Karma: A Yogi's Guide to Crafting Your Destiny is the 2021 book by the Indian yoga teacher and Isha Foundation founder Sadhguru (Jaggi Vasudev), published by Harmony / Penguin Ananda. The book argues against the popular Western reading of karma as cosmic reward-and-punishment, presenting it instead as the technical Yogic-Sāmkhya term for the accumulated residue of past action that conditions present perception and reactivity. Sadhguru walks through the four classical Yogic categories — sanchita, prarabdha, kriyamana, agami karma — and proposes a sequence of practices drawn from the Isha system (Inner Engineering, Shambhavi Mahamudra) intended to loosen the practitioner's identification with that residue.
Contents
Karma: The Eternal Enigma
Volition: The Basis of Karma
Karma as Memory
The Great Karmic Warehouse
How Did It All Begin?
Karma Yoga
Karma Yoga and the Physical Body
Karma Yoga and the Mental Body
Reception
Karma was a number-one New York Times bestseller in 2021, the second of Sadhguru's books to reach that list after Inner Engineering (2016), and has sold reportedly more than a million copies across editions. Reviewers in the convert-Vedanta scene (Rajiv Malhotra, Vamadeva Shastri / David Frawley) have read the book as one of the more textually-disciplined popular presentations of the Yogic-Sāmkhya analysis. Critics from more orthodox Hindu directions (Audrey Truschke, Wendy Doniger reviewers) and from academic religious-studies (Andrea Jain, Mark Singleton) have argued that the book's framing softens the strict deterministic implications the classical sources carry and that the practical recommendations function partly as a marketing funnel for Isha programs. The book is the standard popular-press recommendation for English-language readers wanting Sadhguru's account of karma rather than the broader Inner Engineering survey.
Frequently asked
What is Karma by Sadhguru about?
It reframes karma as the Yogic-Sāmkhya term for accumulated residue of past action — not a system of cosmic reward and punishment. Sadhguru walks through the four classical categories (sanchita, prarabdha, kriyamana, agami karma) and outlines practices drawn from the Isha system for loosening the practitioner's identification with that residue.
How does Sadhguru's view of karma differ from the popular Western understanding?
The popular Western reading treats karma as a moral ledger — good deeds return good fortune. Sadhguru's framing draws on Yogic-Sāmkhya philosophy, where karma is the accumulated imprint of past action that shapes present perception. The distinction is between karma as external judgment and karma as a technical description of how action conditions experience.
Is Karma connected to the Isha Foundation's Inner Engineering programme?
Yes. The practical recommendations in the book — including references to Shambhavi Mahamudra — are drawn from the Isha system, and the book functions as a companion to the Inner Engineering framework. Critics have noted this means the book also serves as an introduction to Isha programmes.