"Karma" means action of man with will. Action includes three different functions of man viz, deed, speech and thought.

"Yoga" means a system of life best suited for man with harmonious communion with Nature. All action is the movement of the physical body with mental effort to achieve something or some kind of enjoyment or engaging oneself in some enjoyment.

Man is a combination of four phenomena: Body, Mind, Life ‑force (soul and Bio‑magnetism. The life‑force is basically a minute energy‑particle with speedy, self‑rotative, whirling motion. The continuous whirling motion of the particles of the life‑force radiates a spreading wave. The sum total of such waves intensified sufficiently in the body is bio‑magnetism. Mind is the peripheral functioning state of Consciousness which is naturally seated in the life-force particles.

Consciousness extends its activities by the bio‑ magnetic field within and out of the body. Let us understand the great potential and results and chain results of an action of man, within and without.

The physical body is a structure of a systematic arrangement of cells with polarity. In order to maintain this polarity for the survival of man and for all functions of body and mind, bio‑magnetism is provided to an adequate extent. The life‑force and the bio‑magnetic field of man are of gaseous nature and linked with the universal field.

The action of man first affects the magnetic wave‑field of his body and then by its spreading nature affects the Universal field. There are very many secrets in Nature. Among them a very important one is the magnetic wave principle which covers all functions of the Universe, encompassing many other mysteries of Nature.

By the five functions of a wave (i.e.) Clash, Reflection, Refraction, Penetration, and Interaction these five results are produced. These are Pressure, Sound, Light, Smell and Taste.

These five results in turn produce millions and millions of chain-results in the Universe. Clashes of waves generated by and affecting the physical and mental functions cause imprints in the cells of the body, the life-force and in the energy -particles of the Universe. 

These imprints become a record for a long period of time. This imprinting will evoke the same thought or urge of action in others by the flow and inter- connection of the magnetic wave.

So whatever an action may be, it affects all the parts of the body, life-force, mind, the persons around and the Universal field. In any action, the motive, efficiency, Place, time and object of contact are all involved. Accordingly the result will be pain or pleasure to self and others, at present or in future, to the body or mind.

A Karma Yogi does every action with full understanding and awareness of the above-described facts of Nature, with an awareness of maintaining harmony in all angles and all relations of life. So, one movement of the body or one thought in the mind could be such as to be an asset for man and mankind for a long period of time.

Therefore one's actions should be disciplined and one's thoughts should be streamlined so that they may produce only good results such as pleasure, harmony, satisfaction, health and peace for oneself and for others at present and for the future.

Sound health and peaceful mind are a must for man to enjoy the material world and develop the Consciousness to its perfection. In order to achieve this purpose of birth one has to maintain harmony between body and life-force, life-force and mind, between individuals and society and between Nature and Will. Practicing appropriate exercises of body and mind and a virtuous way of living to maintain the harmonies described above constitute Yoga. Thus Karma Yoga is a system of life utilizing the full potential of the body and mind with understanding and awareness for a happy, prosperous and peaceful life.

Goal Is Self - Realization

Except in the primordial State, Consciousness which is the character of the Universal Being, is functioning in fraction. In man, in the beginning stage of life, this fractional Consciousness is conditioned with all the sensual experience of pain and pleasure. But it has the potential to develop to perfection so as to reach the Totality. The purpose of the birth of man is to develop his Consciousness to its own super-state and to identify Self with the, Universal Being.

Man has three impurities within him. They are Ego, Imprints of sins and Illusion (Anava, Kanma and Maya respectively, in Sanskrit). During the development of his Consciousness, he has to simultaneously dissipate these three impurities.

Through Realization of Self by inner travel, a psychic practice, he can get rid of Ego by absorbing Self into the Supreme Being. By a virtuous way of life and imprinting only good deeds he can get rid of the imprints of sins. When Ego and sins are erased, wisdom will automatically shine forth and   Illusion. (Maya) is cleared. Karma Yoga is an appropriate method of life which will cleanse one of the impurities and enable him to reach the goal of Self Realization.

Every man is to live with body, materials and society. Karma Yoga helps him in three ways:

(1) To better enjoy all sensual pleasures and derive full satisfaction;

(2) In becoming capable of helping others to enjoy material and spiritual life; and

(3) By postponing death and withstand ageing until he reaches the goal of life or the time he wishes to die.

Karma Yoga is a complete system to fulfill all the needs of man and mankind. Karma Yoga guides a man with two valuable principles, Viz, duty consciousness and constant Awareness of the Cause-and‑Effect system, which is otherwise called the Law of Nature. These principles penetrate and effectively cover all activities and all fields of life. The Chapters that follow will lead you to a clear understanding of how to implement these principles in daily life.

Summary

Karma Yoga is a system of life suitable for all sections of the mankind. Understanding of the physical body, mind, life‑force and bio‑magnetism is very much essential for the practice of Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga will maintain harmony between body and life, life and mind, individual and society and Nature and Will. Ultimately it will result in happiness, peace and satisfaction in life.

 - - - - - - Addendum - - - - - - -

By Sri Swami Sivananda

PUBLISHERS� NOTE
In Buddhist teaching, the law of karma, says only this: `for every event that occurs, there will follow another event whose existence was caused by the first, and this second event will be pleasant or unpleasant according as its cause was skillful or unskillful.' A skillful event is one that is not accompanied by craving, resistance or delusions; an unskillful event is one that is accompanied by any one of those things. (Events are not skillful in themselves, but are so called only in virtue of the mental events that occur with them.)

Work is worship of the Lord. Karma Yoga is the Yoga of selfless action, without agency and expectation of fruits.

Karma Yoga removes the impurities of the mind. It is a potent purifier of the heart. Karma Yoga prepares the mind for the reception of Divine Light, Divine Grace, and Divine Knowledge. See God in every face. Behold the Lord in all creatures.

Share what you have with others. Serve the saints and sages. Serve the sick. Serve the poor. Serve your parents. Serve your motherland. Serve humanity in general. Scrutinise always your inner motives. Destroy selfish motives. Work without egoism.

Cultivate the Nimitta-Bhava. Feel you are an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Surrender always your actions and their fruits to the Lord. Have equal vision and balanced mind in pleasure and pain, gain and loss, success and failure. Develop nicely adaptability. Serve always with Atma-Bhava and Narayana-Bhava.

Watch for opportunities for service. Never miss even a single opportunity. Cultivate amiable, loving, social nature, generosity, catholic nature. Kill selfishness. Control the senses, practise self-restraint, tolerance, sympathy and mercy. These are the qualifications of a Karma Yogi.

Bear insult, injury, harsh words, criticism, heat and cold. If you are a doctor, treat the poor free of charge. If you are an advocate, plead for the poor. If you are a teacher or a professor, give free tuition to poor boys. Give them books free. 

Atman is actionless, Akarta, Nishkriya. Practise your Svadhanna, your Varnashrama Dharma unselfishly, without egoism. You will attain purification of heart. Knowledge of Brahman will dawn in your heart.

THUS ENDS KARMA YOGA

"Karma" means action of man with will. Action includes three different functions of man viz, deed, speech and thought.

"Yoga" means a system of life best suited for man with harmonious communion with Nature. All action is the movement of the physical body with mental effort to achieve something or some kind of enjoyment or engaging oneself in some enjoyment.

Man is a combination of four phenomena: Body, Mind, Life ‑force (soul and Bio‑magnetism. The life‑force is basically a minute energy‑particle with speedy, self‑rotative, whirling motion. The continuous whirling motion of the particles of the life‑force radiates a spreading wave. The sum total of such waves intensified sufficiently in the body is bio‑magnetism. Mind is the peripheral functioning state of Consciousness which is naturally seated in the life-force particles.

Consciousness extends its activities by the bio‑ magnetic field within and out of the body. Let us understand the great potential and results and chain results of an action of man, within and without.

The physical body is a structure of a systematic arrangement of cells with polarity. In order to maintain this polarity for the survival of man and for all functions of body and mind, bio‑magnetism is provided to an adequate extent. The life‑force and the bio‑magnetic field of man are of gaseous nature and linked with the universal field.

The action of man first affects the magnetic wave‑field of his body and then by its spreading nature affects the Universal field. There are very many secrets in Nature. Among them a very important one is the magnetic wave principle which covers all functions of the Universe, encompassing many other mysteries of Nature.

By the five functions of a wave (i.e.) Clash, Reflection, Refraction, Penetration, and Interaction these five results are produced. These are Pressure, Sound, Light, Smell and Taste.

These five results in turn produce millions and millions of chain-results in the Universe. Clashes of waves generated by and affecting the physical and mental functions cause imprints in the cells of the body, the life-force and in the energy -particles of the Universe. 

These imprints become a record for a long period of time. This imprinting will evoke the same thought or urge of action in others by the flow and inter- connection of the magnetic wave.

So whatever an action may be, it affects all the parts of the body, life-force, mind, the persons around and the Universal field. In any action, the motive, efficiency, Place, time and object of contact are all involved. Accordingly the result will be pain or pleasure to self and others, at present or in future, to the body or mind.

A Karma Yogi does every action with full understanding and awareness of the above-described facts of Nature, with an awareness of maintaining harmony in all angles and all relations of life. So, one movement of the body or one thought in the mind could be such as to be an asset for man and mankind for a long period of time.

Therefore one's actions should be disciplined and one's thoughts should be streamlined so that they may produce only good results such as pleasure, harmony, satisfaction, health and peace for oneself and for others at present and for the future.

Sound health and peaceful mind are a must for man to enjoy the material world and develop the Consciousness to its perfection. In order to achieve this purpose of birth one has to maintain harmony between body and life-force, life-force and mind, between individuals and society and between Nature and Will. Practicing appropriate exercises of body and mind and a virtuous way of living to maintain the harmonies described above constitute Yoga. Thus Karma Yoga is a system of life utilizing the full potential of the body and mind with understanding and awareness for a happy, prosperous and peaceful life.

Goal Is Self - Realization

Except in the primordial State, Consciousness which is the character of the Universal Being, is functioning in fraction. In man, in the beginning stage of life, this fractional Consciousness is conditioned with all the sensual experience of pain and pleasure. But it has the potential to develop to perfection so as to reach the Totality. The purpose of the birth of man is to develop his Consciousness to its own super-state and to identify Self with the, Universal Being.

Man has three impurities within him. They are Ego, Imprints of sins and Illusion (Anava, Kanma and Maya respectively, in Sanskrit). During the development of his Consciousness, he has to simultaneously dissipate these three impurities.

Through Realization of Self by inner travel, a psychic practice, he can get rid of Ego by absorbing Self into the Supreme Being. By a virtuous way of life and imprinting only good deeds he can get rid of the imprints of sins. When Ego and sins are erased, wisdom will automatically shine forth and   Illusion. (Maya) is cleared. Karma Yoga is an appropriate method of life which will cleanse one of the impurities and enable him to reach the goal of Self Realization.

Every man is to live with body, materials and society. Karma Yoga helps him in three ways:

(1) To better enjoy all sensual pleasures and derive full satisfaction;

(2) In becoming capable of helping others to enjoy material and spiritual life; and

(3) By postponing death and withstand ageing until he reaches the goal of life or the time he wishes to die.

Karma Yoga is a complete system to fulfill all the needs of man and mankind. Karma Yoga guides a man with two valuable principles, Viz, duty consciousness and constant Awareness of the Cause-and‑Effect system, which is otherwise called the Law of Nature. These principles penetrate and effectively cover all activities and all fields of life. The Chapters that follow will lead you to a clear understanding of how to implement these principles in daily life.

Summary

Karma Yoga is a system of life suitable for all sections of the mankind. Understanding of the physical body, mind, life‑force and bio‑magnetism is very much essential for the practice of Karma Yoga. Karma Yoga will maintain harmony between body and life, life and mind, individual and society and Nature and Will. Ultimately it will result in happiness, peace and satisfaction in life.

 - - - - - - Addendum - - - - - - -

By Sri Swami Sivananda

PUBLISHERS� NOTE
In Buddhist teaching, the law of karma, says only this: `for every event that occurs, there will follow another event whose existence was caused by the first, and this second event will be pleasant or unpleasant according as its cause was skillful or unskillful.' A skillful event is one that is not accompanied by craving, resistance or delusions; an unskillful event is one that is accompanied by any one of those things. (Events are not skillful in themselves, but are so called only in virtue of the mental events that occur with them.)

Work is worship of the Lord. Karma Yoga is the Yoga of selfless action, without agency and expectation of fruits.

Karma Yoga removes the impurities of the mind. It is a potent purifier of the heart. Karma Yoga prepares the mind for the reception of Divine Light, Divine Grace, and Divine Knowledge. See God in every face. Behold the Lord in all creatures.

Share what you have with others. Serve the saints and sages. Serve the sick. Serve the poor. Serve your parents. Serve your motherland. Serve humanity in general. Scrutinise always your inner motives. Destroy selfish motives. Work without egoism.

Cultivate the Nimitta-Bhava. Feel you are an instrument in the hands of the Lord. Surrender always your actions and their fruits to the Lord. Have equal vision and balanced mind in pleasure and pain, gain and loss, success and failure. Develop nicely adaptability. Serve always with Atma-Bhava and Narayana-Bhava.

Watch for opportunities for service. Never miss even a single opportunity. Cultivate amiable, loving, social nature, generosity, catholic nature. Kill selfishness. Control the senses, practise self-restraint, tolerance, sympathy and mercy. These are the qualifications of a Karma Yogi.

Bear insult, injury, harsh words, criticism, heat and cold. If you are a doctor, treat the poor free of charge. If you are an advocate, plead for the poor. If you are a teacher or a professor, give free tuition to poor boys. Give them books free. 

Atman is actionless, Akarta, Nishkriya. Practise your Svadhanna, your Varnashrama Dharma unselfishly, without egoism. You will attain purification of heart. Knowledge of Brahman will dawn in your heart.

THUS ENDS KARMA YOGA