In the Vedas, the first portion is dedicated to different offerings, to different kinds of sacrificial acts. There are physical sacrificial acts, which are the grossest. Then there are sacrifices done with the senses. And the highest act of sacrifice is done with the mind — the subtlest and the most potent.

Therefore, meditation is the highest kind of Vedic sacrifice.

Before Krishna begins to speak about meditation, he clarifies this. Because many people think meditation means not thinking about anything. No. Meditation is action. You think, but you dedicate your thoughts — you make your thoughts an offering in the fire of the inner spiritual sacrifice.

So Krishna says: he performs his bounden duty without depending on the fruits of action. This is a definition of Karma Yoga. He who performs his duty without expecting results is a karma yogi.

Slowly, as explained in the previous chapters, as you act — even something simple like washing dishes in the kitchen — without expecting results, you are offering your actions.

You may say: what do you get in return? You don’t expect anything — but this is not completely correct. Krishna explains that the yogi acts with the body, the mind, the intellect, and even the senses, having renounced attachment, only for the purpose of purification of the self, purification of the mind.

So Karma Yoga is not expecting money, recognition, promotion, or anything external. But there is something: may my mind be purified — purified of tamas, of dullness, of ignorance. So the yogi is not acting endlessly without direction — there is an end, and the end is purification.

As you offer your actions, God gives you more purity. Then you are able to offer something more subtle — first your actions, then your prana, then your senses, then your mind — until your duty becomes meditation.

So slowly, slowly, through chapters 3, 4, and 5, the yogi grows — grows in purity, grows in subtlety, and grows in the nature of his duty. And in the sixth chapter, the duty of the yogi becomes meditation.

You may ask, what about karma? There is karma — meditation itself is the karma. There are beings whose duty is to sit and meditate, but this is not where we begin.

If someone comes to the ashram and says, “I feel my duty is to meditate,” you don’t immediately say yes. First, you begin with service — cleaning dishes, helping, acting. Slowly, slowly, if the teacher sees that purity is there, then at a certain point, your duty becomes to sit, to fix your mind on God, to enter Samadhi.

And by this, you bless the whole ashram. You don’t have to do anything else. By your Samadhi, everyone is uplifted more than by any external service.

So if you wonder why a yogi is not helping in the kitchen, it is because this is no longer his duty. He was doing it — but slowly, slowly, purity grew, and now his duty is different.

So Krishna says: not the one who is without fire, not the one who is without action. The life of a yogi is to learn how to offer. We start with the gross — physical action — and slowly move to the subtle — mind and intellect — until only inner offering remains.

In the beginning, the outer action is strong and the inner intention is weak. Slowly, slowly, the inner becomes strong and the outer becomes less, until what remains is pure, intense intention.

If from the beginning you say, “I don’t want to act, I only want to meditate,” it does not work. Swami Sivananda gives the example of a Brahmin who says, “I don’t want to perform rituals externally, I will do everything mentally.” It does not work like this. It must come through grace.

You do not choose your duty. God gives you your duty as you grow in purity and subtlety. If you choose from ego, the blessing will not be there. But if you submit yourself and follow your duty as guided, everything becomes blessed.

Swami Vishnudevananda tells a story. When he was in the ashram, one day he felt this was not spiritual life — only work, no time for practice — so he left. At first, he meditated many hours a day, but soon his mind could not sustain it. Restlessness came, and he realized he was not ready. He returned, and later fully surrendered to Karma Yoga.

This is the path. There are no shortcuts.

The shortcut is the long path.
The long path is the real shortcut.