Karmic Yoga and the Inner Work

It was said that the Dalai Lama meditates four hours a day. When one of his close associates were asked how he spend so much time meditating with his busy schedule he said that the Dalai Lama ?meditated for other people, rather then himself.? He also said that the meditation ?allowed him to do the work.? The way he was affected by his spiritual path gave him the patience and energy to work with others. The ripples that he sent out while working with others were more positive because of this, so his meditation and self care actually created a win, win situation for everyone involved.

As we speak of Karmic Yoga many people think of it as doing only the outer work Mistakenly they think that the outer work is enough. They think that concentrating on working on the outside will make the work that needs to be done on the inside happen automatically. To the contrary, the truth is that a unhealthy and unhealed inside will taint and dampen one?s abilities and effectiveness on the outside. But if one uses their energy on the inside, instead of on the outside, doing the inner work and cultivating character, clarity, and joy while doing the outer-work, eventually the outer work will take care of itself.

The outer work will flourish because of what is happening on the inside. One?s performance will be the fruit of a healthy, loving individual and will come from a core of being, rather than an act of performing. One of the main tasks of all yoga, especially Karmic, is to free oneself from attachment not only to things, but to Maya, or the way that we have been taught to believe things are.
The world of Maya is the world of illusion. It was a world put together piece by piece to help us understand our world. Maya gives us the illusion that we can predict what is going to happen in our lives. It gives us the illusion that we can control nature and control other people. It takes away our fear and gives us comfort, but Maya, in fact, is an illusion. It is a tool created in order to comfort us, as well as being a poor substitution for faith.
If we work on the inside through meditation, contemplation, and prayer, we break free from the illusion and enter into reality. We reconnect with and become one with the divine presence in the world?the creative power that we call god. We then use Maya as it was meant, as a tool, or a doorway to enter and exit as is necessary, to get things done in the physical world. This can only be done by being engaged in the inner work. The inner work is difficult. It means going inside and challenging all of our ideas about the world. It means letting go of our false identity and claiming our true one. This work is difficult when we have conditioned for so many years and when every book, movie, television show, newspaper, and even friends and relatives keep feeding us an identity that really isn?t ours. Letting go is like a death?the death before resurrection.
As you do the great work of Karmic Yoga, working to make the world a better place, remember that the inner work is always necessary. It is something that you must do to remain healthy, strong, and to stay in touch with reality. Not only the reality of the world, but the reality of your greater self. When this is done your work will come from the heart and you will fill the world with the joy of your spirit.

Dr. J. W. Gilmore is a Writer, Spiritual Director, Anti-oppression Consultant and Wellness Consultant. He is a Certified Massage Therapist and Reflexologist, a Reiki Master Teacher, a Martial Arts Instructor and a Spiritual Coach living in Costa Rica. For more article like this or similar information visit: http://www.dswellness.com
On Being Love?s Warrior: A Warrior?s Manual on Becoming the Compassionate Warrior Within, Dr. Kendall Ronin.