Karma yoga - The yoga of Action

Karma yoga - The yoga of Action by Swami vivekanand.

8th May, 2009 - Karma yoga session at Great Lakes by Dr Venkat Krishnan

So this is the next topic. Believe me reading all this could make you and your life better in one or the other way. I am not saying that the complete text is an enlightenment. But yes, it contains many topics and common issues of life with which you may relate yourself directly or indirectly.
The books definitely contains something for everyone.

The Karma yoga tells about the significance of work in our life, what are our duty and what should we try to get out of our work. It says that all works are great in his own place and it's the devotion to your work which matters. Work through Freedom, work through love, work like master of our own mind not like slaves for the physical matters. Selfish work is slave's work. So work with unselfishness. Karma yoga talks about what is duty. It also tells that when we do something good, we actually help ourselves not the world because it is a great privilege that for us to be allowed to do something for the world. The world owes nothing from us while we all are debtors of this world. Attaining Freedom is the ultimate goal of all things in the universe. Freedom from bondage, happiness and pains, wealth and miseries. The freedom comes from unselfishness, non-attachment, complete self-abnegation. Karma yoga gives us the method to help us in giving up all attachments, though it is indeed hard. There are two ways to attain freedom and non-attachment: Neti(not this) and Iti(this). Neti is the negative way in which you give up attachment directly by reasoning and the mind & body obey the will. It's very very difficult way. The other way - Iti is the positive way, the way through the world, making use of all the bondages themselves to break those very bondages. It is done slowly, by knowing things, enjoying things, experiencing them until the mind let them all go at last and becomes unattached. This way makes you attain non-attachment throght work and experience.
Neti is part of Jnana yoga while Iti is the part of Karma yoga.
Good and evil, light and dark are the part of the world and any of them will never be vainshed until another one is eliminated. The idea is in attaining this intelligence and work for non-attachment and freedom accordingly.

The fundamental of unselfishness and non-attachment is really hard to comprehend in the real and mean world but Swami Vivekanand tries to clarify them beautifully with examples. Working without selfish goals really looks to be impossible but it's true that we have become mere slaves of these goals. We remain unhappy even after attaining our goal because probably thts not the ultimate goal and life means something else.