Bhagavad Gita Verse 18, Chapter 4

karmanyakarma yaha pashyedakarmani cha karma yaha |
sa buddhimaanmanushyeshu sa yuktaha kritsnakarmakrit || 18 ||
 
One who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, he is wise among all people, he is well integrated and accomplishes his actions.
 
karmani : in action
akarma : inaction
yaha : one who
pashyet : sees
akarmani : in in action
cha : and
karma : action
yaha : who
saha : he is
buddhimaan : wise
manushyeshu : among people
saha : he is
yuktaha : a yogi (well integrated)
kritsnakarmakrit : accomplishes all actions
 
Now, having understood the deeper meaning of karma, let us look at the most crucial shlokas of this chapter. Shri Krishna employs his poetic prowess to teach us how to apply the knowledge of karma to our actions. He uses the words karma and akarma (action and inaction) differently in different parts of the shloka, so let us take it part by part.
 
First, let us understand what is meant by "seeing inaction in action". The word action in this phrase refers to activity of any sort: thinking, feeling, working. To be clear, even thinking a thought is action. And the word "inaction" here refers to the constant awareness that the eternal essence, our self, is inactive, and not the doer of action. It means complete detachment from the work and detachment from a sense of agency or doership, because the mind has now attached itself to a higher ideal.
 
So therefore, one who sees inaction in action knows that his every activity is happening out of prakriti or nature. His true identity is the eternal essence that neither does any action not enjoys the result of any action. From a practical standpoint, it refers to the attitude that we have towards our work. It is the difference between a worker who can perform tough tasks and not feel tired, and the worker who feels that every minute of his work is a burden.
 
Next, let us look at the phrase "seeing action in inaction". The word action in this phrase refers to the ego, the notion that "I am the doer" as well as the sense of agency in the work. And the word "inaction" refers to absence of activity. So for example, if someone needs help crossing the road and we think "I won't help him because I will be late for my bus". Behind our absence of helping someone cross the road is a selfish motive. Similarly, if we hold back on admitting a mistake that we had committed, our absence of admitting our guilt is driven by a selfish motive. This is seeing action in inaction.
 
Shri Krishna then goes on to say that one who constantly uses his discrimination to eliminate all sense of doership from every action - that person is wise and is well integrated in the yajna spirit. That person will accomplish any task that he takes up without fail. His success is guaranteed.
 
The following four shlokas describe the attributes of such an integrated person, similar to the characteristics of a wise person from the second chapter.
 

Bhagavad Gita Verse 47, Chapter 2

karmanyevaadhikaaraste maa phaleshu kadaachana |
maa karmaphalaheturbhoormaa te sangostvakarmani || 47 ||
 
You only have authority over action, not ever to the result. Don't be motivated by the result, and don't get attached to inaction.
 
karmani : action
eva : only
adhikaaraha : authority
te : your
maa : not
phaleshu : result
kadaachana: ever
maa : no
karmaphalahetuhu : motivated by result
bhuha : become
maa : don't
te : you
asangaha : attached
astu : happen
akarmani : inaction
 
As mentioned earlier, this shloka is probably the most known and oft-quoted shloka in the Gita. There are many chapters in the Gita that go deeper into the layers and layers of meaning packed into this shloka. Given the richness of this shloka, we shall try to understand it to the best extent possible. Since there are several messages in this shloka, let's examine the teaching part by part.
 
Let's start with the first half of the shloka. The message is as follows. Shri Krishna says that we have authority only over the actions performed by us, but never on the result. In other words, we do not have complete control over the outcome of any activity. As we grow older and spend more time in this world, we know this fact instinctively. But because we forget it, we tend to get disappointed when things don't go our way, or get elated when things do.
 
Look at our own lives, we can take any number of examples to test this theory. Take a simple thing as catching a bus that has just arrived on the other side of the road. We run to catch the bus. But even in such a simple task, the outcome is not guaranteed. If we are able to catch the bus then all's well. But there are several other outcomes that could occur. The bus may leave before we get to the stop. We could catch the wrong bus. Once aboard, we may not have the fare. Worst of all, we could get hit by a car while crossing the road.
 
Or consider a complex task as a surgeon performing heart surgery. Take the world's best doctor trained at the world's best college, in the surgery room of the world's best hospital with the world's best surgery team. Even with all these things, that surgeon will never have a 100% success rate.
 
The outcome of any action is like an equation where we provide some of the variables, but not all of them. In fact, we may not even know all the variables that end up determining the outcome.
 
So unless we logically convince ourselves that we do not have complete control over the result of an action, we will not be able to learn the main teaching the second half of this shloka. We will tackle that teaching in the next post.
 
Footnotes
 
1. "Phala" literally means "fruit". Fruit of a result has a "seed" in it, which has the potential to generate yet another action.