This devotional attitude is essential in the run-up to knowledge.

In this way my personality discharges itself of desire and responsibility, and makes the ego, the doer, milder, and life lighter and lighter. Why light? After the consistent surrender to the greater, through karma yoga, my life becomes a reflection of the light, which I know how to appreciate through self-knowledge after sufficient karma yoga. I am the light of consciousness itself, and nothing but that. Karma yoga produces an objective, balanced mind (vairāgya), in which dislikes and preferences are neutralized, making it easier for me to understand and realize the knowledge that tells me that I am whole, full and unlimited consciousness.

If I dedicate everything to God, by what I think I am and what I think I have give back, I come to see that everything is īśvara (god). This works especially if I act according to the dharma, the set of harmonic laws on which the cosmos revolves. In this way I contribute to the divine miracle, which makes me happy. Bad actions (eventually) give disruptive results. Good actions bring me into balance and make the mind calm and balanced. In this way I acquire the discipline to prepare the mind for knowledge of the truth (of myself).

Doing good actions is nice, but it is only called karma yoga, when I worship īśvara with my actions. I thus internalize īśvara by remembering him (īśvara smarana), in everything I do. With the right dharmic intentions, karma yoga brings me in line with everything that is, īśvara. In this way my life becomes harmonious, and my mind peaceful.

To put it another way: Karma yoga is the natural posture in which all actions are mentally offered to īśvara (īśvara arpaṇa buddhi), entrusted, sacrificed as it were. Since all actions essentially come from īśvara and take place in īśvara, I give them back where they belong. To live as a person in īśvara's altar is an immense pleasure.

Since karma yoga is devotion to īśvara, there is actually no difference with bhakti yoga. Therefore, bhakti yoga is not a separate path to freedom. The real grace is the knowledge of the function of karma or bhakti yoga (!).

It is uplifting to be committed to your own actions. The five major forms of worship or sacrifice (pañca mahā yajña) of karma yoga are:
• deva yajña - Worship of īśvara, the Lord, in the form of gods, devatās or recognition of the sublime qualities of īśvara.
• pitṛ yajña - Worship of the Lord in the form of ancestors and leaders.
• ṛṣi yajña - Worship of the Lord in the form of seers (ṛṣis), teachers, and scriptures. Also called brahma yajña, after the brāhmaṇāḥ, those who preceded in the knowledge of brahman.
• manuṣya yajña - Worship of the Lord in the form of one's fellow man.
• bhūta yajña - Worship of the Lord in the form of the natural world of environment, plants, animals, etc.

When applied consistently, the actions of karma yogi do not conflict with dharma (dharma aviruddha karma). So the first stage of karma yoga is doing my actions for god, the second stage is receiving the results, a gift (prasāda) from īśvara (īśvara prasāda buddhi), regardless of whether it corresponds to my likes or dislikes. That acceptance brings evenness and equanimity of mind (samatva) when results come from the field.

It makes the karma yogi light, for he is relieved of stress and responsibility for the results, and it sharpens his discernment (viveka) about what he can control and what he cannot. So what can I check? That I act from my best wisdom and ability, and that at first sight I gratefully accept lesser results as a lesson! That's the only way to grow quickly to adulthood! In this way, every situation of life becomes meaningful. A great blessing.

This way of life purifies the mind in preparation for knowledge, jñāna, because karma yoga involves control of emotions and ways of thinking. Including giving up personal prejudices in the form of rāga-dveṣas, attachments, and dislikes. Also, I cannot condemn other people's ignorance, because I know that it is an effect of īśvara.

This 'putting dharma first' (following the example of dharma), requires discretion in action (yogaḥ karmasu kauśala), which helps to develop the subtlety of the mind and become an honest, grateful, cheerful, modest person. This brings dissociation from dealing with grief, duḥkha saṃyoga viyoga.

Karma yoga applied to the extreme, and with knowledge, the separated individual returns to where he belongs, īśvara. This is as good as true knowledge. When I have given everything away, as 'not mine', I experience the fullness of what remains. What remains is me, pure consciousness. Karma yoga performed to the extreme is as good as enlightenment, because I see that all actions and all results are īśvara. Then, when śravaṇa takes place in such an open, unagitated, self-disciplined, devout mind, there is little that will stand in the way of knowledge – then there is jñāna, knowledge – and freedom of saṁsāra follows.

Karma yoga therefore encompasses much more than seva, service in a certain spiritual setting such as an āśrama. Karma yoga is the preparatory means to jñāna yoga, knowledge yoga. The one who has not done his or her karma yoga well has to do knowledge yoga for a long time. The pure karma yogi is therefore a bhaktī. The jñānī is the one who no longer has to achieve anything with his bhakti or karma yoga, but enjoys pure love.

For freedom, you cannot skip the dharma of īśvara. For the pure mind, knowledge (jñāna) yoga or vedānta is a simple no-brainer. This mind recognizes in the lessons, the framework of its own being, and the knowledge unfolds its own nectar. The work of becoming pure is the hardest. One who does not attain mokṣa immediately has to regain the state of mind called karma yoga. This applies to everyone.