How to Practice Karma Yoga?
There is a proverb, ‘Charity begins at home. And it is best realized while practicing Karma yoga. You cannot help others until you help yourself.
Practice everything in your house, from doing small jobs like dusting and washing your clothes yourself to doing your daily work. Practice them cheerfully without any feeling of resentment or self-pity.
Only by practicing yourself, you learn to be self-aware and then learn to serve others with the same kindness and compassion.
1) Be selfless
Often, we see many people claiming to be Karma Yogis and serving with selflessness, but actually, they are just being selfish and serving themselves.
It is very difficult to practice without being selfish, but it is the only way to give up desires and walk in the path to Enlightenment.
Only when you practice with a selfless attitude will it put you on the path of selfless work. Only by practicing your karma selflessly will your attachment towards worldly objects decrease. This will reduce your cycles of life and death and help you attain Moksha.
2) Give up ego and pride in your work.
A true Karma Yogi knows that there is no shame in doing any work, no matter how small or menial it is. By doing every work with humility, we are serving our Universal Master or Narayana.
While the world considers some works as lowly, a karma Yogi knows that every work is Puja. He does not have any place for ego or pride in his heart.
Give up the notions of ego and do every work with the spirit of service. Make sure this unbiased spirit of serving is ingrained in every cell of your body because only then will you become a true Karma and walk in the path of Dharma.
3) Keep your aim fixed
Understandably, sometimes our minds wander, but you have to bring it back on track and fix it for one purpose.
Do not allow your mind to run in different directions. It will affect your sincerity in completing your current work. You will halfheartedly finish it either to finish it or to move on to the next job.
Work calmly and quietly with a divine understanding of your purpose. This will turn every action into Yogic activity, and you will achieve success in whatever work you undertake.
4) Stick to your ideals and principles
Don’t be scared of facing anyone wrong. Instead, stand up for what you think is wrong irrespective of the whole world turning against you.
If your ideals and principles tell you to fight against “Anyaya” (Injustice), then adamantly stick to them and be prepared even to give your life if it is for a noble cause.
Tolerance and adaptability are important, but fighting against injustice is equally important. A true Karma Yogi will not hesitate to fight against the wrong and will always stick to his ideals and principles no matter how bad his circumstances are.
5) Practice contribution and compassion
Contribution does not mean donating everything to charity. But keep aside a part of your regular earnings to donate for a good cause. Sometimes even by giving your time and listening to someone, you are contributing.
When you try to contribute with an open heart, people will judge you and mistake your intentions. So treat such people with compassion. Do not keep anything in your heart against them. For contribution and compassion are the true qualities of a Karma Yogi.
6) Work without attachments
Attachments steer us away from the path of nirvana. Always keep yourself free from any kind of attachments. Do not think of working even for earning your good karma or for pleasing God.
Work only for God, like you are doing the job of God. Be prepared to give up the work as soon as your inner voice tells you to stop doing it.
By that, you are not letting attachments bind you and walking in the path of and behaving like a true Karma Yogi.
7) Balance your work with meditation
Remember that only by meditation is it not possible to practice Karma Yoga. Our service to society should be practiced as deeply as yoga to come closer to our Ishwara or God.
Realize that the whole world is your home, and by sitting in one corner with closed eyes, we are not rendering any service to it. There should be a balance between work and meditation.
Meditation is important to calm us down, but only by working selflessly and tirelessly are we carving the road to our ultimate journey. And it is only our work that will set us free from our worldly bonds and put us in the true path of Moksha.
8) Practice with Atma Bhava
There is no point in working for others if you are doing it mechanically. Service for others must be done with Atma Bhava or with a feeling of happiness from within.
If you want to offer something to a needy person, do not ask them, ‘Do you need money or food?’ Offer them food along with money and do it amicably with the promise of helping them again if required. Work like your two hands are the hands of God and feel his work, talk, see and hear through you.
Only by putting love and selflessness in your work will you learn to love people equally. And by loving people equally, you will grow spiritually and expand the universal feeling of Ekta or Oneness.
9) Treat people equally
The Universal Lord has created each man as equal. He does not differentiate between anyone. On the contrary, it is we who differentiate between men based on caste, color, and creed.
Until and unless you give up differentiating, you cannot be a true Karma Yogi. You have to burn the feeling of superiority and inferiority to walk in the path of a true Karma Yogi.
Learn to treat everyone equally whether they are of a different color or religion than you or whether they are in a lesser position than you. Treat men, women, children all with the same dignity and respect that they rightfully deserve. Only by this can you practice tolerance, forgiveness and love and be a true Karma Yogi.
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