Karma Yoga

Lesson 27

Most people have heard of karma, and most likely they learned about it from a friend. The word has almost become part of American slang and even regular language. Unfortunately, like many other concepts from yoga nowadays, karma is greatly misunderstood. With all due respect, the way most people currently look at karma doesn’t make any sense when you stop and really think about it. If karma is all about action and reaction like most people believe, why do so many good deeds go unrewarded? Why do so many bad deeds go unpunished? Delving deeper, if you look at karma and reincarnation together it makes even less sense. If a person gets mind-wiped between each lifetime, why would you punish someone for something they can’t remember? Without going too deeply into reincarnation right now (because we want to stay on track with the yoga of AI), many yoga teachers even believe that the reason some people go through horrible suffering (like child abuse and severe illness at an early age) is because of karma; because of something they did in a previous life — even though they have no memory of it. I’m sorry, but it makes no sense to punish someone for something they don’t remember in the name of karma, especially if this individual is a child.

Anyways, with that mini-rant over, the modern notion of karma has no legitimacy. I don’t know how it got this way, but I do know what the Yoga Sutras and Bhagavad Gita have to say. According to yoga philosophy, karma is “pure action”. This is straight from the foundational texts of yoga. What exactly is pure action? It is acting purely and fully in the present moment — not thinking about the past or future; not worrying if you mess up; and not projecting into potential rewards. Karma is about doing what you need to do as best as you can, because it is the right thing to do. It is fully doing what you are doing, as opposed to doing a task but thinking about something else. Many people do not know that karma yoga is one of the original styles of yoga, and it is “the yoga of action”. It is the yoga of acting in the present moment.

Life is in color, not in black and white. Everything is nuanced. I know I was a little harsh on the modern-day concept of karma, but it was merely to help drive the point home. Many yoga terms are very misunderstood nowadays, and I really don’t know how we have strayed so far from the original teachings. This is not to offend anyone, but rather to bring us back to the core of yoga. I am about to reveal a powerful secret of yoga, and it has to do with karma. We live in the worlds we believe. If you subscribe to the modern-day idea of karma and you believe that bad deeds should be punished, your subconscious and unconscious mind will find a way to get you punished in order to validate that belief. It doesn’t matter how big or small, and this is where it gets crazy. How do you know what you did was even bad? What if you are completely innocent? What if what you did was actually the best thing you could have done? Even if that is the case, if you believe you are doing something wrong (which many people often do), this deeply rooted belief will cause you to self-sabotage, or reality will appear that way.

Don’t believe in the modern-day idea of karma. It is not logical, and it is also a detriment. Instead, practice the real karma yoga — pure action. Act purely in the present moment — not thinking about the past, and not worried about the future.