Work without Motive

Gita teaches Karma-Yoga. We should work through Yoga (concentration). In such concentration in action (Karma-Yoga), there is no consciousness of the lower ego present. The consciousness that I am doing this and that is never present when one works through Yoga.

The Western people do not understand this. They say that if there be no consciousness of ego, if this ego is gone, how then can a man work?

But when one works with concentration, losing all consciousness of oneself the work that is done will be infinitely better, and this every one may have experienced in his own life.

We perform many works subconsciously, such as the digestion of food etc., many others consciously, and others again by becoming immersed in Samadhi as it were, when there is no consciousness of the smaller ego.

If the painter, losing the consciousness of his ego, becomes completely immersed in his painting, he will be able to produce masterpieces. The good cook concentrates his whole self on the food-material he handles; he loses all other consciousness for the time being. But they are only able to do perfectly a single work in this way, to which they are habituated.

The Gita teaches that all works should be done thus.

He who is one with the Lord through Yoga performs all his works by becoming immersed in concentration, and does not seek any personal benefit.

Such a performance of work brings only good to the world, no evil can come out of it. Those who work thus never do anything for themselves...

To work without motive, to work unattached, brings the highest bliss and freedom. This secret of Karma-Yoga is taught by the Lord Shri Krishna in the Gita.

(CW. Vol.5- Page 246)

Swami Vivekananda

http://www.ramakrishnamath.in/completeworks/?p=13

Yes, Work as Witness.

As I understand this is one of the Vedic methods of detachment within Karma Yoga. So is Work for God. Work as Witness is aligned with concepts of Jnana and Work for God is aligned with concepts of Bhakti.

So detachment isn't detachment in the negative context many view it. That is it's not detachment from life, not becoming an emotional zombie. It's detachment from ego's proclivity to crave, the flip side being its proclivity to avoid. It's selfless action/inaction vs. selfish action/inaction.

To paraphrase the Gita, the one who sees inaction in action and action in inaction is the one who truly sees.

Here's a good breakdown of the various Vedic approaches to practicing Karma Yoga.

https://youtu.be/n-SUJ0Vwelk?t=1079

[HITESH SHAH]

Originally Posted by janielee

Gita teaches Karma-Yoga. We should work through Yoga (concentration). In such concentration in action (Karma-Yoga), there is no consciousness of the lower ego present. The consciousness that I am doing this and that is never present when one works through Yoga.

The Western people do not understand this. They say that if there be no consciousness of ego, if this ego is gone, how then can a man work?

But when one works with concentration, losing all consciousness of oneself the work that is done will be infinitely better, and this every one may have experienced in his own life.

We perform many works subconsciously, such as the digestion of food etc., many others consciously, and others again by becoming immersed in Samadhi as it were, when there is no consciousness of the smaller ego.

If the painter, losing the consciousness of his ego, becomes completely immersed in his painting, he will be able to produce masterpieces. The good cook concentrates his whole self on the food-material he handles; he loses all other consciousness for the time being. But they are only able to do perfectly a single work in this way, to which they are habituated.

The Gita teaches that all works should be done thus.

He who is one with the Lord through Yoga performs all his works by becoming immersed in concentration, and does not seek any personal benefit.

Such a performance of work brings only good to the world, no evil can come out of it. Those who work thus never do anything for themselves...

To work without motive, to work unattached, brings the highest bliss and freedom. This secret of Karma-Yoga is taught by the Lord Shri Krishna in the Gita.

(CW. Vol.5- Page 246)

Swami Vivekananda

http://www.ramakrishnamath.in/completeworks/?p=13

This is good summary of Karma yog . Yog in sanskrit means to 'join' , to 'add' . Every chapter in Gita is suffixes with the word yog . Each chapter talks of different pathways of adding up or joining /connecting with others in harmonious manner.

So Krishna talks of joining / connecting with others/God through Karma /action without motive . Here without motive means without any ulterior / material /selfish motive . The clarification is important here because psychologists will jump in here that without any motive or trigger person just can not not work and its all rubbish etc etc . So the motive can be divine / sublime devoid of any immediate material considerations of whatsoever. Love for God and His world devoid of material considerations is sufficient enough motive to trigger action in a person. Such action can connect with God and with others also .

For mundane people like us the divine /sublime motive may be tall order. In such a case even reasonableness/fairness/legitimacy of material motive also may work in life also can be a good baby steps in spirituality.

Yes, indeed. Thanks HITESH_SHAH and JASG. Much appreciated

JL

Originally Posted by HITESH SHAH

So the motive can be divine / sublime devoid of any immediate material considerations of whatsoever. Love for God and His world devoid of material considerations is sufficient enough motive to trigger action in a person. Such action can connect with God and with others also.

You said this so beautifully. Motivation does arise naturally when we try to do the right thing.

Life provides us roles to fill, and we still need to fill those roles to the best of our ability, regardless of possible rewards or how other people behave.

In the west, it is normal for us to complain about how others treat us and all the ways things are not fair. In contrast, dharma teaches that it is our own karma which brings out the best or worst in the people around us. Our motivation should not be to change the other person in efforts to make life more pleasant, rather to behave well regardless.

At least, that was my main take away from Ramayana. If you're someone's child, you want to be a good child to them. If you're someone's parent, you be a good parent. Keep your home, do your job, etc. If you believe God is in all things, all action becomes a method of offering.

Originally Posted by HITESH SHAH

For mundane people like us the divine /sublime motive may be tall order. In such a case even reasonableness/fairness/legitimacy of material motive also may work in life also can be a good baby steps in spirituality.

Right, and you can't dislike yourself when you see yourself behaving selflessly.

If you learn from good examples and do the best you can, your mind will not be bogged down with worry about your own conduct. More thoughts freed up to think about higher things.

[BlueElephant]

Yes, action performed without selfish motive(s).

And performed with love and attention and attitude of service - then it becomes a vehicle for human/ spiritual ripening and the spread of goodness.