THE ESSENCE OF KARMA YOGA

"Action follows thought and desire."

Karma is a Sanskrit word that means activity. Consequence follows action and we are all responsible for our actions - in thought and in deed.

We can make our activities a great ocean of holistic life support that lovingly benefits the lives of many or we can fall foul of egoism and become a sad and selfish personality on the Great Stage of Life. As our holistic awareness of interconnectivity and God realization increase then we begin to realize the great benefit of becoming "a Holistic Life Support Nodule in the Great Network of Creation!"

Karma Yoga is a technique to avoid the arising of egoism. In a nutshell, Karma Yoga - the renunciation of the fruit of action - involves dedicating to this Universal and Interdependent Network of Life the merit and achievement attained in our activities. From the One comes the All, so my activities are merely an expression of that One Unified Field of Life, therefore how can I claim anything as solely my own doing? We are all cooperative cogs in the Great Machinery of God's Creation.

Karma yoga is thus the conscious interpretation of our life activities as acts of loving service and support to God and All Creatures in the Creation.

For example, we perform some activity, like washing up, and to avoid egoism - getting all puffed up with self-admiration - we then dedicate that action back to life "I dedicate this washing up action to the health and well-being of my family."

We can also devotionally dedicate our activities to the well-being of God and all the Creatures in the Creation.