When Arjuna was thus told conclusively that action could be performed without ego-centric desires and clinging attachment to the fruits, as an intelligent enquirer, he had every right to ask: “What constitutes an action?” To lay bare the inner essence of action, Krishna analyses the anatomy of work — the external structure of action, and the physiology of action — the inner inspirations, motives and urges in work.

Addressing Arjuna as mighty-armed, Krishna declares that, for the real accomplishment, fulfilment or achievement of an action, five aspects of action are necessarily to be disciplined and marshalled. These five are the “limbs of action” without which no action is ever possible. When these five aspects work in happy co-ordination, the undertaking is assured of the greatest success, be it secular or sacred, material or spiritual. The term “Mighty-armed” is used to invoke the adventurous heroism in Arjuna, for, a large share of daring courage, consistency of purpose, faith in oneself and intellectual heroism are necessary, if one is to discipline one’s actions and successfully accomplish a thorough cultural development within.

In this stanza, the Geetaacharya confesses that this enumeration of the aspects that constitute an action is not his own original contribution, but it is exactly what is said in the Saankhyan philosophy. The Saankhyan philosophy as a separate text no longer exists… perhaps, here, the word Saankhyan indicates only the Upanishads. The existing Saankhyan books do not mention these five-fold categories. It is reasonable to suppose that at the time of Vyasa there might have been some books discussing this topic which are now lost to us. However, one thing is clear: that this five-fold division, which the Lord discusses in the following stanzas, faithfully follows the philosophy of the Geeta as discussed so far. The Geeta has declared that all actions cease when the knowledge of the Self dawns, so that the Advaita commentator concludes: “Vedanta, which imparts to us knowledge, is THE END OF ACTIONS.”HEREIN THE LORD ENUMERATES FIVE FACTORS WHICH ARE THE CONSTITUENT PARTS IN ALL ACTIONS:

O mighty-armed one, nibodha, learn; me, from Me; imani, these; panca, five; karanani, factors, accessories, which are going to be stated-for drawing the attention of his (Arjuna’s) mind and for showing the difference among these categories [Categories: locus (body) etc], the Lord praises those accessories in the succeeding verses as fit for being known-; siddhaye, for the accomplishment; sarva-karmanam, of all actions; proktani, which have been spoken of; sankhye, in Vedanta-sankhya is that scripture where the subject-matters [In the sentence, ‘Thou art That’, the word Thou means the individual Self, and That means Brahman. The comprehension of their unity, and also ‘hearing, reflection and meditation’ are referred to as the subject-matters.] to be known are fully (samyak) stated (khyayante)-; krtante, in which actions terminate. Krtante qualifies that very word (Vedanta). Krtam mean action. That in which occurs the culmination (anta) of that krtam is krtantam, i.e. the termination of actions. In the texts, ‘…as much utility as a man has in a well’ (2.46), and ‘O son of Prtha, all actions in their totality culminate in Knowledge’ (4.33), the Lord shows the cessation of all actions when the knowledge of the Self dawns. Hence (it is said): ‘…which have been spoken of in that Vedanta where actions culminate and which is meant for the knowledge of the Self.’ Which are they? This is being answered: