In Bhagavad Gita chapter 3 verse 19, Krishna says to Arjuna: “Without being attached to the fruits of activities, one should act as a matter of duty; for by working without attachment, one attains the Supreme.”
Actions which are done out of Divine Consciousness do not produce any karma, unlike either the good or bad actions which we do in a personal way. A person acting in this superior way has no attachments to the results of their action, and yet, they’re simultaneously fully engaged in it.
Help other not because you hope for some merits or recognition in exchange, but because you understand this is your sacred duty. At the end of your selfless action, do not think any more about what you have done. Don’t be proud, don’t think that you are the doer. You’ll see what great freedom arises when you act without identifying yourself with the doer. When you stop seeking any personal benefit, serenity fills you. You will find that true freedom is freedom from yourself and that true humility has no witness and no voice that can declare its existence. You will find that you can work hard without any request for compensation. The hard work will prove to you that you are not who you thought you were. Where does the desire to work with such enthusiasm come from? Obviously not from selfishness, but from love. When you act wholeheartedly without asking for anything in return, this love grows with every moment.
Also know that love isn’t yours either. If you think ‘I am the one who loves’, you will again find yourself bound to the wheel of karma. When you listen to love you know love is not yours, but you are hers. Simply observe how love appears and moves through you, how it gives and acts through you. Just be aware and enjoy.
The key that makes karma yoga accessible is the act of consecration
“O Arjuna, offer to me all your actions, and keep your mind on me. Without expectation or sense of my-ness, fight without mental distress and without lethargy” says Krishna in chapter 3 verse 30 of the Bhagavad Gita.
To consecrate means to give all the fruits of our action to a higher, sacred power. In this way, we give up any personal attachment to the action. Before the action begins, before starting the karma yoga, offer in a ceremonial way all the fruits and benefits of your work to the highest, to the Supreme Absolute. This will neutralize the whole mechanism that creates karma and attachment.
The gesture of consecration includes a prayer in which we internally make a request for the Supreme to receive all the fruits of our actions. Then we intend as much as possible to connect to the Supreme and to feel whether the Supreme has received our offering. In other words, we check if it is integrated to do that action. It is a ceremonial act. What determines its effectiveness is the sincerity of intention and belief. We also offer ourselves to the same Supreme Power in order for It to work through us.
One important aspect is that when we receive an affirmative answer to our request, we should maintain ourselves in a state of abnegation for the entire time while doing that specific action. If we get an affirmative answer from the Supreme but afterwards we start acting selfishly, this will of course lead us back to the chains of karma.
During Shiatsu, Reiki and all sorts of alternative therapies, the therapist opens up to the universe or to the Supreme Power, and seeks to be Its channel. In this way, not only does the therapist connect to the energy and the healing powers that are far greater than their personal ones, but also they protect themselves from accepting the illnesses and problems of their patients. Whether the therapist is aware of it or not, this is partially a kind of consecration and it will, to a certain extent, bring the state of karma yoga.
Sometimes in moments of grace in which there is no more selfishness, many people, even outside the spiritual world, report that they felt how a Supreme Power or Consciousness worked through them. A famous story of such an event is attributed to a doctor in World War II, who worked incessantly for several days and nights without sleep, as he operated continuously on the wounded. Most likely, this doctor did not know anything about karma yoga or the act of consecration, but he cared for others more than for himself and so he entered the frequency of that Supreme Power that gave him the capacity to work for so long. The same doctor then tried to study for several days and nights in a row for an important exam. This time, his action was driven by a desire for personal success, and not by an altruistic ideal. He was not in a state of karma yoga and hence he was not supported by the superior beneficial forces which gave him incredible vitality while operating the patients.
The great secret that lies at the heart of karma yoga is not only that it stops generating new karma, but it also cleanses and even burns the karma that was created in the past. The biography of one of the world’s most famous yogis, Milarepa, is an international best seller. In his youth, Milarepa murdered 35 people with the help of black magic. In order to undo the terrible karmic effects that awaited him, and to atone for his sins, he devoted many years of hard work for his guru Marpa. Marpa asked him to build houses and afterwards to demolish them and take each stone back to its original place. In extreme cold he did this hard work, a work which had no profit either for himself or for anyone. But with the help of this karma yoga practice, he eliminated a considerable part of the bitter fate that awaited him. He then spent several more decades meditating in Himalayan caves where he was freed, not only from the karma of the murders he committed, but from all his personal karma. He reached enlightenment and absolute spiritual freedom. He came to the complete abolition of his separate self and in the absence of this feeling of separation, in the absence of a particular self, karma had nothing more to cling on to and vanished.
It is hard to tell how many of us will reach such a great spiritual freedom, but for sure every step taken in this direction is a worthy step. At some point in the workflow of our karma yoga, especially in moments of stress and great effort, the armour of our ego will crack and great happiness will flow through the holes. In such moments, an exceptional enthusiasm fills our hearts and an unexplained silence absorbs all our thoughts into it.