Centre your Love
It is everyone’s experience that in an emotionally imbalanced state, no one can perform their work perfectly. If you love a person, you experience happiness when you see and hear that person. The result is that the mind does not remain in a balanced state and the work therefore becomes irregular. The same happens when the mind is overpowered by anger, jealousy, greed, and so on. Work is bound to suffer. It is only when one is free of love and hate that work can be performed perfectly.
If you centre your love in God alone, only then will you be able to perform your worldly duties properly and achieve your goal of attaining Him. The gopis, for example, were fully absorbed in loving thoughts of their beloved Shri Krishna, while performing all their household chores. There are many other scriptural examples of devotees who worked in the world with their mind fully attached to God. King Janak, Dhruva, and Prahlada all ruled kingdoms, and Arjuna even fought a war! These examples prove that everyone is well-practiced in performing detached action.
Your attachment is centred only in a handful of people, such as your spouse, children, parents, and so on, and you limit yourself to the mere performance of duty towards others. All you have to do is restrict yourself to the level of duty-bound performance, even towards the handful you are attached to. It is the nature of the mind to love. If this love is directed to God, then both your material duties and spiritual goal can be pursued simultaneously. This is the intelligent course of action prescribed in the Gita. Fix the mind on God and continue to work with your senses and body, just as an axle remains fixed while the wheel continues to move.
Some say that work is hampered when love for God increases. This does not happen in the initial stages of devotion, but it does in an advanced stage of spiritual practice. However, there is no need to worry. Even if you are eventually unable to perform your duties, there is nothing to worry about because God will take all your responsibilities. But if you deliberately disregard your duties, and do not love God, then you will be punished for your negligence.
So now you can see that the true practical form of karma yoga is to fulfil your duties in the world and lovingly attach your mind to God, mana yaar me tana kaar me. In fact, Lord Krishna instructed Arjuna in the Gita, 8.7:
tasmat sarveshu kaleshu mamanusmara yuddhya cha.
“Remember Me every moment while performing your duty.” Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj always counselled that all aspiring devotees will have to sincerely practice this, and in time, it will start to happen naturally.
Spirituality in Daily Living, Vol. 3, p19–22
Kripalu Bhaktiyoga Tattvadarshan, Vedic knowledge revealed by Jagadguru Shri Kripalu Ji Maharaj and presented in English by Dr Vishaka Tripathi, president of Jagadguru Kripalu Parishat.
https://www.jkpliterature.org.in/en/product/spirituality-in-daily-living-set-of-4
