Essence of Karma-Yoga

"I owe my success to the basic, underlying philosophy of India. It goes back to the fundamental philosophy of the Gita, which is that you worship work and do it for its own sake and don't judge it by what results you achieve. Concentrate on doing your best in what you do."

- Rajat Gupta, Ex-CEO of Mckinsey & Co.


This is the man who by becoming first Indian CEO of Mckinsey in 1994 made waves all over the world on successfully breaking through the "glass ceiling" of corporate America. This is the man who by sheer grit and determination overcame all vicissitudes of life (it's noteworthy to mention here that Rajat lost both his parents by the time he was 18) and went on to become one of the true icons of Indian diaspora, the face of global India, and hence making Indians all over the world proud by his towering achievements. When a man of this stature attributes his life success to Gita philosophy, then that is something to pay heed to.

Karma-Yoga, as defined by Sri Krishna in "Bhagavad Gita", is working to the best of one's abilities without becoming selfishly attached to the fruits of work. It is Doing One's Duty to the best of one's ability abandoning worry and selfish attachments to the results, and remaining calm in both success and failure. This calmness of mind is the essence of Karma-Yoga. It can also be defined as doing work for the greater good of all without having "what-is-in-for-me" mindset. Paradoxically enough, the Karma-Yogi, by giving up the fruit of his action, does not lose it, but gains it in infinite measure.

As can be seen above, Karma-Yoga is a philosophy of life which if adopted in true spirit, has the potential to alter the course of one's life by giving it a sense of purpose. This purpose driven life has the power to uplift the collective destinies of Individuals, Societies and even Nations alike.

So let's all earnestly seek (if not pledge) to follow this philosophy of Karma-Yoga in our work and strive to become true Karma-Yogis who can make difference to our society and World at large.