विकर्म

Vikarma is action that is forbidden, or that runs against good sense and duty. Gita 4.17 says that karma must be understood, vikarma must be understood, and akarma must be understood, for the way of action is deep.

What matters in that verse is that the Gita counts a third category beside action and akarma. The practice of akarma, acting without tying a knot inside, can rest only on action that is right. An action that is itself wrong cannot be made clean by any feeling within.

Common misreading: supposing that when there is no desire for the fruit, or when one feels “I am not the doer,” any action becomes blameless. In the Gita the insight “I am not the doer” is meaningful only when it has been lived from within (18.16). To use it as cover for dodging a duty, or for hiding wrong action, is to slide into vikarma.

Better sense: first ask whether the action is proper; then do it without knots.

To read further, see the topic Karma and Akarma.