Gita 04.18 – Comprehend inaction in action and action in inaction through contextualization

Thank you karma karma karma this is one of the most enigmatic verses in the Gita and it reflects not only the profundity of the concept of the Gita but also the complexity of words with their multiple meanings so let's try to understand first literally what this verse would mean and how that meaning would be bewildering and how a philosophical perspective resolves that bewilderment and reveals a very deep import deeply meaningful import so karma to see a person who sees what so one who sees akarma if you call as inaction and karma as action then one who sees inaction inaction in inaction one sees action such a person is buddhiman such a person is well engaged even when engaged in all kinds of activities such a person stays well connected spiritually connected harmonized now who is wise then buddhiman who is that a person who sees inaction inaction and action inaction this is not only a trunk twister but also a brain twister we may feel oh how will I ever become intelligent according to the definition of Bhagavad Gita buddhiman so what does it literally mean what does it actually mean and this is to see inaction inaction and action in inaction so we have to go through a semantic jungle before we can arrive at the palace of comprehension semantic jungle means a place of wilderness where meaning is not clear so let's begin by understanding the various possible meanings of the words so the word karma has four possible meanings karma at one level simply means action where we all karma can mean action then within action there are three different kinds of action which is mentioned in the previous verse which is karma, vikarma and akarma where in this categorization karma means su-karma that is good action, action that will bring good results so Krishna talks about that over here when he states that so the second meaning of karma which could be here is that it is good action, action that will bring good reaction the third meaning can be in terms of reaction to action sometimes we say this tragedy happened to me because of my past karma that means that refers to the reaction to my past karma so the fourth meaning for karma can also be the whole system of action and reaction nobody can escape the law of karma so here karma doesn't refer to action or reaction but rather it refers to the system of action reaction so karma has four meanings action in general, pious action reaction to action or system of action reaction we will have to see which meaning will fit over here in order to make sense and then there is akarma the word akarma can have two meanings one from the literal point of view is inactivity akarma, if karma is activity then akarma is inactivity now another meaning of the word akarma can be non-reactive work work that produces no reaction so in that case we see that two meanings of the word akarma are possible now if you look at the verse with this background of the four meanings of the word karma and two meanings of the word akarma and which meaning applies then we can understand this so after exploring these four different meanings now if you look at the context we can understand which meaning would apply over here now if we literally take literal meaning it doesn't make any sense again one who sees activity in inactivity and inactivity in activity now activity is one thing inactivity is another thing so is Krishna telling that we have to just conflate these two categories conflate means mix up two distinct categories as one by overlooking their differences no that is not what Krishna is saying clearly because Krishna wants Arjuna to take a particular course of action so it's the words first of all simply activity and inactivity as karma and akarma will not work over here now if you look at Arjuna's concern his concern is that what is the course of action which will free me or save me from karmic bondage so in that sense Arjuna's concern is what work will be non-reactive so he wants to choose that work which will not bring any reaction and if you look at the previous context in which Krishna has spoken Krishna has told Arjuna repeatedly to fight do your prescribed duty he has told in 3.8 2.47 like that Krishna has spoken repeatedly urging Arjuna to work to do his duty and he has also said that if you work like this many places he has said that you will not get any karmic reaction if you work for that purpose then you will stay liberated so essentially Arjuna's question is what work will be non-reactive and Krishna is telling Arjuna that that if you work selflessly then that will be non-reactive so with this background or with this understanding of the overall message of the Gita now if you look at this verse in action so one who see non-reactive work that means somebody who sees that even when somebody is doing activity there will be no karmic reaction on the other hand one who does no activity but while doing no activity there is karma there is reactive work that is happening how is that possible Krishna has talked about that earlier when he spoke at 3.6 about so he has spoken how somebody controls the senses but dwells in the sense objects a person is actually indulging in sense gratification and is getting bound in karma therefore one should not do this Krishna is saying and the whole point of Krishna's discussion over there is that one should stay free from bondage by not just artificially renouncing the work when one has internal attachments so overall from the context we can understand that Krishna is telling Arjuna that act in a way with unselfish motivation by which you will stay free from bondage on the other hand inaction can also be culpable if there is inappropriate contemplation which will eventually also lead to inappropriate action so with this background what this verse would mean is one who sees that action is not reactive when done properly and inaction when done improperly is reactive so Arjuna when you fight this war if you are doing it with knowledge with proper motivation then it is like akarma it will not produce any reaction on the other hand if you act selfishly or rather if out of selfish considerations you give up action but then you continue inappropriate contemplation that will involve karmic culpability so external inaction with inner inappropriate contemplation is culpable therefore don't do that and a wise person will see what is the truth and as a person the person can be engaged in different kinds of works but still that person will stay free from karmic bondage because of having the vision of knowledge he will stay well connected harmonized while doing different kinds of karma also.