Karma Yoga is a free ebook based on lectures the Swami Vivekananda delivered in America in December, 1895 and January, 1896. Generally the Swami held two classes daily- morning and evening. Although the Swami delivered many lectures and held numerous classes in the two years and five months he had been in America, these lectures constituted a departure in the way they were recorded. Just prior to the commencement of his Winter -95-96 season in NYC, his friends and supporters aided him by advertising for and ultimately hiring a professional stenographer: The man selected, Joseph Josiah Goodwin, later became a disciple of the Swami and followed him to England and India. Karma Yoga is a set of lectures by Swami Vivekananda on the subject, one of the several yogic paths to enlightenment (see also Raja Yoga and Bhakti Yoga by the same author). Karma Yoga is a mental discipline which allows one to carry out one’s duties as a service to the entire world, as a path to enlightenment. By working in the real world, but giving up attachment to work, we can obtain spiritual liberation. Vivekananda discusses the concept of Karma in the Bhagavada-Gita, and singles out the Buddha as a primary example of this form of yoga.
