Practice of Karma Yoga

by Swami Sivananda

This volume is a book that has been carefully prepared for the benefit of those who are intricately placed in life that they cannot tread the path of renunciation or Sannyasa. Certainly, unless one cleanses the Augean stables of his mind and expurgates all impurities through selfless and disinterested service while living amid the toil and moil of the world, he will find himself in a fool’s paradise, when he puts on the second orange - coloured garb to follow the path of renunciation. So one has to do Karma Yoga first ceaselessly and untiringly, and develop all noble qualities such as cosmic love, endurance, nobility and brahmacharya, and thus equip himself for the great ensuing battle royal, and finally come out the victor.

Table of Contents:

• Publishers' Note
• Preface
• Only God I Saw
• Universal Prayer
• Siva Manasa Pooja
• Introduction
• Yoga of Service
  1. Who is God?
  2. Yoga of Service
  3. What Is Karma?
  4. Right and Wrong Action
  5. Nishkamya Karma Yoga 
  6. Karma Yoga: A Means to Knowledge
  7. Qualifications of a Karma Yogi
  8. Work Is Worship
  9. Yoga of Equanimity
  10. Poised Reason
  11. Work without any Motive
  12. No Loss in Karma Yoga
  13. Health and Yoga
  14. Secret of Karma Yoga
• Universal Laws
  1. Law of Karma 
  2. Laws of Causation
  3. Law of Action and Reaction
  4. Law of Compensation 
  5. Law of Retribution
  6. Law of Resistance
• Svadharma
  1. What Is Svadharma? 
  2. Duties of Man 
  3. The Three Gunas
  4. Karma Indriyas
  5. The Pseudo-Karma Yogi 
  6. Mithyachara 
  7. Instructions to Aspirants
• Karma adn Freedom
  1. Free Will 
  2. Philosophy of Right and Wrong 
  3. As You Sow, So Shall You Reap 
  4. Man Can Outgrow Environments 
  5. Man Is the Master of His Destiny 
  6. Gleanings
  7. Free Will Versus Fatalism 
• Karma adn Reincarnation
  1. Karma 
  2. Doctrine of Reincarnation 
  3. Lawful and Forbidden Actions
  4. Three Kinds of Karma 
  5. Sin Is a Mistake Only 
  6. Secrets of Karma 
  7. Karma in the Jain Philosophy 
  8. Purushartha Versus Prarabdha
  9. Conduct 
• Garland of Karma Yoga
  1. The Four Paths
  2. Live up to Your Ideal 
  3. Karma Nishtha 
  4. Transcend the Dvandvas
  5. Naishkarmya 
  6. Meditation and Action 
  7. Kill Desire 
  8. Sannyasins, Wake up 
  9. Practice of Brahmacharya 
  10. Glory of Brahmacharya
  11. Practical Instructions 
  12. Importance of Brahmacharya 
  13. Fashion: a Terrible Curse 
  14. Control of Smoking Habit 
  15. Meat-Eating 
  16. Gambling 
• Karma Yoga in the Gita
  1. The Wheel of the Universe 
  2. Scope for Personal Exertion 
  3. Prakriti Does Everything 
  4. Action and Inaction 
  5. Action and Actor 
  6. Self-surrender 
  7. Karma Yoga Better than Renunciation 
• Inspiring Stories
  1. Tiruvalluvar 
  2. Story of a Bania 
  3. Raja Gopichand 
  4. Story of a Pandit 
  5. The Jolly Ant 
  6. Raja Janaka 
  7. An Ideal Karma-Jnana-Yogi 
  8. Highest Self-sacrifice 
  9. Story of a Bird 
• Appendix
• Special Instructions for Karma Yogis 
• Manu Smriti 
• Spiritual Diary.

About the Author:

Sri Swami Sivananda , born on the 8th September, 1887, in the illustrious family of Sage Appayya Dikshita and several other renowned saints and savants, Sri swami Sivananda had a natural flair for a life devoted to the study and practice of Vedanta.

He was an inborn eagerness to serve all and an innate feeling of unity with all mankind. He is the author of over 300 volumes and has disciples all over the world, belonging to all nationalities, religions and creeds. To read his works is to drink at the Fountain of Wisdom Supreme. On 14th July, 163 he entered Mahasamadhi.