I've been traveling for two months. But I didn't go out to discover the world. I left to help a friend in Australia who has just had her first two children, twins. They are 4 months old and like all 4 month old human beings they don't know how to do anything on their own but breathe, cry, suckle and do their business.
After a month with her, since I was there, I decided to stay in Australia a little longer and go volunteer in a yoga center. I thought I was going to teach yoga and do the dishes, but I found myself looking after the center's founder, Swami Sarasvati, an Indian lady who brought yoga to Australia in the 1970s by participating in TV shows and publishing books. Today she is 78 years old and suffers from rather severe senile dementia, and she requires roughly the same care as children, but at least she doesn't cry (which takes away a lot of stress). And so, without thinking about it, I found myself in the middle of the path of karma yoga.
The Path Of Karma Yoga
Together with the other forms of yoga (Raja Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga, Kriya Yoga), karma yoga is a practice that leads to the ultimate goal of yoga: dis-identification with the false ego, spiritual growth, the realization of union with the absolute / divine. After two months I can say that this experience has changed me more deeply on a spiritual level than the past three years of studying yoga, teaching yoga, attending meetings and my recent trip to India. Of course, this experience adds up to everything and it probably wouldn't have been possible without everything else first. But I certainly would not have expected that the practice of this type of yoga could be so powerful.
The term "karma" in Sanskrit translates as "action". Karma yoga is therefore the yoga of actions. And these actions must be ends in themselves. Or rather, the aim is only to give to the universe and to celebrate the divine. This concept contains acting without attachment to the result (vairagya) and without expecting anything in return. In Sanskrit, so I learned, this concept is called seva: knowing how to put aside one's ego and act without wanting anything in return. I quote the Bhagavad Gita here - with my own translation from English -
“Put your heart into what you do, without expecting a reward. Do your work according to the yogic path, free from the desires of the ego. Don't be moved by success or failure. You are only entitled to act, not its fruits: the fruit of actions should not be the reason for acting "
Bhagavad Gita
As foreign as this concept is to our society, this practice adds a lot of value to one's spiritual practice and also to one's personal growth. Acting without having a double purpose - helping others for example, without having a double purpose or without even expecting gratitude in exchange - is an incredible path to overcome the ego! It is enough to try to do anything for others to realize how attached we are to receiving some kind of "reward" for what we do, even if it is just a thank you. When we receive nothing in return for our actions, we immediately feel offended in our pride or not valued, we run for cover by categorizing the person as "ungrateful".
Put The Ego To One Side
In the act of truly dedicating oneself to the other, the process of putting aside one's ego's desires momentarily is involved. In our modern life we can afford almost anything we want: a coffee in our favorite coffee shop, a walk, a new sweater. If you try to spend time serving others for a bit longer than a week, you will start that little voice in your head that tells you: I'm losing my independence, where is the time to do what I want? And you are tempted to let go of karma yoga and go back to your daily ego-centered life. Here, at that moment try to resist. At the beginning it is not easy and it makes us nervous. It seems that everything you are used to doing is no longer available and you want to claim it. And it's your ego! Used to having everything - or almost - what he likes. Then you abandon yourself to the service of the other. When acting without being moved by an end becomes everyday life you begin to feel the change within you. And after a while, you find yourself feeling deep gratitude for the people you are helping. A sense of liberation pervades you and you realize that when you forget your problems because you take care of the problems of others, your life becomes less problematic, because the worries that in reality are not such disappear. Every action without expectation becomes an incredible opportunity for growth and you find yourself being grateful to yourself for the opportunity that others have given you to discover something new about yourself.
How Practice Karma Yoga
In everyday life - and especially in our profit-bound, money-dependent society - it seems impossible to practice karma yoga. In my opinion, it is by no means incompatible with our habits and you can try it in two very simple ways.
Not Attachment
The first, focused on the practice of vairagya (non-attachment): try to complete one of your tasks without being attached to the idea of the result, but focusing mainly on the process. Example: studying for a university exam not to get a good grade, but simply doing your best to prepare. Or: meet a deadline at work and complete the task not because otherwise the boss will not trust or penalize us in the future, but to do what we have committed to do on time and to the best of our ability because it is ours task do it. And whatever you are doing, focus on the process and not the result. In this way, you can begin to practice detachment from the fruits of your actions. This certainly does not mean not giving the best of oneself, but doing it without attachment to what we will achieve.
Detachment From The Ego
The second - and real way - of practicing karma yoga is to start doing small actions for others, for nature, for animals, or whatever you are not yourself, without expecting absolutely anything in return and without the our action brings us the slightest benefit. Example: find a simple volunteer project to which you can contribute, water someone else's plants or vegetable garden, help someone move, collect and throw in a trash can the rubbish that others have left in nature or in public spaces. Small gestures of this kind, to be done without thinking that "so we can consider ourselves good people", because in that way we are still focusing on the ego.
Imagine doing these things as a gift to the universe and nothing else! It is an exercise that requires commitment, but you will find that everything tastes different!