- Working without expectation of any reward is good. It does not bring restlessness. But it is very difficult to do. You may think that you are doing selfless work, but somehow selfish motivation creeps in, from where you don’t know. Only with the power that comes from a great deal of spiritual disciplines are a few able to work selflessly.
- It is not possible to give up work all of a sudden. Your nature will lead you to do it, whether you want to or not. So the instruction is: work without attachment. Work done without attachment means work done without any expectation of reward.
- Selfless work is very difficult. So pray to God with a longing heart, ‘Oh Lord, grant me love and devotion at Your lotus feet and reduce my work. Whatever work you give me to do, grant that I may be able to do it selflessly.’
- There is no harm in working selflessly to do good. It’s very good for a person to try to work in this way.
- One must call on God without expecting any reward. But when one worships God with the intention of fulfilling desires, it finally becomes selfless. Dhruva practiced austerities to get a kingdom, but he realized God. He said, ‘If one comes across gold while picking up glass, why leave it there?’
- God can be realized only when one has acquired sattva. Charitable acts of the worldly are generally motivated. This is not good. One should act without expectation of any reward but it is very difficult to work selflessly.
- When Yudhisthira was about to offer all his sins to Krishna, someone (Bhima) warned him, ‘Please don’t do such a thing. What you offer to Krishna, you will receive back a thousand times.’ Well, one should work without expectation of any reward – renouncing all desires.
- Whatever work remains complete has to be done selflessly. When the mind is purified by selfless work without expecting any reward, a person develops love and devotion for God. God is realized by such devotion.
- If a householder is pure, he works without attachment. He offers the fruit of his actions – profit, loss, happiness and pain – to God. And he prays day and night for love of God. He has no other desire. This is called work without desire for results.
Nishkam Karma
- These charitable acts lead to God-realization if undertaken selflessly. They who act to earn a name or religious merit are not selfless in their actions. But you deserve to be called a perfect man.
- By performing work in a selfless manner, one gradually develops love and devotion for God. And by continuing to do work without expectation of any reward, one realizes Him.
- Work without expectation of any reward develops love for God within. Then one attains Him by His grace. One can see the Lord, one can talk to Him the way I am talking to you.