Karma Yoga: The Yoga of Selfless Action

Work as worship — the complete path of karma yoga from the Gita to daily practice

What is karma yoga and how do you practise it in everyday work?

Karma yoga is one of the four classical paths of yoga described in the Bhagavad Gita — the path of selfless action. The practice involves doing all work as a form of service, without attachment to personal reward or recognition, as a path to both ethical refinement and liberation. Its psychological overlaps include intrinsic motivation, flow theory, and prosocial motivation research; the evidence for the framework as a whole is contemplative and philosophical rather than experimentally established.

Of the four yogas (karma, jnana, bhakti, raja), karma yoga is the most accessible to people embedded in worldly roles. It does not require solitude, renunciation, or formal spiritual practice — it requires only that you bring a specific quality of intention to whatever you are already doing. The Gita’s claim is radical: full engagement with your duties, performed without craving for results, is itself a complete spiritual path. The practices below translate this into workable daily inquiry.