Yoga for your life
We continue our study of different paths or branches of Yoga. Karma Yoga is the Yoga of action, and it focuses on the causes and effects of an individual's actions. Karma Yoga's goal is to guide one to spiritual freedom through selfless service to others. Karma achieves union with God through right actions and service. It seeks to influence destiny positively. This path's most important principle is to act unselfishly, without attachment and with integrity.
Karma Yoga practitioners believe all actions-bodily, vocal, or mental-have far reaching consequences and we must assume full responsibility. Karma practitioners don't receive rewards for good deeds, nor is it attached to a certain outcome. They are not vested in a positive or negative result. Since actions aren't performed for self-gratification, the person performing the service is completely involved in what they're doing. All the focus is in the moment without worry of success, failure, or ego. In Karma Yoga the ego is sublimated, which means ego passes from a solid to a vapor state or diminishes. This is your goal in Yoga in the pursuit of Oneness and Enlightenment.
Karma Yoga stands for activity in general but also for the invisible action of destiny. According to Yoga, every action of body, speech, and mind produces visible and also hidden consequences. Sometimes the hidden consequences, destiny, are far more significant then the obvious repercussions. You are always free to make choices, so Karma isn't blind destiny. The purpose of Karma Yoga is to regulate how you act in the world so you are not bound by karma, you don't want bad (black) karma and you want to go beyond good (white) karma to no karma at all. Karma binds you to the state of un-enlightenment, which is undesirable because in it you are neither free nor blissful.
In the Gila it is said, "Work incessantly. Your duty is to work but not expect the fruits thereof." The central teaching of the Gila is non-attachment to work. Breathing, eating, seeing, hearing, thinking, etc., are all Kannas. Thinking is the real Kanna, likes and dislikes constitute real Kaffila. There are three kinds of Karma: Sanchila is all the accumulated kannas of the past. Part of it is seen in the character of man, in his tendencies and aptitudes, capacities, inclinations and desires. Prarabdha is the karma responsible for the present body. It's ripe for reaping. It can't be avoided or changed. It is only exhausted by being experienced and you pay your past dues. Kriyamana is Kanna now being made for the future.
You must try to do actions that can bring the maximum of good and the minimum of evil. The law ofkamIa is, as a man sows so he shall reap. It expounds the riddle of life and the universe. It brings solace, satisfaction, and comfort to one and all. It is a self-evident truth and even Americans have full belief in this doctrine. A study of this law gives encouragement to the hopeless man, to the desperate, and to the ailing. Man's thoughts, habits, and character create destiny. There is every chance for his correction and improvement by changing his thoughts and habits. A bad person can become a saint, and a poor person can become a king, etc. This mighty KamIa law provides for all of this. It pushes man to right thinking, speech, and action. If all people understand this law and execute their daily duties carefully, they would rise to sublime heights in the ladder of spirituality. They would be moral and virtuous and have a happy, peaceful, and contended life. Blessed is the man who understands and lives in kamIa law. More next issue. If you have questions, you may e-mail me at yogause@aol.com.
Spread Stretch
This is an excellent limbering exercise. It's a great stretch for INNER THIGHS, ARMS, SPINE, RIB CAGE, SHOULDERS, and NECK. It tones the LEGS, opens the HIPS, and stimulates the BLOOD FLOW in the PELVIC REGION. It also tones the LIVER, SPLEEN, and KIDNEYS. The TORSO receives a nice twisting action and the sideways stretch counters stiffiless in the BACK and welcomes a loose fluidity into the BODY. Dancer and I disclaim any liabilities or loss in connection with the exercise and advice herein.
1. Sit with your legs opened as wide as comfortable.
2. Turn and face your right leg and reach for your foot as you stretch the body down (you might only reach down the shin, work and time will get you toward your foot). Hold 10-20 counts.
3. Turn your shoulders to face front as you reach your left hand toward your right foot. Hold 10-20 counts, and then repeat on the other leg.
4. Walk your hands forward as you reach your anns out trying to rest your body on the floor. Keep your knees on the ground and your feet turned back. Hold 10-20 counts, relax and repeat.