My Path of Karma Yoga - mauriceling/mauriceling.github.io GitHub Wiki

Each page I write I offer free
Not for acclaim but clarity
Each step I take is a quiet vow
To do what is needed for here and now
No gold to chase and no name to build
Just steady hands and a task fulfilled
I plant I teach I speak I mend
Then bow and leave it to the wind
No need to know if it will stay
My gift is in the act of today
— 01/08/25

Commentary: Karma yoga is work without attachment to the outcomes. Work or actions become the offering. I publish papers – more than 170 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and still counting – with mi-nor benefits to myself. Most of the benefits are for my students. I am not saintly enough to say that I do not reap benefits from my own publications. Yes, there is a counter bean effect. Yes, there is professional and scientific visibility. And yes, there are even egoistical, bragging rights benefits. But beyond these, my hourly teaching rate does not increase, and neither am I nor will I be promoted. In fact, back in the days of Temasek Polytechnic, I had even invoked jealousy because of my frequent publications. And in fact, MDIS just said that they will no longer pay publication fees even with students involved and the organization’s affiliation.

“Maiyappan, et al. 2025. Four Ab Initio Whole Cell Kinetic Models of Bacillus subtilis 168 (bsuLL25) 6051-HGW (bshSM25), N33 (bsuN33SS25), FUA2231 (bsuGR25). Journal of Clinical Immunology & Microbiology 6(2): 1-6.” is the last publication MDIS will pay and “Matarage et al. 2025. Systematic Review (Up to 31 January 2025) on the Applications of Digital Organisms. Acta Scientific Microbiology 8(8): 14-26.” is the first publication that me and my students pay the publication fees for it ourselves.

So, in fact, publishing becomes a cost for me – maybe this is the tangible cost for my intangible benefits. And yet, I plan to continue these actions of teaching, mentoring, publishing, and helping; for I think there are more benefits to my students down the road after I bow my last. This is both my offering and my gift.