Bg. 4.18 · Bhagavad-gita As It Is

Devanagari

कर्मण्यकर्म यः पश्येदकर्मणि च कर्म यः । स बुद्धिमान्मनुष्येषु स युक्तः कृत्स्नकर्मकृत् ॥ १८ ॥

Verse text

karmaṇy akarma yaḥ paśyed akarmaṇi ca karma yaḥ sa buddhimān manuṣyeṣu sa yuktaḥ kṛtsna-karma-kṛt

Synonyms

karmaṇi — in action ; akarma — inaction ; yaḥ — one who ; paśyet — observes ; akarmaṇi — in inaction ; ca — also ; karma — fruitive action ; yaḥ — one who ; saḥ — he ; buddhi-mān — is intelligent ; manuṣyeṣu — in human society ; saḥ — he ; yuktaḥ — is in the transcendental position ; kṛtsna-karma-kṛt — although engaged in all activities.

Translation

One who sees inaction in action and action in inaction is intelligent among men, and he is in the transcendental position, although engaged in all sorts of activities.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

18. He who sees inaction in action and action in inaction is intelligent among men. He performs all actions.

Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

18. He who sees inaction in action and action in inaction is intelligent among men. He is qualified for liberation and has performed all actions.

Purport

A person acting in Kṛṣṇa consciousness is naturally free from the bonds of karma. His activities are all performed for Kṛṣṇa; therefore he does not enjoy or suffer any of the effects of work. Consequently he is intelligent in human society, even though he is engaged in all sorts of activities for Kṛṣṇa. Akarma means without reaction to work. The impersonalist ceases fruitive activities out of fear, so that the resultant action may not be a stumbling block on the path of self-realization, but the personalist knows rightly his position as the eternal servitor of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Therefore he engages himself in the activities of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. Because everything is done for Kṛṣṇa, he enjoys only transcendental happiness in the discharge of this service. Those who are engaged in this process are known to be without desire for personal sense gratification. The sense of eternal servitorship to Kṛṣṇa makes one immune to all sorts of reactionary elements of work.

Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

This verse gives an understanding of the truth of action and non-action. He is intelligent who sees that persons of pure heart fixed in knowledge like Janaka who do not renounce activity, but rather engage in action, in niṣkāma-karma-yoga, do not accrue karma (akarma); and who sees that one who does not perform actions, renouncing actions as a sannyāsī, being of impure heart without knowledge, though talking profusely of knowledge because of knowledge of scriptures, actually obtains bondage of karma leading to misery. He engages in all activities; he does not renounce action even through instructions or association of those who think themselves knowledgeable, talking a lot about jṣāna. The Bhāgavatam says: yas tv asaṁyata-ṣaḍ-vargaḥ pracaṇḍendriya-sārathiḥ jṣāna-vairāgya-rahitas tri-daṇḍam upajīvati surān ātmānam ātma-sthaṁ nihnute māṁ ca dharma-hā avipakva-kaṣāyo 'smād amuṣmāc ca vihīyate One who has not controlled the six forms of illusion—lust, anger, greed, excitement, false pride and intoxication—whose intelligence, the leader of the senses, is extremely attached to material things, who is bereft of knowledge and detachment, who adopts the sannyāsa order of life to make a living, who denies the worshipable demigods, his own self and the Supreme Lord within himself, thus ruining all religious principles, and who is still infected by material contamination, is deviated and lost both in this life and the next. SB 11.18.40-41

Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)

This verse speaks of the real natures of karma and akarma, which are to be understood. He who sees inaction or ātmā jṣana, in the actions of niṣkāma karma being performed, because it is undertaken to reach akarma, and sees action in ātmā jṣāna, is wise. What has been said is explained as follows. The desirer of liberation who sees action undertaken for purification of the heart as a form of jṣāna since it aims at jṣāna (inaction in action), and who sees jṣāna as a form of action because action is the means to jṣāna (action in inaction)—in other words, he who knows that karma and jṣāna are one because the goal is one, and thus seeks out the truth about ātmā through his actions being performed, is intelligent or learned among men (buddhimān). Later it will be said: sāṅkhya-yogau pṛthag bālāḥ Only the ignorant speak of karma-yoga as being different from jṣāna. (BG 5.4) This person is qualified for liberation (yuktaḥ). He has performed all actions (kṛtsna karma kṛt), because all the results of actions are included in the happiness of ātmā jṣāna.

Surrender Unto Me

When one is in Krsna consciousness, the soul acts but the modes of material nature don't work ‑ such a person is actually working (akarma). Action in inaction means that when someone is working, the modes are working actually. When the soul is acting, not the material modes, there is no reaction ‑ this is akarma. When there is action of the material nature and for the soul there is no activity, then there is reaction ‑ this is karma. Superficially they look the same it is hard to tell the difference without proper knowledge. Arjuna's fighting is inaction, akarma because the soul is acting not the modes of material nature. But when Duryodhana is fighting that is karma, the modes of material modes are acting not the soul.