What is Karma Yoga.

Karma - The Fundamentals:
Your actions creates tendencies, and your conscious actions(even thoughts) creates your karma. You can consider karma like the bank account of your deeds. Your every good deed adds some positive karma into your account, and your every bad action puts some negative karma in your account, just like debit & credit in bank account. The problem is, no one tells you what your current karma balance is. The principles of karma are based on reincarnation, so this karma(positive or negative) balance is carried forward even after your death, to your next life.

Tendencies & Karma | Reincarnation | Moksha:
The main goal of your life is to earn good karma by doing good & rightful actions and performing your duties rightfully. When the balance of your karma becomes zero and all your tendencies are finished, you(the consciousness) no longer takes a new birth and it dissolves/submerges in the supreme/ultimate consciousness, and you will lose every sort of your existence(including the soul) after the death, this is called attainment of moksha. It's like you are the air in a balloon, and when the balloon bursts. Puff.. now there is no more separate air in balloon and the outside. Your consciousness is now one with ultimate consciousness of this universe.

If you dies with a negative(bad) balance of karma, you will take rebirth and may face problems in your next life due to your bad karma in previous life. But in spite of that if you earn positive karma by your good/right deeds in this birth, you will no longer have to suffer either in you later part of life or in next life due to your karma.

Types of karma, and what karma is carried forward to next life.
www.youtube.com/shorts/DLKkfW2v0m8

If you dies with a positive balance of karma but you still have tendencies left, you will take next birth with some fortunes like born in rich family and/or having good parents/family, good upbringing/education, having extraordinary intelligence/memory/concentration etc. But you can ruin your fate by doing bad deeds and earning bad/negative karma, and finally end up in problems in your later part of life, or in your next life.

If you have any tendencies left, either in form of any conscious desire, concern, guilt, repentance, excitement, wish, etc. or any unconscious tendency remaining at the time of your death, your soul/atman/consciousness will continue to look(unconsciously) for a life form to complete/materialize those tendencies, and will take a new birth again. There is no one who governs/controls or guides the process, it works naturally based on the tendencies attached to your soul/consciousness. Tendencies you had at the time of death have the greater impact on your birth after the death.

youtube.com/watch?v=BV7s0NQBmWI

The concept of law of karma that states that whatever you are suffering is due to your past karma(including past life) as law of karma believes in reincarnation. The purpose behind this concept is that, if you see the problems in your life without a legit cause/reason and you don't know what might have you done wrong in your past(life) for this to happen to you:
1. You should stop blaming the God for everything bad happening to you, or start saying "Why me" and start getting depressed and unhopeful. Because it was only "You" that caused it.
2. Instead you should take a lesson from that and you should not be doing anything wrong in your current life, so as not to accumulate more bad karma for you.

The Yoga:
Yoga is a Sanskrit word that means "union" or "joining". There are four major ways/aspects of life for you to know yourself, end your sufferings and unite with ultimate consciousness.

1. Gyan/Jnana(Knowledge) Yoga: The path of knowledge of self. The problem this path talks about is ignorance, and the solution is knowledge. You suffer because of your ignorance. You are already united with ultimate consciousness, it's just you are ignorant and don't realize it. Once you gets the true knowledge, all your suffering will end.
2. Bhakti/Prem(Devotion/Love) Yoga: The path of devotion to God. The problem this path talks about is desires/lust etc. and the solution is the devotion to the God. You suffer because of your desires, ego, etc. Once you experience the true love/devotion with God, all your sufferings will end.
3. Karma(Action) Yoga: The path of rightfulness/ rightful action. The problem this path talks about is your bad deeds, and the solution is to do good/right deeds. You suffer because of your bad deeds/karma. Once to fix your actions/karma and live a life of a karma yogi, all your sufferings will end.
4. Raj/Raja(Ashtanga) Yoga: The path of meditation. The problem this path talks about is restlessness of mind, and the solution is meditation. It is your distractions that don't let you realise your union with supreme consciousness. You suffer because of your distracted/restless state of mind. Once you fixes your state of mind, all your sufferings will end. Today what most of the people know yoga, is actually minute part of this yoga.

So, a yogi is nothing more than a follower of a path to unite with ultimate consciousness.

You may note that Gyan, Karma and Raj Yoga doesn't require you to follow or believe in any sort of God. It's only Bhakti yoga, the path of devotion that requires you to devote yourself to God. Most of Hindus only follow Bhakti yoga, and unknowingly follow Gyan Yoga as part of rituals & culture developed by yogis. Some who call themselves atheist but follow Hindu vision of life, they knowingly or unknowingly follow karma yoga. And now few started to do partially accept Ashtanga yoga without understanding it. True Gyan yoga followers are rarest to find out of the four paths in Hindu Vedic philosophy.

The concept of reincarnation and principles of karma are followed by all Indian origin faiths/religions/philosophies/dharma like Sanatana Dharma(Hinduism), Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, etc.

Coming back to karma yoga. A karma yogi is one who do his duties and the rightful action with love & involvement, but without getting attached/involved in it, and without having the expectations from the outcomes of your actions because it's not always in your hands. Without getting involved/attached is required to end your tendencies, if you are attached to the results of your actions, which can have positive or negative outcome making you depressed or excited, again adding some sort of tendencies to you and making you fall in trap of never ending loop of death & rebirth.

I am a yogi and learning/following different paths, sharing my little understanding about the concepts. I hope this may help you live a better life.

Best Wishes 🙏

Coming up next: Runanubandha, the bonds formed as a result of karmic debts(Karmanubandha) created in past births .

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PepsiColaP

If you dies with a negative(bad) balance of karma, you will take rebirth and will face problems in your new life due to your bad karma in previous life

Hm. This is a heavy statement. So a person born in poverty is the result of a past life that was lived unwell? Because as an example of someone dying with a positive karma ,the following was stated

If you dies with a positive balance of karma but you still have tendencies left, you will take next birth with some fortunes like born in rich family and/or having good parents/family, good upbringing/education, having extraordinary intelligence/memory/concentration etc

I want to understand more about it's history and origins. It seems in a way as a means of using the concept of spirituality to excuse social inequalities or at least shift the focus on individual action. Which I don't disagree,it's certainly necessary and important,but in many circumstances unfair to expect it to alone better someone's situation.

ABCDEF7 · M

@PepsiColaP There is no history and origin known about these principles. As per some philosophers, they are eternal laws.

It is not about justifying social dissimilarities. I guess, I missed to communicate the point clearly, sorry for that. Someone may get born with some disability or someone may be born with extraordinary natural talents /intelligence, etc, because of their good or bad karma in past life, which are not attributable to social differences. The point is about the factors of birth that are not in your control. It's not in your hand to decide where you will be born, in which country? in which tribe? which parents? which gender? or even in which form of life(insect, bird, animal, human) etc. etc. Whatever you may say, but the truth is that these things affect your journey starting from this birth. These principles see it as your continuing journey over different births.

If someone has been spiritual all their life and doesn't have any desire for wealth at the time of death but instead want to progress in spirituality, and dies with an account of huge good karma, they may not get birth in a rich family, but they may get birth in a spiritual family that may help them in their on going journey towards spirituality.

One of the purpose of it is, you should not start blaming God or on your luck for things happened/happening to you that are not in your control. Instead you should start focusing on doing the right things in your current life with the best possible options you have.

If I could think that it can be misunderstood as means to justify social differences, I would have used some other example to convey the meaning behind that which doesn't relate to social inequalities.

I hope, it maybe more clear to you.

Thanks for asking these questions, it helped me understand my bad articulation skills. :)

PepsiColaP

@ABCDEF7

Someone may get born with some disability or someone may be born with extraordinary natural talents /intelligence, etc, because of their good or bad karma in past life, which are not attributable to social differences.

Hm. A disability or an advantage however can also be attributed to social differences. For example , children of parents from an advantageous socioeconomic background are more likely to be born physically healthy and it even affects someone's IQ(or intelligence) .
Again ,I do agree with the idea of individual action despite circumstances ,especially those not within our control. But at the same time I believe if we attributed all those inequalities to some past doing we would collectively be doing a large disservice to the improvement of the society.
I also wonder how a person with an actual disability would perceive the idea that this could have been the result of past-life wrongdoings .

ABCDEF7 · M

@PepsiColaP I accept you made me realize my second mistake in articulation. I didn't intent to talk about social disability. I meant what you may call it actual disability or physical disability. To make it clear I mentioned about the disabilities

which are not attributable to social differences

but I think I missed to communicate it properly so as not making you think outside spectrum of social differences/inequalities. And you continued to stuck in the biasedness of society. You have a good lens to see things as a social activist.

What I think is the whole point of this philosophy is for you to focus on your current actions.

Om2014 · 31-35, M

@PepsiColaP @ABCDEF7 This is an interesting conversation. I can recall a story which will maybe clear some of the working of karma. So there was a great young devotee and he was travelling for a pilgrimage. He had never committed any sin in his life. in past days when people use to go for pilgrimage they were allowed to stay overnight in some of the village where they wud padd through, people were kind enough. So this guy was given night stay in one of the house where the house owner was pretty old and sick and but the wife was young and she was full of lust. At night she wanted this young devote to get intimate with her and she told that him that her husband is quite old and he ain't able to satisfy her desires. listening to this devotee felt ashamed and started chastising the women how could you think of such great sin. then the woman said you are bothered only cause I am married so I will just remove this impediment from your way, she took A sword and she beheaded the husband sleeping in bed and seeing this devotee was extremely horrified n shocked and but the lady kept insisting for intimacy and then she threatend that if you are not going to get intimate with me I will shout and tell everyone that u murdered my husband and tried to rape me. Which she did cause devotee won't budge and then he was taken to the king of that area and announced guilty of all the charges as there was no proof for to show his innocence and the king ordered that the hands of the devotee which committed such heinous act to be cut and he to be left on the path to the temple where he was visiting to unattended.

Om2014 · 31-35, M

@ABCDEF7 @PepsiColaP now the devotee withering in extreme pain he couldn't understand that how could God let something so merciless happened to him for which something he didn even commit. As he was suffering inside and out he fell asleep. In his sleep he distinctly saw a vivid dream in the dream he saw that in one of the life he was a great strong young man full of ego of his physical strength . One day A cow was escaping on the road from a butcher and as the cow passed this young guy, the butcher shouted and requested this young guy to restrain the cow and in his haughtiness that he is so strong he can do anything even after knowing that what will happen to the cow he held the cow with his hands and because of that the cow was caught and butchered and so in this life to fullfill that karma what atrocity he and butcher caused to the cow, cow became that young lady butcher became the old sick husband and the young strong guy became this devotee from the past life who restrained the cow. Since the butcher beheaded the cow, so the lady in this life beheaded the husband (butcher of past life) and since the devotee in past life used his hands to, the reason of cows slaughter, his hands were cut in this life. As he woke up from that dream he realised his mistake for which he was punished in this life seemingly being innocent. Later some unke kid accompanied him thru his journey and helped him heal.. and later the kid vanished. In another dream he saw that kid was the God himself who he was devoted to and came to help him go thru his karma. So yea many unexplained things can be explained if u can go look into past lives of people.

OriginalDumbMan · 36-40

@ABCDEF7 There were scriptures and all that for these principles. The Mughals destroyed Nalanda universesity. Vedas were first. Then, these principles were given by lord Krishna during
Mahabharata

ABCDEF7 · M

@OriginalDumbMan Mahabharata is way older than 1200 AD when Bakhtiyar Khilji burnt Nalanda University. Mahabharata is estimated to be around 5000 to 7000 years back.

OriginalDumbMan · 36-40

@ABCDEF7 i know it is older than mughals

ABCDEF7 · M

@Om2014 This story is a good example of combined effects of Runanubandha and Karma.

Runanubandha refers to the spiritual concept of karmic bonds or connections formed through relationships, often familial or intimate. These bonds are believed to create a web of connections that influence our lives across lifetimes. Unlike karma, which pertains to actions and their consequences, runanubandha specifically focuses on the residual energy or impressions left by these relationships

Om2014 · 31-35, M

@ABCDEF7 thanks for sharing :) I also came to knw of this term from Sadhguru

ABCDEF7 · M

@Om2014
“Runanubhanda Rupena Pashu Patni Suta Aalaya
Runakshaye Kshyayaanthi Tatra Parivedana.”

Meaning: Cattle(pet), Wife(or husband), Children(or parents) and Home(family relations) are the result of previous birth bondage. Once the debt is annihilated there is no relationship and hence end of suffering in this Samsara.

Some say this shloka was the part of Padma Purana, but it is not there now. It can be found in the Mahāsubhāṣitasaṃgraha (maha-subhashita-samgraha) a compilation of Sanskrit subhāṣitas (quotes or aphorisms), collected from various sources.

Here is a good article about Runanubhanda with references from different sources like Mahabharata.
https://vedicsiddhanta.in/2017/03/the-deeper-concept-of-rinanubandhan-runanubandha.html

Om2014 · 31-35, M

@ABCDEF7 that's really interesting in depth knowledge thanks for the link 🙏😊

ABCDEF7 · M

@Om2014 Many of our text are lost due to the invasions, and some got manipulated.

Om2014 · 31-35, M

@ABCDEF7 sure did

OriginalDumbMan · 36-40

@ABCDEF7 Almost 99 percent were destroyed including temples in northern part.

Om2014 · 31-35, M

@OriginalDumbMan buts people who just read and teach anyways distort the meaning, so I think the legacy is still not lost cause we do have people who r living the scriptures, known unknown. Otherwise we wud have mass cleansing.