Recorded at the Vedanta Society of Western Washington on November 6, 2011.

Swami Avikarananda speaks on Swami Vivekananda’s teaching of Karma Yoga, clarifying that yoga in the Vedantic sense is union with our true divine nature, not merely postures or breathing exercises. Karma means action—and also the effects action leaves on the mind as tendencies and character. Much of human work is driven by the pursuit of pleasure, leading to attachment to results, possessions, status, and approval, and therefore to recurring dissatisfaction. Through a personal story of an overburdened school principal, he illustrates how attachment and blame can deepen suffering when life does not conform to one’s expectations.

Drawing on the Bhagavad Gita and Vivekananda’s lectures on Karma Yoga, he explains “right action” as work done without selfish motive and without obsession over outcomes. Such restraint strengthens the will, purifies the mind, and supports awareness of inherent divinity. For those with faith, the fruits of action are offered to God; for others, work can be offered in a spirit of service to humanity. He concludes by emphasizing Vivekananda’s ideal of integrating all four yogas—karma, bhakti, jnana, and raja—so that activity, devotion, discernment, and mental discipline support one another in the pursuit of knowledge of the Self.