Unit-XI

•Nishkama karma, or selfless service, is the

fragrant flower of altruistic love. It is not to be
performed for the satisfaction of the person rendering
the service or the person at whose bidding it is done.
Man should regard nishkama karma as the purpose for
which he is given life.

•Whatever be the work we do, we

should do it as an offering to God and for His pleasure.

•Members and office-bearers of the Sathya Sai Seva Dal

should not feel obliged to do service on the ground
that the rules and regulations require them to do so.
They should not look upon the regulations as
compelling them to do service. Without being
regimented by rules and regulations, we should take
up service activities for the purification of our own
hearts.
•All these activities form an integral
part of human life and cannot be described as spiritual
endeavour. Instead, we should undertake today what is
known as nishkama karma, or action performed without
any desire for the fruit thereof.

•The disabled and the diseased also

constitutes an obligation in one’s daily life and cannot
be described as being nishkama karma or motiveless
work. This is because man’s love for the universe is not
without selfishness. If man loves any object, he does so
for his own sake and pleasure.
•In practice od Nishkaam karma yog there is no loss of efforts – there is no harm.
Even a little of this knowledge can protect you from great fear of birth and death
with its evil effects.

•You will reap the fruits of what you saw.

•Mind is so framed that it cann’t work without expectation of fruits or aniticipation of
rewards for action.
•Eg. If you smile to your friend then you expect him/her to smile back in return.
•This is the inborn nature of people.
•Thus Nishkam karma says that-The mind is filled with purity if you work without
expectation of fruits.
1. No effort of nishkam karma is wasted
2. There are no obstacles (pratyavaya) in the path of nishkam karma and
3. Nishkama karma protects one from the greatest fear

•Krishna is very categorical and confident in what he is saying. He is not using words
like ‘maybe’ or ‘could be.’ There is no doubt in his mind. This is so. To understand the
attributes of nishkam karma we need to understand , and is opposite to sakam karma,
because we are all familiar with this karma.
•Every effort however much it is in the path of sakam karma is a wasted effort. And
the key word is expectation (kamana). The formula for sakam karma is:

Karma + kamana = sakam karma

•Eg. And the kamana knows no ends. When I was in India and in medical school, my
aim was to make 100, 000 rupees. That was my goal. That was my dream. Now I have
more than 100,000 dollars but do you think my kamana is gone. Is this the end of my
expectations? Kamana does not work that way.
•A new computer or a new music mantra is always on sale. A new Porsche convertible
that can go from 0 – 60 miles per hour in no time is in the showroom. All you have to do
is to test drive it. They all are aiming at this never satiable desire and kamana
phenomenon. But, there is no fulfillment, there is no satisfaction, there is no peace and
there is no happiness. Frustration is always the outcome. We keep on making efforts but
we never get the expected outcome.

•Krishna says that on the contrary to sakam karma, no effort is wasted in the path of
nishkam karma. This is interesting. Even a small effort is satisfying. There is always
fulfillment. Frustration never happens. The formula for nishkam karma is:

Karma – kamana = nishkam karma

•Krishna is saying us to take out the kamana factor. Simply eliminate the expectation part.
And then there is no wasted effort. Any effort you make will bring some result. And you
are thankful for that result. There is no preconceived expectation of how a result should
turn out to be. It does not mean that such a person will not drive a porshe convertible, but
then he will be happy with it and without it too.
•The second point is really interesting. We find obstacles in every walk of our life and
Krishna says that there are no obstacles in the path of nishkam karma. Krishna will
put a lot of astrologers and Swamis out of business. They live on eliminating obstacles
from our life. A ruby will eliminate any problems from the bad aspects of planet Sun or a
sapphire will work against Shani. There is a whole science of mantras and japas based on
this principle. And here comes Krishna who says all you need to do is to follow the path of
nishkam karma, and there will be no obstacles at all.
•And this statement has two angles we can look from. First of all if you do not have any
preconceived expectation, whatever comes is o.k. A man going on the path of nishkam
karma does not see obstacles as obstacles. It is like the flow of any river or a brook. The
water starts. It has no map. A rock comes in front. It takes a side trip and keeps going. It
accepts the presence of stone and finds a solution and moves on. A man on the path of
nishkam karma has a friendly relationship with the obstacles while a man on sakam karma
has a “why this?” relatinship with the obstacle.
•And the second angle is a little difficult to understand. But it does happen to someone on
this path. A man on the path of nishkam karma does have fewer obstacles. It seems that the
energy of the universe flows along with such a person. It is more readily available to him
when compared to a man on the path of sakam karma. Whether this happens because of this
person being more cool and collected or whether this happens because such a person is in
more harmony with the powers of nature, is difficult to say. But the divine does seem to
help such a person.
•And let us now address the last point. How does nishkam karma yoga protect some one
from the greatest fears? What fear is Krishna talking about? One of our greatest fears is
about our performance and success. Every one has heard of mid life crisis. Krishna is talking
about this kind of fear. Again it is easier to work with sakam karma. We are expected to be
somewhere by our age of 40+ years. We evaluate our performance so far and judge whether
we have been successful or not. I had a patient who is 50+ years old and has been happy or
not so happy like many of us. One day he looked quite sad. His wife had left him. She was
seeking a divorce. That did not bother him so much. What bothered him more was the fact
that she was leaving him for another women. This shattered him completely. It took a lot of
time for him to recover from this episode. This is the kind of fear Krishna is talking about.
We have preconceived ideas about our successes and our failures. And we are always afraid
of not meeting up to our expectations. Will my son respect me? Will my daughter listen to
me? Will she marry the guy I choose for her or will she defy my stand? All these are our
day-to-day concerns. If you take out these expectations, there is no fear. If you accept life as
it presents itself, you will never have any fear. But, we do not want to be happy. If the wife
leaves me and I am not sad, I will be branded abnormal. I must look sad if that happens to
me. And we keep this going on and on. But Krishna wants us to break that routine. Drop the
kamana and you will have no fear.
•Sakam karma has been translated in English (by some) as selfish action. And, nishkam
karma has been termed ‘selfless action.’ It is important to understand that these translations
are not accurate. If I do a yagya for the benefit of whole mankind it is not a selfish act but it
is still sakam karma. Whenever there is kamana (expectation) the action is sakam karma.
So, Krishna is not talking about good karma and bad karma. He is not talking about right
and wrong. He is talking about whether you have any desire or expectation of a result or not.
If you are thinking of doing service to poor and down trodden in Africa and want heaven in
return, it is sakam karma. And when you just go for a walk without any expectations, there
is nishkam karma. Actually, it should just be called karma yoga. And by default a person
on the path of karma yoga (nishkam karma) will be peaceful, happy and fearless. This
person is bound to be effective, more productive and highly successful.