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Book-Summary - Walking the Walk - A karma yoga manual

This is a great book for introducing various concepts of Karma Yoga. Here is the summary of what I learned

  • Yoga means to join or concentrate.
  • Most of the decisions we make are based on emotions and feeling, then we reason out our decisions. Then, our mind twists the chronology of this decision making. Thus, we remember as if we had a good reason for making that decision
  • Mind also acts as a link between mind world and physical world in the form of ಇಚ್ವೆ (will). Only when there is ಇಚ್ಚ ಶಕ್ತಿ (will) that desire will get transformed into ಕಮ೯ (karma).
  • In Bhakti yoga, emotions are higher.
  • In Jnana yoga, reasoning is of higher importance.
  • In Karma yoga, will is more and it is directed outwards.
  • In Raja yoga, will is more and it is directed inwards.
  • When we are studying about emotions and it’s effects on mind, we think mind is only engulfed in emotion only. But the will and reason is still there but with reduced capacity. The reason and willingness will be helping the emotions.
  • Purity, patience and preference should be there in the Saadhana
  • In life, we should cultivate all 3 types of yoga (Bhakti, Jnana, Karma/Raja)  to develop emotion, reason and will power.
  • We need to practice intense attachment and intense detachment. When you take up work have intense attachment and then once completed have intense detachment.
  • Karma is to do work.
  • Karma theory is a theory which cannot be proven but cannot be denied as well. It has 3 parts
    • Every action has consequences
    • Everyone wants to be happy
    • For every good work we expect good outcomes and for every bad work we expect some bad outcome
  • Karma ಫಲ (fruit/result) has 2 versions - ಸುಖ (sukha/happy/joy) and ದು:ಖ (dhukha/sad/sorrow)
  • Karma only determines our experiences but do not determine the actions. The current sukha or dukha is determined by past karma, but what action we do now is not determined by past karma rather we have full freedom and we own full responsibility for the decisions we take.
  • Another way to think of Karma theory -
    • We are the creators and owners of our destiny
    • Our present experience is determined by past actions. Our future experience is determined by present actions
  • Freedom and responsibility go hand in hand. We need to take responsibility for getting freedom 
  • We are trying to understand about this vast universe with our limited mind
  • We are Atman, we acquire body for a short while, then do stuff and then leave that body. Beyond that can we know what and where are we?
  • Why we took body, why this cycle of birth and death is necessary, I guess no one can answer.
  • When the ignorance arises, Atman identifies itself with finite. Once it identifies itself with Atman, it wants to fill it’s emptiness with things/experience/people. Hence, desires will arise.
  • A mind filled with desires will not have peace and contempt. 
  • Every time we act on a desire, that is for every action / karma, we have 2 outcomes. Karma phala i.e. joy or sorrow and then there is ಸಂಸ್ಕಾರ (samskara/impression). Next time, our senses comes in contact with the similar object or situation this, ಸಂಸ್ಕಾರ will get triggered. This will generate desire which will make us do the work based on that desire. Every time we do it, this impression or ಸಂಸ್ಕಾರ becomes stronger and stronger
  • When the impression becomes desire and moves to consciousness, we have a choice to either act on it or ignore it
  • Start with good desires but then transcend into giving up all desires
  • Use good desires to get out of bad desires. Once done, go to no desires
  • How do we practice detachment of karma?
    • One who believes in God - make work as an offering to God (ಕಾಯಕವೇ ಕೈಲಾಸ) 
    • One who do not believe in God - work for works sake.
  • ಶ್ರದ್ದೆ (Shradhe/discipline) is necessary for karma yoga
  • Through ಶಾಸ್ತ್ರ (Shastra/inscriptions/previous masters), ಯುಕ್ತಿ (yukthi/reasoning/logic), ಅನುಭೂತಿ (anubhuthi/experience), we learn what is ಧಮ೯(dharma).
  • Work for works sake & sticking to Dharma -
    • Self confidence to remain strong even after praise and blame
    • forbearance towards vagaries of world,
    • Conviction in the power of goodness
  • For work as an offering to God -
    • Start with God work as separate and real work as separate work.
    • Slowly transition to every work is God work
    • We are not helping anyone rather just serving another form of God. Then the work we are doing for others is the worship we are doing. So work is worship
  • To follow karma yoga, 2 important qualities we need to develop is ವೈರಾಗ್ಯ (vairaagya/ignorance/ I think it is patience to decide if we really need to do) and ಅಭ್ಯಾಸ (abhyasa/practice).
  • Perquisite for karma yoga -
    • interest
    • strong determination to gain freedom,
    • shraddhe - faith in one self and faith in God/higher reality
  • Make body, mind and speech align. What we think , what we say and what we do all should be same.
  • Everyone will have the different goals based on the experience they have.
  • No one can force a goal on to a person. It has to come from within. 
  • Only when a person experience pain in bondage they urge for freedom
  • We need to return to our native simplicity. When we are simple, we are happy and free