(Jñāna Karma Sannyāsa Yoga — Chapter 4)
Introduction
In the earlier chapters of the Gita, Bhagavān introduces the nature of the Self or Ātma [Sankhya Yoga] and guides Arjuna toward a way of acting in the world that is steady, purposeful, and free from becoming entangled in the results of action [Karma Yoga]. Such action is extolled as a means for purifying the mind (chitta-śuddhi) and preparing it for deeper insight.
As the Gita progresses, the teaching unfolds in response to Arjuna’s growing understanding. Each new insight builds upon what he has already received, and with every stage of clarity, Arjuna’s perspective becomes broader and more refined.
With Arjuna’s perspective thus broadened, Bhagavān, through the fourth chapter, brings into focus a subtler insight: how inner knowledge shapes and reshapes outward action.
The Continuity of a Timeless Teaching
To place this teaching in a larger perspective, the Gita recalls its ancient lineage. Bhagavān explains that this very Yoga was first entrusted to Vivasvān, the Sun-god, and handed down through a line of teachers until it gradually faded from human awareness (4.1 — imaṁ vivasvate yogaṁ …; 4.2 — evaṁ paramparā-prāptam …). Restoring this wisdom is not merely recalling old instruction; it is reconnecting a living teaching with a mind prepared to receive it. Thus Arjuna, equipped through the earlier teachings, receives it not only as one in distress but also as one who is a devotee and a trusted companion (4.3 — sa evāyaṁ mayā te ’dya …).
Divine Action as Freedom in Motion
Having passed on his teachings much earlier, how is it that such a master of all is seen besides Arjuna, a human being after all and spending a lifetime with him ? why did Bhagavan feel the need to be besides Arjuna and teach it all over again ? Why only Arjuna ? To answer such questions, we need to understand that Bhagavān’s presence in the world is not shaped by personal karma or individual desire. His appearance as an avatāra is an expression of complete freedom, responding to the needs of the age. Whenever righteousness declines and disharmony rises, He manifests Himself to restore balance (4.7 — yadā yadā hi dharmasya …). While Bhagavan’s actions are not meant for human imitation, his teaching hints at an underlying principle that can be reflected upon: action done without inner compulsion—without the pressure of personal claim—carries a quality that liberates rather than entangles. One can note that such a way of acting differs from action born of insistence or self-driven urgency.
Seeking and Receiving
Every person carries inner tendencies — the desires one holds and the inclinations shaped by one’s nature. These guide how one turns toward Bhagavān. Bhagavān responds in the very manner a person approaches Him (4.11 — ye yathā māṁ prapadyante …). Some seek clarity, some seek security or comfort, and others look toward devatās for specific attainments. What was sought will be attained by them. However, such material attainments, though real, ultimately remain temporary (4.12 — kāṅkṣantaḥ karmaṇāṁ siddhiṁ …). One can note that the nature of seeking tends to shape the nature of what is received. But what shapes the nature of a person and what he seeks ?
Guna and Karma as the Basis of Human Variety
Bhagavān declares that He arranged people into four kinds based on guṇa and karma—the qualities that shape their behaviour and the modes of activity that arise from them (4.13 — cātur-varṇyaṁ mayā sṛṣṭam …). So, differences seen in human conduct reflect the influence of inner nature, not outward labels or conventional classifications. This helps one understand why people act, think, and respond so differently from one another.
With so much of variation within the gunas and karmas of each being, how can every human reach the One Ultimate Goal ? The answer to this lies in the way we act and how we get bound by the consequence of those acts. So, with this grounding, attention is now required to be on understanding what action itself truly means.
Why Action Binds
Much needed clarity emerges when we see that action becomes binding only when it is taken up with the sense of doer-ship. This sense of doer-ship leaves an inner trace in the mind that leads to further consequences at later stages. As Bhagavān himself declares, He has no sense of doer-ship in any action, and so actions do not bind Him (4.14 — na māṁ karmāṇi limpanti …). Bhagavan further declares that seekers before Arjuna, who understood this nature of Bhagavan, themselves lived and acted without getting into bondage (4.15 — evaṁ jñātvā kṛtaṁ karma …).
Yet, even for the learned, it is not always easy to see what should be called action and what should be called non-action (4.16 — kim karma kim akarma iti …). Because action is not always what it appears from the outside. The mind may remain still while the body moves. The mind may be active while the body is at rest – that’s another possibility.
So, to bring us out of this confusion, Bhagavan clarifies on how a wise person should view such actions (4.18 – karmaṇy akarma yaḥ paśyed akarmaṇi ca karma yaḥ …). For getting such a view, we need to know two things. Firstly, how action operates at the inner and outer levels of a human being and secondly, how do we relate the terms used in this verse, namely, Karma & Akarma, to these inner and outer levels.
Acting Without Becoming Bound
The expressions ‘akarma in karma’ and ‘karma in akarma’ (in the above cited verse) become easier to understand when we recognise that action, in human beings, can operate at two levels — inwardly in the mind and outwardly through the body. At the inner level, Karma refers to mental activity accompanied by the sense of doer-ship – the feeling “I am the one acting.” At the outer level, Karma simply means physical action.
In contrast, Akarma at the inner level means the absence of this sense of doer-ship even while activity continues, whereas at the outer level Akarma refers to physical stillness or inactivity.
With this in view, the meaning of this teaching becomes clear thus: When a person acts outwardly while remaining inwardly free from sense of doer-ship, this is akarma in karma — inner sense of non-doer-ship alongside outer action. When someone remains outwardly still but the mind continues to desire, plan, or resist, this is karma in akarma — inner activity alongside outer stillness. In this way, the verse points toward a simple truth: what finally matters is not the movement of the body but whether inwardly, the mind is free from sense of doer-ship or not.
The One Whose Actions Do Not Bind
A person whose sense of doer-ship is dissolved, performs action without being driven by craving or fear (4.19 — yasya sarve samārambhāḥ …). Since the sense of doer-ship is absent, the results of action do not cling to such a person and so there is no bondage.
Such a person acts with quiet sufficiency—content with what comes unasked, inwardly steady, and free from dependence on outcomes (4.20 — tyaktvā karma-phalāsaṅgaṁ …). Neither expecting reward nor shrinking from necessary effort, this person moves through the world without inner disturbance. The Gita portrays this as a life of natural simplicity: eating, moving, sleeping, or acting without insistence, without excess, and without loss of inner balance (4.21 — nirāśīr yata-cittātmā …).
Actions done in this spirit do not accumulate latent impressions. Actions flow from clarity rather than pressure, and so they leave no residue behind. The wise thus stand inwardly free, even as they continue to move through the ordinary demands of living (4.22 — yadṛcchā-lābha-santuṣṭo …).
The Gita offers a final image of this freedom: actions performed without craving, without possessiveness, without the burden of self-importance, are said to dissolve entirely (4.23 — gata-saṅgasya muktasya …). Such action becomes transparent—nothing is carried forward, nothing binds, nothing remains.
Many Forms of Offering
If dissolution of the sense of doer-ship is the requirement for being unbound, what should be the spirit behind those actions ? Since anyway actions have to be performed, they must be done with a spirit of offering those actions unto Bhagavan. Towards that, all sincere forms of discipline—acts of restraint, charity, devotion, study, and effort—can be understood as yajña, where offerings are directed toward inner refinement (4.24 — brahmārpaṇaṁ brahma havir …).
Some offer material wealth; others offer their self-discipline or austerity (4.25 — daivaṁ evāpere yajñaṁ …). Some restrain the senses; others restrain the movements of the breath (4.27 — sarvāṇīndriya-karmāṇi …; 4.29 — apāne juhvati prāṇaṁ …). Some dedicate their knowledge, their study, or their inward stillness. What matters is not the outer form but the inward intention that shapes such action and such offering.
These varied offerings illustrate that people approach inner growth from different directions. Each path contributes to clarity and steadiness in its own way.
Where All Offerings Converge
Although many forms of offering exist, the Gita explains that all of them carry meaning only when they lead toward ultimate knowledge (4.30 — apare niyatāhārāḥ …). Without knowledge, outer actions may refine or strengthen a person temporarily, but they do not resolve the deeper knots of misunderstanding within.
Thus, after listing many kinds of offering, the Gita presents a single unifying principle: the offering made in knowledge surpasses all others (4.33 — śreyān dravya-mayād yajñāt jñāna-yajñaḥ …). Material offerings can purify the external life; knowledge purifies the one who performs the offering.
When knowledge illumines the mind, action becomes free from pressure, offering becomes natural, and life itself becomes a field for clarity.
Approaching the Source of Knowledge
As knowledge becomes central, the Gita turns to how it is acquired. Such insight cannot be gained through mere reading or reasoning; it must be received from one who has realised it. Bhagavān advises seeking a teacher who embodies this understanding and approaching with humility, sincere inquiry, and a willingness to learn (4.34 — tad viddhi praṇipātena …). When these attitudes come together, the guidance received becomes transformative.
The teacher clarifies on those aspects which are difficult to discern alone: the distinction between action and non-action, the nature of the Self, and the web of sense of doer-ship. With this clarity, confusions begin to dissolve.
The Transformative Power of Knowledge
Once knowledge arises, the Gita describes its effect as removing the root of delusion. Just as light dispels darkness in a single moment, knowledge allows one to see what was always present but obscured (4.35 — yaj jñātvā na punar moham …).
The power of this knowledge is emphasised through vivid images:
just as a blazing fire reduces fuel to ashes, knowledge consumes the accumulated residue of actions (4.37 — yathāidhāṁsi samiddho ’gniḥ …). It frees the seeker from the weight of past impressions, allowing life to move forward with lightness and clarity. Even a little progress in this direction releases the seeker from the effect of wrongful acts – acts that are committed out of deep confusion (4.36 — api ced asi pāpebhyaḥ …).
Faith, Steadiness, and the Obstacles to Insight
The Gita affirms that knowledge becomes steady when joined with trust, discipline, and commitment (4.39 — śraddhāvān labhate jñānaṁ …). Faith here is not blind belief but an openness that allows understanding to take root. Steadiness keeps the seeker aligned with what has been learned; persistence carries it forward.
By contrast, the one who doubts, who lacks direction or trust, becomes inwardly scattered (4.40 — ajñaś cāśraddadhānaś ca …). Doubt creates hesitation at every step and prevents clarity from forming. Such a person is described as missing both the world and the deeper truth, unable to move decisively towards either of them.
Knowledge as Freedom
When inner doubts are cut away through knowledge, the mind stands free. One becomes inwardly settled, no longer pulled by confusion or fear (4.41 — yoga-sannyasta-karmāṇaṁ …). With understanding established, one can act in the world with assurance, without hesitation and without inner conflict.
The chapter concludes with a call toward this inner clarity. Arjuna is urged to rise, let go of the doubt born of ignorance, and act with a mind transformed by understanding (4.42 — tasmād ajñāna-sambhūtaṁ …). Action performed with such a mind becomes a means of freedom, not entanglement.
Conclusion
The teaching of this chapter gathers itself into a single movement: knowledge transforms action. When the sense of doer-ship falls away, when clarity steadies the mind, action flows without inner pressure, leaving no trace of bondage. All disciplines—whether offerings, restraint, study, or devotion—find their fulfilment when illuminated by insight. Knowledge burns the residue of past action, clears the fog of doubt, and restores one to one’s own inner freedom.
For earnest seekers, however, the message of this chapter doesn’t suffice. Question does arise: If knowledge frees the mind and action performed in freedom carries no binding force, then what is the need for renunciation ? We need to travel further through Gita for further broadening our perspective about Truth.
My Thoughts on Life and its Philosophy 