Greetings Reader -

Back in the thrilling days of yesteryear, I was a marketing consultant for a company that made 3-D graphics systems for creating virtual sets, the likes of which are now a regular feature of live TV. The company was based in France and I was hired to help the company make inroads into the U.S. market.

The gig only lasted a year, but that was long enough for me to score a free trip to L'Hexagone. They flew me in for a meeting at their corporate offices in Paris to make plans for how to present their product at an upcoming National Association of Broadcasters convention in Las Vegas.

Their target customers were local broadcasters who would, presumably, want to use virtual rather than physical sets for their evening newscasts. With this in mind, I proposed that I demo their system by hosting a recurring live “newscast."

When the assembled executives asked how we would capture the attention of convention-goers as they passed by the booth, I had what I thought was a slam-dunk solution: start each “newscast” by playing the famously bombastic Finale of the William Tell Overture.

The execs were completely bewildered. For them, the music I was talking about invoked an image of 14th century Swiss soldiers marching triumphantly through the countryside. Why did I think that would be a perfect fit for a video production conference in the American southwest?

They had never heard of The Lone Ranger, the iconic TV western with which the Finale was indelibly associated for generations of 20th century Americans.

I explained it to them.

They didn’t believe me. The idea that everyone in America would instantly associate the Overture's trumpeting fanfare and galloping rhythm with the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains sounded so far-fetched that they thought I was just making it up.

It was a tough sell, but I talked them into it.

I had a tougher sell on the train ride from Paris to their manufacturing facility in Grenoble, a small city 575 km to the southeast..

I was seated next to the new CEO, a passionate super-achiever who had been hired for the sole purpose of selling the company to a bigger fish. We had a lively conversation about inspiration and motivation that eventually led to (wouldn’t you know it) yoga philosophy.

I shared my understanding of karma-yoga as it's presented in the Bhagavad Gita. He was just as bewildered by the idea of letting go of attachments to the results of actions as he was by the idea that Rossini had written the theme song for a gunslinging touchstone of American pop culture.

But his incomprehension was understandable. Most people have a hard time believing that you can achieve anything without a passionate attachment to a desired outcome. What else would motivate someone to take action in the first place?

This is one of the mysteries—and challenges—of yoga wisdom: the idea that we should let go of our attachments to the results of our actions.

What makes it difficult to understand—or accept—is that “letting go” sounds like trading the desires we’re holding onto for . . . nothing. Not very motivating.

But the practice of karma-yoga isn’t a matter of resigning ourselves to action devoid of meaning or purpose; it’s actually a practice of developing progressively higher levels of motivation.

There are four levels of detachment in karma-yoga, each with a corresponding motivation:

1. Action without attachment to results: at the first level, a karma-yogi is motivated by the desire for stop accumulating karma—reactions to one’s actions—in order to be liberated from the cycle of repeated birth and death. (karma assumes samsara: reincarnation).
2. Action without attachment to both results and the actions themselves: at the second level, a karma-yogi is motivated by the desire for transcendental knowledge to be revealed from within their heart.
3. Offering all actions and their results to Isvara; the Supreme Person (the Highest Truth or Ultimate Reality): a karma-yogi’s motivation at this level is to connect with the source of transcendental knowledge: the in-dwelling form of Universal Consciousness.
4. Offering to act as an instrument of divine will with faith that the results will be determined by divine will: at the highest level, karma-yoga finds its ultimate fulfillment in bhakti and the karma-yogi is motivated by a desire to offer loving service to the Supreme Person.

Here are four corresponding verses from the Bhagavad Gita:

This last verse reveals the real secret of karma-yoga: the yoga of action isn’t about changing what we do; it’s about redirecting the mind: "Direct your mind toward me."

The transformative power of karma-yoga lies in a change of mindset, not a change in action.

And before we can redirect our minds, we need the ability to control the mind rather than be controlled by it.

Which means that karma-yoga, like all forms of yoga, begins with learning how to control the mind; a formidable task that requires an acknowledgement that our minds have a mind of their own and that many factors that are beyond our control play a part in determining how things turn out.

The irony of this is that success can be an obstacle to yoga.

Case in point: my friend, the CEO, succeeded in selling the company to a bigger fish, walked away with a big chunk of change for his efforts, and he credited his success to his own passionate attachment to achieving his objective, which only reinforced the illusion that he was “the doer” and that the results were within his control.

It's not just yoga wisdom that tells us that we don't ultimately control how things turn out. Try this:

1. Make a list of three things that you have control over.
2. For each thing you control, make a list of three things that you don't control upon which the thing you control depends.
3. Don't forget to consider things like the weather, other people, the law of gravity, etc.

Hi-yo, Silver! Away!

Wishing you all good fortune,

- Hari-k

P.S.: Dharma Rebellion II: Resistance and Renewal starts this Wednesday, October 22nd! Controlling your mind is the key to being able to think clearly, speak truthfully, and live peacefully, even in a chaotic world. There has never been a better time to take control of your own mind. It can be done. This workshop will show you how. CLICK HERE to get on the waitlist and be the first to know when enrollment opens.

P.P.S: I have two spots opening up for one-on-one mentoring for yoga teachers. CLICK HERE for complete information.