What is it meant by offering an act to God? How can we do that throughout the day? What is the procedure of sending the energy to our spiritual eye while offering any thought to God?
—Sharmila Chakravarty, India
Dear Sharmila,
Karma yoga is the practice of offering one’s daily actions to God. Since I was just reading The Art and Science of Raja Yoga by Swami Kriyananda, I offer his words on your question:
Everyone engages in mere activity, yet few people are karma yogis. The true karma yogi tries, by God-reminding activities, to redirect all the wrong impulses of his heart into wholesome channels. More than that, he tries to become aware of the divine energy flowing through him as he acts.
As the bhakti yogi is taught to be more concerned with loving purely than with defining exactly what it is that he loves, so also the karma yogi is taught that the spirit in which he serves is more important than the service itself.
For me, offering my daily actions to God means to slow down, to not be so rushed – either through my own mental agitation, or through the agitation of the world or people around me. Another way to put it is this: the quality of your response depends on how close you stand to your own center.
The practice of staying mentally even and uplifted – by bringing your inner gaze to the point between the eyebrows while you act – is a very effective tool. This lifts you automatically into the higher chakras and the more subtle, uplifted consciousness of these chakras.
Through your practice, you become anchored in the magnetic pull of the spiritual eye, which has the power to see and love God in everything and everyone.
Blessings and joy to you,
Sabari
