeed a great quality to enhance in your life.   

• Detachment will eventually transform itself into love for everything and you will, in time, be able to experience compassion. 

Where is the best place to do Karma Yoga?  

The ashram, of course! Karma and seva yoga are two very important components of ashram culture and an integral part of ashram life. 

Many people, however, get confused between karma yoga and seva. Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati tells us that 

 ”Seva is serving others and helping others with compassion, serving not for personal gratification but to uplift others. Seva is an offering. When an action contains your best thoughts and feelings, your love and affection, sympathy and compassion, and when it uplifts others, that is seva.”

 Some people liken seva to volunteer work, but it is a lot deeper than this, and the attitude with which you do seva is very specific. Seva yoga is giving back to society what we have gained. Swami Sivamurti expounds on this attitude by saying  

“…it is an opportunity given to you to serve, not the other way round, that you are serving and helping others. You should be grateful that you have been given the opportunity to serve. Seva yoga begins with offering and allows you to collaborate and interact with others. You bond with people as the one aim brings you all together and so each you put aside your personal problems and work together for a common goal. You learn your weaknesses and become compassionate to the weaknesses of others. Seva trains you to work together with others without coming into conflict with the other person’s mind.” 6 

In seva, we offer something from our hearts and cultivate a positive attitude. The priority of seva is others. We do things to uplift others and the situation at hand. It could be distributing meals to the homeless, visiting a nursing home to spend time with the elderly, cleaning up a forest or it can just be a smile and saying something nice to uplift another person.  

To get first- hand experience of both karma and seva yoga, come and stay for a week or more at our ashram in Paiania Greece, at the foothills of the magnificent Hymettos mountain which is a 35 minute-drive from the centre of Athens.  

Visit our website and the wonderful courses available: Ashram Life Experience and Yogic Lifestyle Experience that are run throughout the year and make your booking.  

https//satyanandayoga.carrottechlab.net/en/events/ashram-life/