Karma yoga

"It might be of value here if we dealt with the various "yogas" so as to give to the student a clear concept as to their distinctions and thus cultivate his discrimination. The principal yogas are three in number, the various other so-called "yogas" finding their place in one of these three groups:"

"Raja Yoga stands by itself and is the king science of them all; it is the summation of all the others... Karma Yoga has a specific relation to physical plane activity, and to the working out into objective manifestation of all the inner impulses. In its ancient and simplest form it was the yoga of the third or Lemurian root race and its two best known expressions are: a. Hatha Yoga, b. Laya Yoga. The former has specifically to do with the physical body, its conscious (not subconscious and automatic) functioning and all the various practices which give man control over the different organs and the entire mechanical apparatus of the physical body. The latter has to do with the etheric body, with the force centers or chakras found in that body..."

"...if we divide the human torso into three departments it might be stated that:"

"Fiery aspiration is the sublimation of karma yoga. Devotion to Ishvara is the sublimation of bhakti yoga, whilst spiritual reading is the first step to Raja Yoga. "Devotion to Ishvara" is a large and general term covering the relation of the personal self to the higher self, the Ishvara or Christ principle in the heart."

"Therefore, without being attached to the results of activities, one should act as a matter of duty, for by working without attachment one attains the Supreme.[28]"

"Clearly, this notion of karma yoga is just a children's tale to keep everybody happy by boosting the non-yogi's spiritual self-esteem. What it describes is something you could call 'ethical living', and everyone agrees that this is important, but it is not yoga. In Patanjali's Yoga Sutra, it is given a place under the heading 'yama', the rules of ethical conduct .... a precondition for yoga practice, but not identical with it nor a substitute for it."