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Unselfish Actions

The path of yoga is skill in action, as taught in Karma Yoga. There are two kinds of karma: selfless action without expectation of fruit, and selfish action performed for a result. Selfless service is done for all beings and elements of nature, not merely for personal connections, and without later seeking thanks or reward. Selfish action, like working for a salary, is standard but can be softened by performing it with love, as if it were your own. In family and community life, one can practice selfless service through simple, helpful acts. All physical and mental movements constitute karma. The fire of yoga practice can burn the seeds of past karma. The ultimate aim is to act with clear awareness, surrendering the fruits, and through dedicated practice and worship, purify consciousness to transcend the cycle of rebirth.

"Yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam"—yoga is skill in action.

"Yoga agni, karma dagdhani"—the fire of yoga burns all karmas.

Many of you are very advanced practitioners of yoga in daily life, though a few here are newer. I bless and welcome you all. I am sure that many of you will, in the future, become the best yoga teachers in your life. I know that many people write books about their experiences and about yoga in daily life. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa tells in the chapter of Karma Yoga: "Yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam"—our yoga practice will be successful while doing Karma Yoga. There are two kinds of karma: Niṣkāma Karma and Sākāma Karma. Niṣkāma Karma is action performed without expecting the fruits, with free will and without any expectations. It is doing something good for Mother Earth, for the forest, for the birds, fish, animals, water, fire, air, and for humans too. Niṣkāma karma is not only helping your friend. When you do that specifically to help your friend, it is already somewhat selfish. You should do for your friend; it is very, very good, but it is still not entirely selfless service. We do not know, for good, what we will do tomorrow or even today. We go for a walk and see some stones on the way. We can remove them to one side of the road, or a thorn, or a piece of glass. In this act, in this karma, is hidden an immense amount of positive or spiritual benefit. There is a nice bhajan: "Karam Kriyā Jā Phal Degā Bhagavān." Go ahead, do good service. Do the good karma. Karma Kriyā Jā, go ahead. Phala dega bhagavān—the fruits will be given by God. Ye hai Gītājī kā jñāna; this is the teaching of the Bhagavad Gītā. If you do something good and afterward you ask for something, or you say, "Oh, this person didn’t even say thank you," then your niṣkāma karma is turned into another chapter. That will come under your Sākāma Karma. Of course, it’s not so bad, but still not 100% Niṣkāma Karma. Sometimes it is difficult. But it should not be, let’s say, to show someone that you are doing something for them. When we say to someone, "I love you," it does not mean that we must hug them. You can say it from thousands of kilometers away. Mentally, you can say to your horse, "I love you, my horse." Or to your dog, or your tree, or your plants at home. Sometimes you can tell your wife also, "I love you." That will be good for her. The second is Sākāma Karma, selfish karma. For example, we are working for a company, in a government office, in some garden, in a park, in agriculture, and you get a salary. So you are working hard, but for it, you are paid. There you cannot expect as in Niṣkāma Karma. Now, in Niṣkāma Karma, I said you work with love, as if it is your own work; then the Sākāma Karma will turn a little into the Niṣkāma Karma. There is one company in America—I should know the name, I’ve forgotten—and they have many retreats for training in business, factories, companies, etc. They said, in comparison, only the workers cannot bring your company to be a millionaire. Owners should be there. The owner of the shop that says, "At six o’clock, close the shop," will close after five minutes or maybe ten minutes. And the employee will close five minutes before. That’s it. So who is whose property? That person waits five minutes more; maybe a customer will come. They don’t look at the watch, but the employee will look already from half an hour before, looking at the watch, and begin to call on the telephone, "Yes, I’m coming, please wait," call the taxi, and wait. And some minutes before six, they finish, lock, and go. And one last customer came and made a deal for five million dollars, but you were closed, and because the owner was not there, an employee was there. There is a very nice lecture given on that. They asked, of course, "America is everything with the money." You can order some CDs and listen to them. Nicely spoken, also about Gandhi and many others. So, selfish and non-selfish, selfless. When you do good for your company where you are working, then you should do as if it is your own company. Then your karma will be a little softer. So, at home, what you are doing—also cooking, helping your wife, or wife to the husband, or to the children, etc.—there also you can do niṣkāma and sākāma karma. Mostly, the women are working. I don’t know about other countries, but I know about some countries here. The women come from work. On the way, they buy the vegetables and milk and so on. They come home. The children are there. She is giving love to the children. Sometimes she is preparing vegetables or cooking. Sometimes she is putting all this garbage on the other side. And the husband comes, and he says, "Still you did not cook?" This is the difference between husband and wife. So the American treat, they give the education to the women to work in the kitchen. So they said, "A good husband dies in the kitchen." So they help each other; don’t think that’s your wife and she will do it all now. Otherwise, for what is a wife? No, this should not be. Also, husband, she should not always be only working. She should have mercy towards him also. Karma. So in family life, with children, with your neighbors, you can do really niṣkāma karma. It means, give your hands to your wife to take her work a little away and do it. So in this way, in a household, even if you are not married, your neighbor is carrying the garbage bin. You can say, "Oh, I will do it today. Please give it to me, I will clean it." They will say, "Wow, really? Will you do it?" Of course, and you bring the dust bin back, nice and cleaned. You know how happy your friend or good neighbors will be? So there are many, many things to do, such as good karma. Don’t think that if now you are married, you cannot get mokṣa. And don’t think that you now become a sannyāsī and you will have mokṣa. No. Sannyāsīs have more duties than householders, and household mistakes will not be counted so much as the mistakes of the Sannyāsīs, for example. So, sākāma karma, niṣkāma karma. Now you go to the ashram, to the temple, to the church. There, you can also do sākāma and niṣkāma karma. When you come to the altar, you bow down. What do you say? What do you ask? Anyone, answer, please. Yes, and good. When we come, just bow down and ask for blessing, that’s it. Don’t say, "Forgive my karma." It means God said, "It means I don’t know." He knows everything, for what you came and what you did, and what is your intention? So in which way can we do that which is selfless? Otherwise, before praṇām we say, "Mahāprabhujī, please, can I... my son should have a very good study, my husband is ill, Mahāprabhujī, please." So Mahāprabhujī said, "I am not a doctor." So, do not always ask this and that. You came there, that’s enough. You put your, how do you call it, presence. You registered your presence; that’s all. So, yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam. Gurujī used to say, yoga agni, karma dagdhani—the fire of yoga can burn all our karmas, good or bad. Also, it will bring you back. Bad karma will also bring you back. Because good karma has its karma too. Good karmas have seeds also. But that is good karma. You will come as a good person, with good energy, but what is now? Now, maybe you’ve forgotten your past life’s karma, and you will do the karma which is opposite. Therefore, we have to delete both: first, bad karmas. Then, how should we delete? We cannot delete. But we surrender this karma to others. Renounce and enjoy. All our good karmas we give for those suffering creatures: animals, trees, rivers, oceans, water. And we shall also have mercy towards the windows, because when a window is rattling, it can break the glass. And this means the glass will split and fall down, and there’s a shop where the children are playing. That glass will fall on their heads, and that’s not good karma. That’s why, like that story I told many times, that Master told, "Do good to all." And there was one small animal on the road, so the disciple—this little creature was walking slowly, slowly—so the disciple wanted to do good karma. He took this animal and put it far away on a nice grassy meadow, and the Master saw this. And the Master said, "What have you done?" "Nothing, sir, only that what you said." "What did I say?" "To help." "What do you mean?" "Master, there was a little creature in the middle of the road. If some car comes or some people walk unconsciously, they will step on it and will hurt it or it will die. So I took him and put him in the field." That was a great mistake. "Great mistake? I did good." He said, "How do you know that you did good?" "I don’t know, but I helped him." He said, "This creature wanted to go on the right side of the field, and you put him on the left side of the field. You made double work for this creature. He’s tired, he’s hungry, his baby’s children are on the other side, and again you put him far away." "This, I don’t know; I did not know." "Then, without knowing, don’t do." So, the philosophy of karma is not easy. And so, karma is called kriyā. Kriyā means action. And any kind of movement—our space is moving. Our Brahma Loka, what we see, is expanding and contracting also. Stars and all moons and suns are also traveling. The clouds, the wind, the ocean, all have action, movement. Similarly, we have the karma in our body. Every organ of our body is karma. And if one function of one organ stops, we are in an emergency. We go to the doctors. Otherwise, we will die. Our intestine, our kidneys, our heart, blood circulation, and also the movements of our joints—these are all actions of your body. You are living. You are acting. And this acting is your karma: buying the food. What kind of food are you buying? Where did it come from? How did it come? Did you destroy plants? Did you take the half-ripe fruits, or did you bring some fish or meat? How did it come? That one creature was suffering. He, the animal, has given its life, not freely; someone has killed it, and death is very painful. That is also action. Now, cooking is kriyā, eating is kriyā, digesting is kriyā. The moving of the eyelids is also kriyā. So our whole body, each and every tissue which is moving in the body, is also action. So generally, let’s say we are a bundle of karma. Now, how to put this in a positive way? There are many, many creatures in our body. We kill them. They are born in our body, and they die in the body. Good cells, bad cells. So, where can we count our karma? And therefore, the best karma is to meditate, meditate on your mantra, and worship. Worship is the best action to clean or purify the karmas. It doesn’t matter in which belief or religion you are. When you go to prayer, then surrender completely and not ask too much. "God, please God, do this. Please God, do this. Help me with this," no. Go into the temple, into the ashram, into the mosque with pure thoughts and a pure body. When you go to the temple, you should wash your hands and wash your feet. Wash your mouth if you have eaten. When you go to the mosque, they wash their hands and they wash their feet. "Mahāprabhujīp Karatā He Kevalam, Mahāprabhujīp Karatā He Kevalam." So, they also, the church said, holy water. Of course, that holy water purifies our karmas or something. But if we do consciously, come into the ashram, in the temple, at the altar, with pure thinking. We have forgotten. We have forgotten even to wash our hands after eating and wash our mouth. They said, "No, we are eating with a spoon, and our hands are not dirty." Our hand is constantly dirty. You know, in one minute only, how many places do your fingers go while working? Like a monkey. So, how many energies are there everywhere? In VEP in Hungary, in that two-week seminar, and here also, in the last two seminars, I spoke about not touching bodies, especially those of others. Then you will recharge more energy. So, "Yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam," Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said. Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said, "Your yoga sādhanā will be successful through doing this karma." There he writes in the third chapter of the Karma Yoga: before you do any karma, any action, see clearly what it is that you are doing. Then your intellect will tell you what you are doing. Then the Viveka will tell you whether you should do it or not. Then you will be protected a lot from bad karmas. So when we know the form of the karma, then very clearly, the fruits of the karma will come in front of us. And still you don’t accept. Go ahead, do it. But the fruits will be bitter. Our fruits will be sweet. So, but still Bhagavān Kṛṣṇa said, go ahead, God will take care of your karma. So the kriyā, everything is a kriyā. And then we do conscious Kriyā Yoga. When you do Sarvāṅgāsana, it’s also a Kriyā. Marjari is also a kriyā. Every movement is a kriyā. And then we do it mentally, also with the breath, with the prāṇa. That is also a very beautiful kriyā. We have a kriyā, Agnisāra Kriyā, and Nauli Kriyā. I often sit and do Nauli. You don’t know. Because you are looking to me only here. So then comes Mantra Kriyā, Chakra Kriyā, Kuṇḍalinī Kriyā, and so there are mental Kriyās which connect to our awareness, our consciousness, and then to our Ātmā, our soul. So, who is doing Kriyā Yoga here? They did morning kriyā, and they have also done kriyā anuṣṭhāna. So when you practice yoga and do these yoga kriyās, then yoga has, yoga sādhanā has so much strong energy, that’s like a strong fire. So it is said, yoga agni, the fire of yoga, karma dagdhanī, that burns all the seeds of the karma. We have seeds from many, many karmas as seeds. But when the seed is fried on the pan, then it will not grow anymore. It will not sprout. Similarly, karma, we have a lot. We have karma already from the astral body when we begin. The preparation begins in the mother’s womb or in the eggs, and so on. So, this karma is continuing. The jīvā, the soul, which are in different lokas, and we call them the Pitṛ Loka, or we call it the astral body, the astral world. When our destiny decides that we ought to come, or we should come, or we are sent to come to this earth, then from this atmosphere, coming to that level where is the first tattva, the water, with this all it comes with the water on the earth. With all this, it comes with the water on the earth and develops, goes through the vegetation, etc. The vegetation, so vegetation is life. And also, it’s a higher life than some only vegetable, what we call the mushrooms. So, many, many, many people do not eat mushrooms. Many yogīs, in many religions, because the mushroom is already alive. So, the first life is Udbhij, and this Udbhij is the vegetation, the bark, the sprouting. Then second, that is coming from the dirty water, sweatings, many things, these are the bacteria. Third is through those creatures which lay eggs. So it’s born from the eggs. Of course, the mother is giving the egg. It can be any kind of other, like flying animals, many, many. Some kinds of fish give birth to live young, and some kinds lay eggs. And therefore, an egg is a life. To eat an egg is a greater sin. Then, you kill someone. That you interrupt that life of God which wanted to create the living one. So take care of the eggs also. Now, they put some kind of, I don’t know how, so the eggs have no babies. But still, eggs are not advisable. It doesn’t come to the purities and impurities, and then, Jarāyu, then these are all who are born like we. As a baby develops in the womb and is born, so can some animals and humans. So this art is called Cār Khaṇ, it is called Cār Khaṇ, according to Vedānta and the creation about all this. So there are four doors for this jīvātmā to enter and come into this life. So it doesn’t matter if it is a human or a horse. It can be a monkey, or it can be a dog. Every baby is a baby. All babies are beautiful and innocent. Then, everyone came according to their karma, their destiny, and so the human has this destiny too. But through human life, we can practice the sādhanās, the spiritualities, and we can come to that level of the universe where we need not be born again. But if you want, you can come back. And further, there is another level called Brahman, that is one in all and all in one, Hari Om. It is like one drop fell into the ocean. You can’t catch this drop again. Therefore, Karma Yoga is the first chapter of yoga. So we begin with this. And so, in our sādhanās, what we are doing in our seminar, think it over, and we will begin then again further. Therefore, it is said, who is the guru? And therefore, this milana comes after, and so it is. "Gurudeva Darśana Dhanah So, Darśana Dhanah So." First Darśana is Mother Earth. We see the globe, we come to the atmosphere, and we come to our parents, our mother’s body. It’s a beautiful step-by-step process, so next, we will continue further. Wish you a very nice lunch. Namoḥ Nārāyaṇa Namoḥ. Dīp Nārāyaṇa Bhagavān, Kī Jaya, Alakṣapuruṣa Mahādeva, Kī Jaya, Devādideva, Deveśvara Mahādeva, Satguru Svāmī Madhavānandajī Bhagavān, Kī Jaya, Oṁ Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ, Śāntiḥ. Vishwaguru Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara, Śrī Svāmī Maheśvarānanda, Gurujī, Kī Jaya.

This text is transcribed and grammar corrected by AI. If in doubt what was actually said in the recording, use the transcript to double click the desired cue. This will position the recording in most cases just before the sentence is uttered.

The text contains hyperlinks in bold to three authoritative books on yoga, written by humans, to clarify the context of the lecture:

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