Live Session - Pragmatic Gita - Chapter 5, Shlokas 5 to 9, Vancouver, BC

The importance of bhava or intention

As discussed in chapter 4, the ‘bhava’ or intention is extremely important and that is what either creates bondage or liberates us from it. Even when we are performing puja for example, what matters is not the physical actions we perform but rather the bhava that matters. 

Krishna has said that even when we are performing our social duties, as long as we do it with the right intention, with devotion, and intending to sacrifice the results of our actions, we will not get into bondage from karmic reactions. Likewise, even if we are practicing karma sanyasa, where we are devoting 100% of our time to devotional services, if we are not having the right bhav or intention then we cannot progress and in fact we would tend to experience a downfall.

The wise see that both the karma sanyāsa and nishkama karma yoga involve having a bhava of devotion and engaging our mind in God, and so they are both identical in their internal consciousness. Krishna says that karma yoga and karma sanyasa are not contradictory and instead, they are both supposed to be performed with the same bhava and they both lead to the same destination. Besides, we must understand that we have to first elevate ourselves using nishkama karma yoga before becoming eligible for karma sanyasa. 
Importance of Karma Yoga