Karma Yoga

A great lesson learnt from Master Paalu. Before hearing from Master Paalu in his words, what Karma Yoga is, I could not fully understand through reading from books or the internet. It was a vague grasp of an ideology formed in my mind prior to this course. So, Karma Yoga is an action/intention, whether planned or spontaneous, performed solely for the benefit/progression of others which is not self-gratifying and therefore, results in no reaction which will lead to consequences.
And to have cleared my vague ideology further, he shared that there is no good or bad Karma; there is only Karma. Karma is an action/intention performed for self-gratifying purposes and thus, there will be reaction which results in consequences. These consequences then require another follow up action/intention and if performed for self-gratifying purposes again, the whole cycle repeats itself – caught in Karma.
Karma Yoga is one of the 4 paths of yoga consisting of Bhakti Yoga, Jnana Yoga & Raja Yoga. It was enlightening when Master Paalu described and linked these 4 paths which, at the end, converge into 1: sole purpose. And Karma Yoga is described as ‘baby steps’ towards the sole purpose. Assuming Bhakti Yoga is in practice, if one is caught in Karma along the path towards sole purpose, the Karma cycle will loop and instead of progressing along the path, one will remain in the cycle looping around the same spot in the path.
Joanne
200-hr Mar’15 Weekday Batch