Detachment: The Essence of Karma Yoga

No one has been able to pinpoint the exact causes of stress in the lives of people. We know that they will differ from person to person. If we wish to truly be free of stress, we need to look at its root cause, that is, the flawed mentality that leads to it in the first place. And so, the first step in the art of detachment is to try and understand the origin of stress.

Stress develops when we are attached to the desire of a particular outcome, and we are worried that things may not turn out the way that we desire. It is obvious that stress is caused by our own attachments to a particular outcome and our unwillingness to accept the possibility of other results. The solution for stress is simple – we must try to give up attachment to preconceived or wishful outcomes of our own efforts. This doesn’t mean that we should simply go with the flow of life as a passive participant, we must always put in our best efforts, but without attachment to the results. Shri Krishna instructs Arjun in the famous Bhagavad-Gitā?verse:

You have a right to perform your work, but you are not entitled to the fruits of those actions.

This is what Krishna refers to as 'karma yoga'. Initially, this may seem like a difficult concept to grasp, so let us try to put it into an example. A banker in a bank received and disbursed thousands of pounds. Whilst doing so, he experiences neither anxiety nor stress, although he works with great care and diligence. But, if he withdraws his own salary and accidentally drops a bundle of notes on his way home, he may feel terribly stressed and anxious when he discovers his mistake. This is an example of an individual who is attached to his own money, whilst at the bank, he is simply performing his duty. This may be a very abstract example, but from my own experiences, I have seen karma yoga in action in the life of Pramukh Swami Maharaj.

Despite leading and overseeing over 160 activities across the globe, Pramukh Swami Maharaj never felt an ounce of stress in anything he did. When asked on numerous occasions how he was able to remain at peace and ease, he said:

Man believes that he does everything. We think, ‘I will make the world, family, and society happy.’ But in reality this is arrogance, and wherever the ego operates, there is bound to be downfall. The truth is that God is the doer. It is he who does everything. We do nothing. Having such faith, one can realise their ātmā (the soul), attain success in life, and be happy and peaceful in all ways.

For ninety-five years, Pramukh Swami’s life depicted this at every moment. He truly worked without attachment to outcomes and results, and hence, he was always able to remain at peace. Despite creating over a thousand majestic mandir (temples) across the globe, he never once sought for credit or recognition for his work. Today, his successor – Mahant Swami Maharaj – lives his life in the exact same way. Their state of being is further echoed in the Bhagavad-Gitā, where Shri Krishna says, “The person who gives up all material desires and lives free from a sense of greed, proprietorship, and egoism, he alone attains perfect peace.”

Of course, this also gives rise to another question: If we give up attachments to the results, won’t that decrease our drive, motivation, performance and effectiveness for the work at hand? But history shows us that when we become free from negative emotions like tension, anxiety, and nervousness (stemming from our addiction to having things turn the way we want them to), our effectiveness and performance will only increase. Joshua Baker, who’s authored a bestselling book,?Simplify: 7 Guiding Principles to Help Anyone Declutter Their Home & Life, writes, “Not just the outcome, but the process that experiencing happiness only upon achieving an outcome for our efforts robs us of countless moments along the way.” If we simply focus on the present moment, on the joy of the work at hand, we can experience the joy of work. We can then give our best efforts and let the results flow as they do. Becker also concludes that ‘results-only’ focus is short-sighted and distracts us from applying ourselves to that which we can control, which is our time and energy. If we believe that happiness can only be experienced in the future, on reaching a certain goal or outcome, we miss out on enjoying the journey towards the goal – which is only in the present.

In simple terms, a karma yogi is one who keeps their mind equipoised, whilst engaging in the turmoil of worldly duties. Karma yoga is the synthesis of both karma,?‘action’, and, yoga, ‘union with God’. For Pramukh Swami, duties were not a turmoil, but they were a form of bhakti (something we will explore another time). One of the main focuses of Shri Krishna’s teachings in the Bhagavad-Gitā?surrounds karma yoga. It teaches us not to artificially renounce our work, thinking of it to be cumbersome; but instead, to be in internal equilibrium even whilst performing complex tasks, and detaching from the outcomes.

We have a desire to be in control and to dictate every aspect of our life. But the reality is we are only in control of a small number of things in life. Once we accept that most things are outside of our control, the key is to let go of our desire to control the outcomes. Learning how to ride the waves rather than seeking to stop them happening is what this is all about. What we need in life is to loosen up, to become flexible, to get to a place where there is nothing in our way – and that includes our own obsession with certain outcomes. It is only through reducing our attachments, can we truly live the focused life...

This article on detachment is an excerpt from my second book Keshav: Ancient Wisdom for Focused Living,?available anywhere in the world from?here.

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