Karma-yogi means

Expressions researched:
"Karma-yogi means"

Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures

So karma-yogī means he is free from the reaction of activities. He is karma-yogī.

Lecture on BG 4.1 -- Montreal, August 24, 1968:

Pradyumna: The yoga systems in the Bhagavad-gītā, karma and jñāna... Karma turns into karma-yoga, jñāna system is jñāna-yoga with bhakti and they can't be...

Prabhupāda: Yes, when you add this word yoga, that means bhakti. Yoga means bhakti. Somebody is addicted to these material activities. So they are advised to act in the terms of karma-yoga. What is that karma-yoga? The karma-yoga, if somebody is describing the Bhagavad-gītā, yat karoṣi. "Whatever you are doing, kuruṣva tad mad-arpaṇam. You are working? All right. What you have earned?" "One thousand dollars." "Give Me." Are you prepared? Kṛṣṇa is asking, kuruṣva tad mad-arpaṇam. So if anyone is agreed, "Yes, Kṛṣṇa, here is the money for You," then he's a karma-yogī. Otherwise he's a karmī. And the difference between karma-yogī and karmī means he has to suffer the result, good or bad, and karma-yogī has nothing to suffer because he's doing everything for Kṛṣṇa. Just like Arjuna. In the beginning he considered that "If I kill my kinsmen and my grandfather I'll be sinful." Yes. But the same thing he acted under the direction of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa wanted. So he's free. So karma-yogī means he is free from the reaction of activities. He is karma-yogī. Similarly jñāna-yogī. Somebody is addicted to work very hard. Somebody is addicted to speculate philosophically. So for the speculator, Kṛṣṇa says, bahūnāṁ janmanām ante jñānavān māṁ prapadyate (BG 7.19). The persons who are addicted to speculative knowledge, after many, many births, he comes to the understanding: vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti (BG 7.19), "Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, is everything." That means termination of knowledge. That is jñāna-yoga. If by his research work he tries to understand what is Kṛṣṇa by philosophy or by science or anything, by chemistry, by physics... That is recommended in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam:

ataḥ pumbhir dvija-śreṣṭhā

varṇāśrama-vibhāgaśaḥ

svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya

saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam

(SB 1.2.13)

Svanuṣṭhitasya dharmasya saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam. It doesn't matter in whatever activities you are engaged, but if you want to know whether your engagement is leading to perfection, then this is the test of perfection. What is that test of perfection? Saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam (SB 1.2.13). Whether by your work the Supreme Personality of Godhead is satisfied. Just like Arjuna did. Arjuna, in the beginning, he wanted to satisfy himself by not fighting, and he fought to satisfy Kṛṣṇa. That is perfection. Saṁsiddhir hari-toṣaṇam (SB 1.2.13). Yes.

1974 Conversations and Morning Walks

Karma-yogī means one who does everything for Kṛṣṇa. He's karma-yogī.

Morning Walk -- April 1, 1974, Bombay:

Guest (4) (Indian man): ...ahaṁ yogī nikita.(?) So what is that? Can you give me some light on that?

Prabhupāda: Karma-yogī means one who does everything for Kṛṣṇa. He's karma-yogī.

Guest (1): One who does everything for...?

Prabhupāda: For Kṛṣṇa.

Guest (1): For Kṛṣṇa.

Prabhupāda: Just like you are doing, doing some work. For whom you are doing?

Guest (1): For my own benefit.

Prabhupāda: That's all. So that is karma. But when you do the same thing for Kṛṣṇa, that is karma-yoga.

Guest (1): But (Hindi), if you do it for others, for Kṛṣṇa, for Kṛṣṇa's...

Prabhupāda: Others... Others means... That is also a humbug. You cannot do anything for others. You do everything for yourself. That is a false propaganda. You see? That is humbugism. So either you can do for yourself or for Kṛṣṇa. That's all.

Guest (1): I see. (Gujarati)

Prabhupāda: (break) ...become a slogan nowadays. Nobody does for others. "For others," "For the poor," these are all humbug.

Guest (1): You think people are doing something hospitals, that is for others?

Prabhupāda: Yes. That is also puṇya-karma.

Guest (1): (Hindi) Helping these temples, hospitals...?

Prabhupāda: Yes. Temple construction is different from hospital construction. That is for Kṛṣṇa.

Guest (1): But suppose somebody's doing hospitals. Is it not for others?

Prabhupāda: Yes. But how many you can give shelter? A few. There are so many suffering people. You cannot provide hospitals for all of them. The hospitals are increasing, and the disease also increasing.

Guest (1): No, as you say that doing for others is humbug.

Prabhupāda: No, no. Humbug means he cannot do it.

1976 Conversations and Morning Walks

Karma-yogī means the third-class. He's karmī and little mixed up with bhakti. Adulterated.

Meeting with Endowments Commissioner -- August 24, 1976, Hyderabad:

You have to teach people how he can think of Kṛṣṇa, man-manā. Then the mission is there. That is Kṛṣṇa also. Kṛṣṇa says,

satataṁ kīrtayanto māṁ

yatantaś ca dṛḍha-vratāḥ

namasyantaś ca māṁ bhaktyā

nitya-yuktā upāsate

(BG 9.14)

You have to teach them like that. Satataṁ kīrtayanto mām. As we are doing. We're always chanting Hare Kṛṣṇa. But if you manufacture in your own way, that you can do. Yaḥ śāstra-vidhim utsṛjya vartate kāma-kārataḥ na sa siddhim avāpnoti (BG 16.23). That will never be successful. If you have to execute the mission of Kṛṣṇa, you have to take instruction of Kṛṣṇa and do it rigidly. Then you'll be successful. Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa's mission is that one must know Kṛṣṇa and surrender to Him. This is mission. Kṛṣṇa does not say that by karma-yoga one can understand Him. Kṛṣṇa says bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). You cannot say "We are karma-yogīs." Karma-yogī means the third-class. He's karmī and little mixed up with bhakti. Adulterated. Jñāna-yogī, he's not a bhakta. He's jñānī, but just to bring him gradually, a little bhakti. You see? And real bhakti is anyābhilāṣitā-śūnyaṁ jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (Brs. 1.1.11). When it will be tintless of any karma and jñāna, then it is pure bhakti. That is Kṛṣṇa's mission. Sarva-dharmān parityajya (BG 18.66). Not mixed up with jñāna, karma, yoga. Otherwise, how Kṛṣṇa says bhaktyā mām abhijānāti (BG 18.55). He could have said, "Any way," as these rascals say, "Any way go, you will get Kṛṣṇa." That Kṛṣṇa does not say. Kṛṣṇa says bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). Manuṣyāṇāṁ sahasreṣu kaścid vetti māṁ tattvataḥ (BG 7.3). Janma karma me divyaṁ yo jānāti tattvataḥ (BG 4.9). So that tattva, bhaktyā mām abhijānāti yāvān yaś cāsmi tattvataḥ (BG 18.55). So we have to take this. You manufacture in your own way, and still you carry out the mission of Kṛṣṇa. That is contradiction. You have to take the lesson from Kṛṣṇa. Then it will be successful. Karma-yoga is for the third-class. They are addicted to karma, a little bhakti, that's all. That is not pure. Jñāna-karmādy-anāvṛtam (CC Madhya 19.167). When there is not a tinge of karma and jñāna, that is pure bhakti.