Karma Yogi
The Yogi philosophy shows that the best way to accelerate someone’s personal spiritual evolution and therefore, the journey home, is through the practice of yoga. There are three primary subcategories of yoga: Raja Yoga, Gnani Yoga, and Karma Yoga. We will focus here on a karma yogi because in a fast and materialistic world where many people feel burdened by a feeling of powerlessness, accident, heavy responsibility and/or gloomy obligations, the option to sit, meditate and live as a yogi may not seem practical or attractive.
As personalities, we were all ‘born’ from the only timeless consciousness – the eternal/absolute/brahman – and it is back to this consciousness that we all turn on our unique paths. There are so many paths back to reality when there are people – and we all arrive in the end.
You can therefore find it reassuring to consider that you may have practiced as a karma yogi without realizing it.
The term “karma” comes from the Sanskrit word “Krri” which means “doing” or “act”. Karma-Yoga is therefore the yoga of work or action, ideal for the more task-oriented and perhaps less philosophically inclined individual. You don’t have to be an impressive intellect, wise, a natural philosopher, or in any way mysticism or religiously inclined to walk the path of karma-yoga. Indeed, tendencies compared to those other areas suggest instead the paths of Gnani, Raja, or Bhakti Yoga (although they are all free).
How do you know if you have worked if something of a karma-yogi worked? Simple. A karma yogi works to do the work. They participate in an action, not for the promise of a gratifying end result – Glory, a dizzying high, an ego-boost, or a kind of material profit – but because they in themselves enjoy the act and embrace their duty to do it right. The work is his own reward and is therefore intrinsically satisfactory. Out of most of their assets, their task benefits everyone who touches it, even if it only connects indirectly and impersonally with others. This is the mentality of a Karma Yogi, although the truth is told that he operates in accordance with some fundamental truths that are still badly known in ‘civilized Western society’. Those truths are the key to a ‘daily karma-yogi’.
These facts highlight the idea that nothing in life happens by accident and that we all have a personal and collective mission to evolve spiritually. Our lives are interconnected and impact others in ways we may not always realize. Even the smallest tasks serve a greater purpose in the grand design of life. Yogi Ramacharaka emphasized the importance of understanding that every action we take plays a role in the bigger picture of life, just like in a game of chess. The example of the woman working in the café demonstrates the concept of being a karma yogi, someone who acts selflessly for the benefit of others without seeking personal gain. This selfless and altruistic approach to life is seen as a way to spiritually evolve and contribute to the greater good of humanity.