KARMA YOGA - DEFINED

"Man neither attains to the state of non-action by not doing work, nor does he come to realize god by merely renouncing action".

These are very rebellious, revolutionary words.

Krishna says: simply by dropping the work and escaping, one does not attain the state of non-action; because, the state of non-action is a much bigger thing than just not being active.

Simply absence of action is not non-action. Non-action is a much greater phenomenon. For example, not being sick is not the same as being healthy. Being healthy is ka much greater phenomenon. It is possible that a man may not be sick at all, and yet he may not be absolutely healthy. All kinds of tests may show the man has no signs of illness, and yet he may not be really healthy.

So, not being sick does not mean one is healthy. And merely by giving up work and running away one does not attain the state of non-action. Why?

First we will have to understand what Krishna means by non-action.

Ordinarily, by non-action we mean not doing any work. We have taken idleness as non-action. Non-action is seen as being idle. If that were the case, a lazy man too would attain the state of non-action! Then even the dead people would also attain it! One can imagine that even the rocks etc. must also be always in the state of god-realization!

So, not idleness, but an act when committed without the sense of  the doer, ceases to be an act and turns into the state of non-action. An act in which the ‘I’ is not present becomes non-action. Thus, non-action is not the absence of doing, but absence of the doer. 

Krishna is saying to Arjuna: if you drop the idea that you are the doer, then none of what you do is an act -- then all acts turn into non-action. If, however, you continue to hold the belief that you are the doer, then even if you were to escape from doing, that very escaping itself would become karma, an act on your part. Escaping is also an ac, one will have to do the escaping. 

Renouncing is also an act; one will have to do the renouncing.

Wherever the doer is present, whenever one feels ‘I am doing’, the action is there -- regardless whether one is simply being idle, whether one may just be ‘not-doing’. But, when one feels that it is not a question of my doing, only god is doing; when one feels: whatever is happening, ‘he’ is doing it, life is flowing, ‘I’ am merely like a leaf floating in the wind where ‘I’ am not moving, only the wind is; when one feels ‘I’ am just like a wave in the ocean, ‘I’ am not waving, only the ocean is. Where one’s ‘I’ is no more, the act in that moment is a non-action -- it is not inaction.  

In a state of non-action, obviously, the act will be there, but there won’t be an agitation, any fuss caused by an action. The act will be there, but the worry and the anxiety, which accompany an action will not be there. The act will be there, but the dis-ease caused by the feeling of success and failure, the feverish energy of ambition will be absent. The act will be there, but it will not be driven by madness for passionately wanting the desired end.  

Non-action is a state where an act feels light and enjoyable like a flower does. The act does not feel heavy; it simply blossoms like a flower. When the doer is no longer present, the joy of doing becomes extraordinary -- then it is an offering to the Divine.

Krishna is saying to Arjuna: if you were to run away from action, then that would not mean you have attained to non-action. Because, one who has attained to non-action, why would he run away from the act? He would simply accept whatever is destined. Whatever may be happening, he would willingly accept it.