Guest guest Posted November 29, 2003 Report Share Posted November 29, 2003 Hello friends, The following lines are from an article I found on the internet discussing the disadvantages of Karma Yoga.... " The disadvantage of Karma-Yoga is that it can quickly become a slippery slope of workaholism in the guise of spiritual endeavor. The world is always going to need healing. If one were to work at service twenty-three hours a day, when he laid his head down to rest on the twenty-fourth hour there would still exist a multitude of uncompleted tasks and projects. Shankara's objection to Karma-Yoga was that no amount of activity can produce spiritual growth because spiritual growth is the result of wisdom born of inner stillness. If this stillness is lost to an outer focus, regardless of good intentions, then Karma-Yoga becomes a force of positive social action, but nothing more profound " . The first half of this paragraph doesn't seem quite right to me because Karma Yoga teaches us about detached work and if we are not attached to our work then it can never result into workaholism. But the second half is what I don't fully understand. Can someone from this group comment on the validity of the above statements? regards, Siddharth Panwar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted November 30, 2003 Report Share Posted November 30, 2003 Hi All, Swami Vivekananda says to the effect, do not think by service you are helping the world, but you are helping only yourself. As I understand from my own teacher, the goal of the Karma Yoga is freedom from the little self while active in the world. Regards. Ramakrishna , " siddharth_ua " <siddharth_ua> wrote: > Hello friends, > > The following lines are from an article I found on the internet > discussing the disadvantages of Karma Yoga.... > > " The disadvantage of Karma-Yoga is that it can quickly become a > slippery slope of workaholism in the guise of spiritual endeavor. > The world is always going to need healing. If one were to work at > service twenty-three hours a day, when he laid his head down to rest > on the twenty-fourth hour there would still exist a multitude of > uncompleted tasks and projects. Shankara's objection to Karma-Yoga > was that no amount of activity can produce spiritual growth because > spiritual growth is the result of wisdom born of inner stillness. If > this stillness is lost to an outer focus, regardless of good > intentions, then Karma-Yoga becomes a force of positive social > action, but nothing more profound " . > > > The first half of this paragraph doesn't seem quite right to me > because Karma Yoga teaches us about detached work and if we are not > attached to our work then it can never result into workaholism. But > the second half is what I don't fully understand. Can someone from > this group comment on the validity of the above statements? > > regards, > > Siddharth Panwar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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