Karma yoga is the yoga of action. It’s about purifying your heart by learning to act selflessly in service of others. Through karma yoga we learn kindness and compassion without an expectation of gain. The idea being that learning these lessons helps us to step away from our ego, freeing us to move one step further on the path to enlightenment.

 

When we act, we often do so with the underlying question, “How will this benefit me,”? We often expect results or appreciation of our efforts. Karma yoga suggests that we eliminate that attitude and act with an attitude of selfless service, without any anticipation of credit or result. In other words, we act simply for the delight and joy of being able to act. We let go of attachment to a particular outcome and the sense of a “me” actually doing the action.

 

Selfless service can be a powerful means of releasing yourself of your ego, learning to act from pure intentions, and connecting with the bigger picture. According to the Bhagvad Gita, those who act in this way transcend the cycle of karma and the momentum of cause and effect which perpetuate the life situation of our perceived identity. This frees us from the bondage of suffering because there is no expectation of how things should or shouldn’t be. There is only “things as they are.” When there is no expectation, there is peace