Gorakhnath and the Kanphata Yogis c17.63

c17.63

In this connection it may be of interest to note that Professor Hiriyanna¹ says that the *Gītā* would lose its entire significance if action were not regarded as its essential lesson. And he holds that the central point of the teaching is activism, *karma-yoga*. He goes on to define karma in terms of duties prescribed by custom and tradition, the *varṇa-dharmas* (the specific customary duties of the various orders of society). So that, for him, *karma-yoga* in the *Gītā* means ‘harnessing’ or ‘applying oneself to’ social obligations. The concern of the individual is solely with action, never with its fruits.