34. Karma Yoga is a Way of Life

 


Krishna says that we have the right to perform karma (action) but have no right over karma-phal (fruits of action) (2.47). If one of our loved ones required surgery, we would look for a competent surgeon with character. His competence would ensure the success of the surgery and his character would ensure that he wouldn’t undertake any unnecessary surgery. In short, we are scouting for a surgeon who is a karma yogi. The two takeaways from this situation help us understand the verse better.

We expect all our service providers to be karma yogis and that they should give us the best results that we can hope for. If we apply the same principle of samatva (equanimity) to ourselves, we too should be karma yogis while providing service to other people in our daily life. This verse encourages us to give our best in all that we do - be it in our work or in our family life.

Krishna assures us that small steps in the practice of karma yoga bring us closer to samatva by protecting us from great fears (2.40) which is a life filled with joy. When we provide our best service to someone, we are unlikely to meet again, we are firmly on the path of becoming a karma yogi. Krishna further clarifies that he is a sannyasi (renunciant) and yogi who does his bounden duty without depending on the karma-phal; not the one who abandons karma (6.1).

When we are deeply involved in karma without bothering about karma-phal, we enter a state of kaal-atheeth (transcending time) where time is no more relevant. In the above example, when we wait outside the operation theatre, time appears to pass slowly. On the other hand, a karma yogi surgeon will lose track of time and in a sense, time would have stopped for him.

Krishna asks us to uproot the tree of sorrow, whose roots are nothing but the desires for the fruits of action.


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