Nishkama Karmayoga in the Bhagavad Gita

Action without self-interest - Part 4

- Shri Murarilal Dhanuka

In verse sixty-four of chapter two of the Gita, mental renunciation of pleasures is said to be real renunciation. Lord Krishna further says that a man is attached to actions and their fruit. And, it is this attachment, not actions or their fruit, that is the root of all evils. Attachment is the main stumbling block to perfection.

A striver can be free from attachment when he or she, without regarding the body, senses, mind and intellect as his or for him, starts performing his duty promptly for the welfare of the world by considering these of the world and for the world. By doing so, his attachment to the fruit of actions automatically perishes.

In verse eleven of chapter five of the Gita, the Lord says, “All actions, including thinking and trance, have nothing to do with the self. Though the self is naturally unattached, yet by developing attachment, it gets attached to the world.”