Karma Yoga Quotes

One important aspect of the Gita which remains is that even though it presents to us some diverse paths as a way of life, such as action, devotion, knowledge and meditation, it does not impose any of these paths on an individual. Rather, it leaves the choice to the people, because the followers of all these paths are essential for the smooth functioning of the world, and any en masse inclination towards only one of them would jeopardize the society by causing an imbalance in its system. The Gita also recognizes that the path that one should follow is determined primarily by the free choice of man as well as his inherent nature, which can be interpreted as a genetic inheritance he is endowed with. ~ Nihar Satpathy

We could be unhappy and discouraged for ourselves, but we're trying to be in a high vibratory state so we can be of service to others. ~ Frederick Lenz

Then you will pick yourself up, no matter how tired you are, and go forward again and again and again, until you've reached liberation. ~ Frederick Lenz

Arjuna, who is the fearless waririor in the story is a very wordly indvidual, we assume with high past lives. ~ Frederick Lenz

If your life is based around your being comfortable, you're not very comfortable. You suffer quite a bit - becuase in the realm of the senses there is not only pleasure, but there is pain. ~ Frederick Lenz

Selfless giving has a lot to do with what happens to you in the future. There is karma, both good and bad. ~ Frederick Lenz

The secret of karma yoga which is to perform actions without any fruitive desires is taught by Lord Krishna in the Bhagavad-Gita. ~ Swami Vivekananda

Now is wanted intense Karma-Yoga with unbounded courage and indomitable strength in the heart. Then only will the people of the country be roused. ~ Swami Vivekananda

We define a world. We build a house, then after building the house we enter into it and we never leave it. ~ Frederick Lenz

What motivates someone who's become wealthy to go out and work in the ghetto with those who are poor? What motivates one who has perfect health to go and work with the sick? If you understand - then you understand the root and cause of all existence. ~ Frederick Lenz

We must bring light to as many people as possible. Who has time to indulge in self-pity or guilt? In advanced self-giving you have no time for this. You just push these emotions out. ~ Frederick Lenz

Karma Yoga is mindful service to the humanity with love and respect. ~ Amit Ray

If you are not happier every day, if you don't see a progression of development, then you are certainly not practicing yoga or Buddhism and therefore you cannot be amassing any positive karma. ~ Frederick Lenz

Eternity is selfless giving. Eternity sends forth all of the worlds, the very fabric of existence. ~ Frederick Lenz

If a bird is used to flying and you put in a a cage, it won't be a happy bird; It wants to fly; that's its nature. Your nature is infinite awareness. ~ Frederick Lenz

We have two choices in life: One is to fulfill ourselves. The other is to take the time and energy that we would utilize in fulfilling ourselves and use it to make others happy. ~ Frederick Lenz

Eternity does nothing but give. ~ Frederick Lenz

If your're not having a very good time with your life, its because you haven't done much for others. You may have done many things but you havent done much for those around you. ~ Frederick Lenz

The difficult opponent is the best. ~ Frederick Lenz

What you do affects your awareness field. When you do something selfless your attention feild is more clear, more lucid. ~ Frederick Lenz

Life itself is selfless giving. We're not given this life just for own amusement and pleasures. ~ Frederick Lenz

Kirshna's message is eternal - fight! ~ Frederick Lenz

Everybody out there is just doing things for themesleves. So if you don't do that you've got to be crazy ... crazy about selfless giving! ~ Frederick Lenz

Meidtation and selfless giving must always go together. They work together to create immortality. ~ Frederick Lenz

In the Bhagavad-Gita, a dialogue ensues in the middle of a battlefield, symbolizing the battlefield of life which we are fighting through our illusions. ~ Frederick Lenz

When you do something "selflish" you'll feel constricted and restricted. You won't be happy. ~ Frederick Lenz

There is the path of karma, selfless action, the path of love and devotion, the path of training the mind and the path of Yoga, mantra and tantra this is what the various saints advocated. ~ Mata Amritanandamayi

If, when you give to someone you think you're better than they are because your practing selfless giving, you're not loving. ~ Frederick Lenz

Selfless giving doesn't mean you let people walk all over you. You get a lot of footprints on your face that way. ~ Frederick Lenz

Some persons choose, rather than stay in immortal bliss all the time, to come back for others. ~ Frederick Lenz

Those who pursue a worldy life - who try to get others to do what they want, to peform for them, who use and abuse in the name of their own happiness - are miserable. ~ Frederick Lenz

The Love factor makes anything hallowed, and an action is no exception. Doing things with love makes the work sacred. ~ Banani Ray

We're not aware of the joy of our own immortality. When we give to someone else it opens a doorway and gives us the vision to see those we give to are God. As we see this in others, suddenly we see it within ourselves. ~ Frederick Lenz

Arjuna is a warrior of great renown, says he won't fight. He tells Krishna: I can't fight because I love these people. It's immoral. It's unjust. There's no winning. ~ Frederick Lenz

There are different pathways - be it Zen, tantra, karma yoga, or jnana yoga. Different ways have been devised to do the same thing for different types of people according to their temperament. ~ Frederick Lenz

In the Bhagavad Gita, one of the oldest and most beautiful spiritual teachings in existence, nonattachment to the fruit of your action is called Karma Yoga. It is described as the path of consecrated action. ~ Eckhart Tolle

One day after many, many lifetimes, we get wise. We decide that the fun in life is to give. ~ Frederick Lenz

It is much more likely that you will attain liberation if you want liberation for others, than just for yourself. ~ Frederick Lenz

Enlightenment is represented by Sri Krishna, who is said to be an avatar. ~ Frederick Lenz

Selfless giving is being nice and there are times we don't want to be. ~ Frederick Lenz

Yoga means we take responsibility for the tasks in our life. Whatever we are supposed to have karmically, life gives us. The question is: how do we handle it? ~ Frederick Lenz

The short way to happiness is through kindness and sensitivity. ~ Frederick Lenz

Christ didn't have to. Buddha didn't have to. They came back to teach. They came back to die, to suffer, when it was no longer necessary for them to do so. ~ Frederick Lenz

Selfless giving is like putting on make-up. We're covering up a part of ourselves thats not very aware. The thing is when we take the make up off, the selflish part leaves us. We are freeer, clearer. ~ Frederick Lenz

Suddenly they have to face each other down - you've got to kill your friends. ~ Frederick Lenz

Strengthen your heart muscles by removing the sufferings of others. ~ Amit Ray

Krishna suprises Arjuna. He says go fight, go kill. Do this because it's only play money. You can't kill your friends any more than they can kill you. ~ Frederick Lenz

Who cares for your bhakti and mukti? Who cares what your scriptures say? I will go into a thousand hells cheerfully if I can rouse my countrymen, immersed in tamas, to stand on their own feet and be men inspired with the spirit of karma-yoga. I am a follower only of he or she who serves and helps others without caring for his own bhakti and mukti! ~ Swami Vivekananda

Eternity gives life to all and sustains all, transforms all on the wheel of dharma - until all attain perfection. ~ Frederick Lenz

Jnana, bhakti, yoga and karma - these are the four paths which lead to spiritual freedom. One must follow the path for which one is best suited. But in this age, special stress should be laid on karma yoga. ~ Swami Vivekananda

Very often people give to others to control them and dominant them. ~ Frederick Lenz

You could go outside today and have a glum face, or you could put a smile on your face and go out into the world, even though you don't feel like it - that's selfless giving! ~ Frederick Lenz

Your spiritual journey and your spiritual welfare are really dependent on two primary factors: One, your ability to meditate and two, your ability to give of yourself. ~ Frederick Lenz

There are persons who elected to give their existence to God. They are happy, happy in their self-giving. ~ Frederick Lenz

You suffer because you try to fulfill yourself. You think of yourself in a limited way. ~ Frederick Lenz

The true hallmark of how advanced a person is, is how they treat those around them. Not simply what they say or what they preach, but the results they generate, how kind they are. ~ Frederick Lenz

Selfliss giving rounds the edges in spiritual practice. Many people can meditate very well but they're still very egotistical. ~ Frederick Lenz

When you know who you truly are, you can live more freely and in tune with your karma. ~ Alan Finger

I practice selfless giving not because I'm remarkable but just because I find that its terrifically fun! ~ Frederick Lenz

Selfless giving does not imply giving everything up - it's simply having a good time. ~ Frederick Lenz

We are inspired by the God that we see in others and suddenly we find ourselves changing. We find ourselves giving more. We find that our lives become rather amazingly beautiful. ~ Frederick Lenz

When this life ends, I will be absorbed back into you. I have come forth from you . You are all good and you know all that there is. So please act in me and through me at every moment and every second. Let me be but an extension of your being. Teach me how to live and love selflessly, at all times. ~ Frederick Lenz

If we give purely, it opens up a doorway in our heart and it gives us the vision to see that those we give to are God. ~ Frederick Lenz

Self-giving means that we have to understand the nature of giving. When most people give, they give expecting a return on their investment. ~ Frederick Lenz

Selfless giving presupposes something - that there is a lumunious reality. ~ Frederick Lenz

Usually, when people hear the term Yoga, many of them associate it with various physical exercises where they need to twist, turn and stretch their body in complex ways that are known as Asanas, but this is only one type of Yoga, called "Hatha-Yoga". In reality, Yoga is an umbrella term for various physical and mental exercises that lead to the overall well-being of a person.
By origin, Yoga has mainly five forms:
1.Raja Yoga - The realization of divinity through intense meditation
2.Karma Yoga – The realization of divine bliss through your own daily activities and duties
3.Hatha Yoga – The realization of divine well-being through various physical exercises
4.Jyana Yoga – The realization of inexplicable bliss in the pursuit of knowledge
5.Bhakti Yoga – The realization of ecstasy through love and devotion for your Personal God
The purpose of all Yogas is to set your consciousness lose into the vast domain of the unknown, where your brain circuits simulate various fascinating mental states that are usually unimaginable and unattainable in your everyday consciousness. But the whole yoga thing has nothing to do with God or something of that sort. It is all about various states of the human mind. ~ Abhijit Naskar

As you pass through this life, have you done all that you really wish to for others? ~ Frederick Lenz

We can't allow ouselves to be depresses or discouraged. There are people who depend on us, things to accomplish. We only have a little bit of time in this world before death swallows us up. ~ Frederick Lenz

Granted, in order to give selflessly, one often starts giving selfishly. As Tiresias said to Odysseus: "Honey ... you don't get through hell in a hurry" ~ Frederick Lenz

Meditation is the ultimate selfless act, because when you meditate you are sacrificing your puny personality for the universal reality. ~ Frederick Lenz

If you are fortunate enough to meet such a being then you will really learn selfless giving. You'll see that every second, every moment of their awareness is directed towards others. ~ Frederick Lenz

The best mantrum is selfless giving beause as you repeat it again and again, you change. ~ Frederick Lenz

We see the one light, the one unified reality that we see in others, is the same reality that is within ourselves. We are one with all of existence. ~ Frederick Lenz

When you're going though a difficult time, forget about yourself for a while. Go do something for someone else. This is the fastest way to pull yourself out of a negative state. ~ Frederick Lenz

Everyone is part of you. ~ Frederick Lenz

It's always said that when one is a soldier who dies in battle, you go to a very high world. There's a great and good karma for the soldier who dies in battle because it's an extended selfless giving. ~ Frederick Lenz

Eternity, I don't know what's right or wrong, good or bad. I may be doing what's right or I may be deceiving myself. So instead, what I'm going to do is give my life to you. ~ Frederick Lenz

Yoga is somewhat hard to quantify in terms of benefits because you see them in all the injuries you don't get. ~ Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

It is easy to make the mistake of thinking yoga is about touching your toes when in fact yoga is about learning to touch others. Likewise, many people think the purpose of meditation is a perfectly still mind, when in fact, it is a more compassionate heart. Spiritual practice is measured by one's ability to ease the suffering of the world one breath at a time. ~ Darren Main

Remain faithful to the Light of your soul even when it is hidden by clouds. My help and the Mother's will be there working behind even in the moments when you cannot feel it.

Letters on Yoga, vol.24, p.1425 ~ Sri Aurobindo

Before leading us onto the path of success and glory, the Universe tests how serious we are to pursue our dream...how passionate we are. And, it has a very interesting way to find out. Example, after much cajoling and inspiration, when we start our fitness regime, exercising, yoga, etc, our body starts aching on 2nd or 3rd day...so much so that we find it difficult to walk...and as a result...we stop our fitness regime. So, nature filters us out. Then there is the 2nd level of filtering. Within 10-15 days of embarking our fitness regime, we come across a situation when we are required to travel or attend a function or report at workplace early or work till late in the evening. After this gap of 3-4 days, many people don't resume exercising.

When you want to pursue your dreams...you will be deprived of resources and will find yourself surrounded by naysayers and negative thinkers. Result: You stop pursuing your dreams.
The key is – "Never ever give up". Believe in Yourself. Let the Universe know that you will pursue your dream and goal, no matter what. ~ Sanjeev Himachali

Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Bodhidharma, Sosan – they are the Masters of this law of reverse effect. And this is the difference between Yoga and Zen. Yoga makes every effort and Zen makes no effort, and Zen is truer than any Yoga. But Yoga appeals, because as far as you are concerned doing is easy – howsoever hard, but doing is easy.

Non-doing is difficult. If someone says, "Don't do anything," you are at a loss. You again ask, "What to do?" If someone says, "Don't do anything," that is the most difficult thing for you. It should not be so if you understand.

Non-doing does not require any qualification. Doing may require qualification, doing may require practice. Non-doing requires no practice. That's why Zen says enlightenment can happen in a single moment – because it is not a question of how to bring it, it is a question of how to allow it. It is just like sleep: you relax and it is there, you relax and it pops up. It is struggling within your heart to come up. You are not allowing it because you have too much activity on the surface. ~ Osho

Thus Jung's interest, in contrast with Dasgupta's, were with yoga not as "philosophy and religion" but as psychology. Hence his definition of yoga was a psychological one: "Yoga was originally a natural process of introversion. . . . Such introversions lead to characteristic inner processes of personality changes. In the course of several thousand years these introversions became gradually organized as methods, and along widely differing ways."44 Jung's concern was not primarily with the canonical and organized methods and teachings of yoga but with the putative natural processes of introversion that originally underlay them. ~ C. G. Jung

It's very good for you, riding. You know how every model is like, 'I do yoga.' Well, I find horses to have the same effect, in that you have to put your ego aside and concentrate on making the horse do the things you want it to do, and move in the way you want it to move - particularly if you're doing dressage. ~ Edie Campbell

There is a "yoga body" aesthetic, which is long and sinewy. I am curvy. I get praised on a regular basis, with people telling me, "Wow, you're so brave," simply for showing my curvy body. Being brave is going to war; being curvy is not brave. We need to be careful with how we use our words. ~ Kathryn Budig

The use of drugs like mescaline may serve an appropriate purpose. Indeed, "Psychedelic" drugs have been widely used in the spiritual traditions of the world, including the Yoga of Patanjali, though they were never advertised as ultimate keys to enlightenment, merely as stepping-stones on the spiritual path. ~ Georg Feuerstein

In the present the eternal stays, the rest all drops out. ~ Nirmala Srivastava

When we truly forgive in our hearts, not only do we purify ourselves from the heavy burdens of negative karma but we begin to create a new space for positive energy to enter this world. When we forgive, we are no longer chained to the negative actions we have created in the past. ~ Christopher Dines

Yoga cultivates the ways of maintaining a balanced attitude in day-to-day life and endows skill in the performance of one's actions. ~ B.K.S. Iyengar

The way Karma Ura sees it, a government is like a pilot guiding an airplane. In bad weather, it must rely on its instruments to navigate. But what if the instruments are faulty? The plane will certainly veer off course, even though the pilot is manipulating the controls properly. That, he says, is the state of the world today, with its dependence on gross national product as the only real measure of a nation's progress. "Take education," he says. "We are hooked on measuring enrollment, but we don't look at the content. Or consider a nation like Japan. People live a long time, but what is the quality of their life past age sixty?" He has a point. We measure what is easiest to measure, not what really matters to most people's lives - a disparity that Gross National Happiness seeks to correct. ~ Eric Weiner

Now I know why yoga is so life-giving for so many. I have never experienced a practice that combines such physical challenge and spiritual wellbeing in my life. ~ Emily Saliers

Maybe there's a heaven, like they say, a place where everything we've ever done is noted and recorded, weighed on big karma scales. Maybe not. Maybe this whole thing is just a giant experiment run by aliens who find out human hijinks amusing. Or maybe we're an abandoned project started by a deity who checked out a long time ago, but we're still hard-wired to believe, to try to make meaning out of the seemingly random. Maybe we're all part of the same unconscious stew, dreaming the same dreams, hoping the same hopes, needing the same connection, trying to find it, missing, trying again - each of us playing our parts in the other's plotlines, just one big ball of human yarn tangled up together. Maybe this is it. ~ Libba Bray

Whatever our destiny is, whatever our Karma is, if we simply accept the mercy of Guru, "Guru Kripa", it can completely liberate us from all of our previous Karmic bondage. ~ Radhanath Swami

The Self is infinite. The Self is eternal. You are that Self. Beyond words, thoughts, ideas, forms and belief systems. There is nothing but the Self. ~ Frederick Lenz

Those who are firm, enduring, simple and unpretentious are the nearest to virtue. ~ Confucius

Vibrations are nothing but Divine Love. ~ Nirmala Srivastava

God doesn't need to be a witness. He doesn't need to go to a court, does he? 'You' are the one who has to attain a witness state, so that there's no karma bondage. And 'God' only keeps on 'seeing'! ~ Dada Bhagwan

Gaining maturity in yoga practice involves learning to respect the paths that other people are on and acknowledging their merits, maybe even acknowledging that your own path is lacking in some area where another one excels. ~ Geeta Iyengar

Give me 30 days, I'll change your body. Give me 60 days , I'll change your life ~ Bikram Choudhury

Instructions for freedom:
1. Life's metaphors are God's instructions.
2. You have just climbed up and above the roof, there is nothing between you and the Infinite; now, let go.
3. The day is ending, it's time for something that was beautiful to turn into something else that is beautiful. Now, let go.
4. Your wish for resolution was a prayer. You are being here is God's response, let go and watch the stars came out, in the inside and in the outside.
5. With all your heart ask for Grace and let go.
6. With all your heart forgive him, forgive yourself and let him go.
7. Let your intention be freedom from useless suffering then, let go.
8. Watch the heat of day pass into the cold night, let go.
9. When the Karma of a relationship is done, only Love remains. It's safe, let go.
10. When the past has past from you at last, let go.. then, climb down and begin the rest of your life with great joy. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert