Preface

na hikaścit kṣaṇamapi jātu tiṣṭhatyakarmakṛt |
kāryate hyavaśaḥ karma sarvaḥ prakṛtijairguṇaiḥ ||
tasmādasaktaḥ satataṃ kāryaṃ karma samācara |
asakto hyācaran karma paramāpnoti pūruṣaḥ ||

No one can remain absolutely inactive even for a moment. Propelled by the power of nature, one is forced to work.

Therefore, do thou always perform actions which are obligatory, without attachment; by performing action without attachment, one attains to the highest.

—Bhagavad Gita, III, 5 & 19.

“The doctrine of karma alone can explain the mysterious problem of good and evil and reconcile man to the terrible and apparent injustice of life.

Any action that is not done through the attachment to the result of action, is for the purification of the soul, and as soon as the soul is purified the knowledge comes and the law of karma ceases to exist; that is, the law of karma is transcendented. Thus one goes beyond that law. The Karma Yoga teaches that by performing all the obligatory works, without seeking any return for the individual, that is, through non-attachment, we gain the purification of the heart, and when the purification of the heart comes, it reflects the Divine wisdom, and that Divine wisdom kindles the fire of knowledge, which burns out all the karma, good or bad, and the individual soul becomes absolutely free. That is the goal of Karma Yoga.”

—Swami Abhedananda