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There are two kinds of Karma Yoga: sakām karma and niṣkām karma. Sakām karma is selfish work. It is action performed with expectations, only for one's own benefit and interest. This binds you to the karmic law, which you must pay back sooner or later—either in this life or, if not, by taking another birth to settle that karma. This applies to both good and bad karma. Even good karma can be sakām, a selfish deed. It is a chain that can bind you, made of iron. Among metals, gold is the best, but a golden chain can also bind you. So, both good and bad karmas you perform will bind you or bring you difficult days. Of course, negative karma is harder, and some good karmas are softer. Then there is niṣkām karma. Niṣ means "no," and kāma means "desire"—thus, "no desire inside." Niṣ bhinne kāma, niṣ bhinne vāgya. Karma comes from kāmas. Kāma comes from desires, and desires arise from kriyās, from actions. These words—karma, kriyā, kāma—are all interconnected, one emerging from the other. In niṣkām karma, you have no selfish expectations. You are only giving. You give with love, with devotion, with happiness. What should you give? Whatever you can, but do not overdo it. So, niṣkām karma means performing seva, selfless service, without expectation—without even expecting the words "thank you." If, after doing something, someone does not say thank you and you afterward think, "What a person, they didn't even thank me," it means that in your subconsciousness, you were still expecting thanks. That was not niṣkām karma; that was sakām karma. Therefore, in Vedic Sanskriti, the Vedic culture, there is no tradition of saying "thank you," but rather of giving blessings. Niṣkām karma leads you to liberation. Selfless service yields fruits identical to those of Bhakti Yoga, Rāja Yoga, or Jñāna Yoga. Niṣkām karma leads directly to liberation because its fruits are the fruits of bhakti, rāja, and jñāna. Another way to understand it is this: the fruits of sakām karma will be paid in this life, while the fruits of niṣkām karma are for another life. Here, you may enjoy a life of luxury, but in other lives, you will go with empty hands, having nothing. In the next life, you could be completely bankrupt. So, what are you taking with you? What will go with you? Therefore, do not think only of this life; think of your future life. This is why, in yoga and Indian culture, there is less research work on past lives and more focus on the future. They do not study past lives, but future lives. Because the past is past; you have no more claim on it. In a past life, you may have been the king of Hungary. Now you are born with the profession of a cook. If you suddenly gain knowledge of that past life and realize you were a king, and you go and tell people, "I was the king, give me my kingdom," they will give it to you—they will give you a place in a medical hospital, in a mental hospital. "Mister King, rest here." Or, let us say you were the president of a country ten years ago, but now you are not. So what do you have from the past? Do something for the future. Do something for a permanent position. That is immortality. That is what Mahāprabhujī said in one bhajan. Satsaṅg with Mooji. Recording location: Hungary, Vep, Yogateacher Seminar