Transform all your Actions into Sacred Actions and be Free

As long as you act with body-consciousness, that is, as long as you
identify yourself as the doer of an action, then that action
cannot be karma yoga. Any action performed with the feeling of
ego, the sense that I did it, or with the sense of attachment,
that it is my act, can only bring sorrow to you in the end.
Such actions will always result in further bondage. However,
when you transform your actions into yoga, then you become free
from bondage. How does action or karma become yoga? All actions
performed as offerings to the divinity, without any sense of
individual doership and without seeking any personal results,
will be transformed into yoga.

Numerous troubles arise when one acts with a feeling of egoism.
Inwardly, you might feel, 'This action was performed by me, so
I should derive the benefits from this action. I worked, so I
deserve to get paid. I am certainly entitled to the rewards
accruing from these actions that I have performed.' Such
feelings serve only to further strengthen the sense of ego, the sense
of I and mine. As this sense of I and mine goes on increasing,
the atma goes further and further into obscurity, and the joy emerging
from the atma goes on decreasing. To destroy egoism completely,
Krishna asked Arjuna to transform all his actions into yoga.

What is the method of transforming your action into yoga? You
must become impersonal; you must not identify yourself with the actions
or the results that accrue from them, but, instead, concentrate fully
on the action itself, remaining indifferent to the results. In other
words, you act because it is your nature to do so, offering all
your efforts to the indwelling divinity, and remaining totally
unconcerned and disinterested in the fruit. With such a feeling
of detachment, whatever task you become engaged in will become
sacred.

There is the example of King Janaka, who showed by his life that if you
perform actions without any desire for the fruit and without any
personal interest in the act, then your accomplishments can
indeed become very great. While ruling a kingdom, and bearing
all the responsibilities associated with it, King Janaka
performed all his acts with the attitude that he was only the
witness. Because he acted without any attachment to the results,
Janaka became a sacred king, a monarch who was also a yogi.

mukundan


(saibaba gita)