This summary is about verses 4.16 to 4.24 of the fourth chapter of the Gita. It is the seventh stop on the road of karma yoga. Before it is Acting for the World, and after it comes Who Is the Doer?.

The answer in one line

Action binds by what the doer brings into it: a resolve full of desire, clinging, and the feeling "I am the doer". One who is free of these and does his work as an offering acts and is not bound. This is seeing inaction in action (Gita 4.18). Action is not stopped. Its grip is loosened.

What problem this answers

How can someone work all day and still not be bound? What is action, what is wrong action, and what is non-action?

Two answers have already come in the earlier hubs. One, action cannot be given up (Gita 3.5). The other, the claim on the fruit is to be given up (Gita 2.47). Now a third question rises: what is action itself, and how does its grip loosen?

In the background is that the Lord acts and is not bound, because He has no desire for the fruit. Seekers of freedom in earlier times also acted in this way (Gita 4.14–15). So there are people already walking on this road.

The verses in order

Verses 4.16 and 4.17 say that even the wise are confused about action and non-action. Three things have to be known: action, wrong action and non-action. The course of action is deep.

Verse 4.18 says that one who sees inaction in action and action in inaction is wise, steadfast in yoga, and does all that is to be done.

Verse 4.19 gives the first mark: one whose undertakings are all free of a resolve full of desire, and whose actions have been burnt in the fire of knowledge. The wise call such a one learned.

Verse 4.20 gives the second mark: one who has given up attachment to the fruit, who is always content and depends on no support. Though engaged in action he does nothing.

Verse 4.21 gives the third mark: one who is free from hope, with mind and senses controlled, who has given up grasping, that is, hoarding. By action for the mere upkeep of the body he incurs no sin or bond.

Verse 4.22 gives the fourth mark: content with what comes, beyond the pairs of opposites, free from envy, even in success and failure. Though acting he is not bound.

Verse 4.23 gives the fifth mark: attachment gone, mind steady in knowledge, and action done in the spirit of sacrifice. All his actions melt away.

Verse 4.24 is the peak of vision: the act of offering, the thing offered, the fire, the one who offers and the goal are all Brahman.

The main points to remember

Action, wrong action and non-action

Action is the right action that is to be done (Gita 3.8). If it is done with clinging and "I", it binds.

Wrong action is the wrong that rises from desire, anger or delusion (Gita 3.36–37, Gita 18.7). Its bondage is heavy.

Non-action is the action that does not bind.

Two non-actions, two senses

In the third chapter non-action means stopping action, from which perfection does not come (Gita 3.4). In the fourth chapter non-action means having no bondage while acting. The first is stopping, the second is staying free while at work.

Why the wise get confused

The line is drawn not on the body but on the claim, and the claim cannot be seen from outside. A person whose hands are moving may be free within. A person sitting silent may be doing a thousand things inside (Gita 3.6).

The two sides of verse 4.18

The first side is inaction in action. Think of a mother awake all night beside a sick child. Her body is doing the whole work, and no account is running inside.

The second side is action in inaction. A person sitting with his hands folded, in whose mind "what did he do to me" keeps running, is doing nothing outside but a great deal inside.

One who sees in this way does not remain half. He does not have to choose between work and freedom.

Where this vision comes from

Actions are done by the qualities, and a mind deluded by ego takes itself to be the doer (Gita 3.27–28). The knower of the truth holds, "I do nothing", the senses are moving among their objects (Gita 5.8–9).

Where the knot is made

The knot is not made in the moving of the hand. It is made in the thought that comes before the work: "I shall get this from it", that is, the resolve. Where this is not, action leaves no mark. The fire of knowledge does not burn the action. It burns the grip clinging to it.

"Fully engaged and yet doing nothing"

This is not slackness. He is engaged in action. What he is not is bound.

The mark of being free is that happiness does not rest on any outer support: praise, thanks, rank or result. Every support is a string whose other end is in someone else's hand.

Restraint and not hoarding

Restraint and not hoarding are not ornamental virtues. They are signs that the mind is not restless to grasp. Eating, earning and looking after a home do not stop. What stops is the load put on them: I need more, this is mine too, that too. One who has to store everything for tomorrow has a mind stuck in tomorrow.

Envy is the finest of all

Weighing one's own work against another's is where the burden of action begins, though nothing was lacking in the work. To be truly glad at another's success is to cut the string of comparison.

"Melting away"

This is our comparison. The grip of a block of ice kept in the sun loosens and flows. In the cold of clinging, action stays frozen and binds. In the warmth of knowledge and offering, it melts and leaves its bond behind no more.

Verse 4.24 is a vision, not a method

The separate pieces, I, work, result and means, look like the spread of one truth in the whole vision. Where there is no division, who is there to grasp? But for the ordinary person the ladder is plain: whatever you do, do it offering it to Me (Gita 9.27), and then wrong does not cling like water to a lotus leaf (Gita 5.10). First comes the practice of offering, and by it the vision opens.

The five marks and how to recognise them

The first mark is in verse 4.19: freedom from a resolve full of desire. The test is whether I am starting this work to gain something.

The second mark is in verse 4.20: depending on no support. The test is whether the state of my mind rests on credit or thanks.

The third mark is in verse 4.21: restraint and not hoarding. The test is whether I am taking more than today's need.

The fourth mark is in verse 4.22: contentment and freedom from envy. The test is whether I can be truly glad at someone's success.

And the fifth mark is in verses 4.23 and 4.24: the spirit of offering. The test is whether I can offer this work and let go of the claim.

The first test is the foundation. One who has not tied a knot of gain at the start has less of clinging, burning and hoarding to lean on.

The whole life of one piece of work can also be looked at in this way. At the start, ask what I want from this (Gita 4.19). In the middle, see what support the mind rests on and how tightly it is holding (Gita 4.20–21). At the end, see whether there is contentment in what came, or burning when another gets more (Gita 4.22). And in all three places, offering: at the start the aim, in the middle the support, and at the end the claim changes (Gita 4.23–24).

Common misunderstandings

The first misunderstanding is that non-action means doing nothing. That is not so. It is the name for the absence of the bond of work, not the absence of work (Gita 3.8, Gita 4.20).

The second is that a free person becomes cold or inactive. That is not so. Wise kings such as Janaka reached perfection through action itself (Gita 3.20), and the wise should act too for the good of the world (Gita 3.25).

The third is: I am not the doer, so I may do as I like. This takes the vision the wrong way round. The one who has let go of the grip of "I" and offers his action is the one who sees this. And restraint is among the marks.

The fourth is that the five marks are qualities to show. The marks are fruits of seeing. To press down burning and smile is acting.

The fifth is that if all is Brahman, nothing matters. Verse 4.24 does not call action useless. Duty stays in its place (Gita 3.19).

How to take it up

There is a plain order for taking this up. At the start of the day offer the day's work in the mind to someone (Gita 4.23, Gita 9.27). When beginning each task, see whether I am doing it for the work or to get something (Gita 4.19). Once in the day see what the mind rests on. If it goes up and down with getting and not getting, the support is there (Gita 4.20). Take only as much as the day asks (Gita 4.21). And in the evening put down the credit, the complaint and the comparison that had been tied to the name (Gita 4.22).

None of these asks you to give up work. All that changes is what you carry along with the work.

If you have to explain it in thirty seconds

Action by itself does not bind. What binds is the claim brought into it: "I will get this, this is mine, I did this." So the Gita does not say stop work. It says loosen the grip: the desire to gain, outer supports, the race to hoard, envy of others, and at the end offering all action. Such a person, fully engaged in work, is not bound. This is what the Lord calls "seeing inaction in action".

Related hubs: Acting for the World (before) · Who Is the Doer? (next) · Can We Simply Stop Acting? · Action Without Claiming the Fruit · The Enemy Called Desire · Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action · Offering All Actions · A Leaf, a Flower, a Fruit, Water