The Path of Action (Karma-Yoga)
Act fully, but let go of the fruits — and action stops binding you.
Karma-yoga is the path of action done in the right spirit: doing one's duty fully but surrendering all attachment to the rewards. The Bhagavad-gītā's central teaching to Arjuna is that one cannot escape action, but one can act without selfish craving for its fruits — and such action purifies the heart rather than binding it. It is the Gītā's answer to the choice between worldly life and renunciation.
How it traveled
- Bhagavad-gītāKuru-Pañcāla region · -150explains
- Gītārtha-saṃgrahaŚrīraṅgam · 980explains
Key passages(16)
Thy right is to work only; but never to the fruits thereof. Be thou not the producer of the fruits of (thy) actions; neither let thy attachment be towards inaction.
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Therefore, do thou always perform actions which are obligatory, without attachment;—by performing action without attachment, one attains to the highest.
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He who, after he has done that work and rested again, and after he has brought together one essence (the self) with the other (matter), with one, two, three, or eight, with time also and with the subt
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Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)
Though a man may wish to live a hundred years, performing works, it will be thus with him; but not in any other way: work will thus not cling to a man.
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'On that path they say that there is white, or blue, or yellow, or green, or red ; that path was found by Brahman, and on it goes whoever knows Brahman, and who has done good, and obtained splendour.
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'When one obtains bliss (in oneself), then one performs duties. One who does not obtain bliss, does not perform duties. Only he who obtains bliss, performs duties. This bliss, however, we must desire
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He who has three times performed this Nâkiketa-rite and has been united with the three (father, mother, and teacher), and has performed the three duties (study, sacrifice, almsgiving) overcomes birth
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