He is called a Saint, a man-of-Perfection, “whose undertakings are all devoid of plan and desire-for-result.” Planning is a shackle upon the freedom of one’s activities. In all planning, we are forcing the circumstances into a desired mould, a wished-for pattern. In thus driving the situations to mould themselves into a planned pattern, we are exhausting ourselves and vainly fighting against terrible odds. This method of activity drains away all inspiration and joy from the worker.

We have already discussed how the desire-for-results during any activity dissipates our energies. The fruits-of-an-action can only mature in a future period of time and therefore, to court the results is to escape from the present and live in the unborn periods of time. It is a law that the effects depend entirely upon the causes, and so to be sincere and complete in our activities is the greatest guarantee for all successful achievements.

One who is a perfect Sage, says Krishna, is one who will undertake to act “WITHOUT PLANNING” and “WITHOUT ANY DESIRE FOR FRUITS.” In this context, these two qualifications of a perfect act are to be understood with kindness and sympathy. A literal meaning of these two terms should not be used here, as in that case the statement would become absurd.

The instruction to act “WITHOUT PLANNING AND DESIRE” does not mean that a man-of-Equilibrium, in his inspired activity, should not make use of his better intelligence and plan his activities to gain a desired result. It only means that, WHILE HE IS AT WORK, he should not allow his abilities and capacities to run to waste, with his mental preoccupations and sentimental fears regarding the results-of-his-work. Vedanta does not in any way ignore man’s intellect. The way of life as advised in the Geeta provides only a more efficient means to act and achieve, to live and to enjoy, cultivating and applying our own potentialities more intelligently.

An individual, who has thus come to live intelligently and act diligently, becomes fully wedded to the piece of work in hand and gets so entirely drunk with the joy of his own inspiration, that the action cannot leave upon him even a trace of its reaction. Our mind and intellect will venture forth to worry over the unknown possibilities and dangers, unless they can find a more secure hold upon something nobler and diviner. A perfect Sage is one whose mind is ever hitched on to the cognition of the Divine, so that, even when he functions in the world outside, he is revelling in his own Consciousness within.

By thus painting the psychology of a Sage-at-work, Lord Krishna is indicating with what mental attitude and intellectual composure, Arjuna, a seeker, should enter his fields of activity. These instructions, given by Vyasa through the mouth of Krishna, are meant for all generations of seekers and, therefore, words addressed to Arjuna are also words addressed to you and to me.

When my son wants to become a doctor I would certainly explain to him the story of the struggle of some known doctors, so that my son may understand how best he himself can become a true doctor. So too here, by the description of a perfect Sage-at-work, Arjuna is being initiated into the “Path of Self-development,” which he is to follow faithfully, if he is to reach the goal of life.

DEVOID OF ALL DESIRE-PROMPTED ACTIONS, AND ATTACHMENTS TO THEIR RESULTS, AND THEREFORE, HAVING NO SELFISH END IN VIEW, WHEN A SAGE PERFORMS KINDLY ACTS IN THE COMMUNITY, HE REALLY DOES NO ACTION; HIS ACTION IS EQUIVALENT TO “INACTION,” SINCEALL HIS ACTIONS ARE CONSUMED IN THE FIRE OF KNOWLEDGE. TO TEACH THIS “UNACTIVITY,” THE LORD SAYS:

Budhah, the wise, the knowers of Brahman; ahuh, call; tam, him; panditam, learned, in the real sense; yasya, whose, of the one who perceives as stated above; samarambhah, actions-whatever are undertaken; are sarve, all; kama-sankalpa-varjitah, devoid of desires and the thoughts which are their (desires’) causes (see 2.62)-i.e., (those actions) are performed as mere movements, without any selfish purpose: if they are performed by one (already) engaged in actions, then they are for preventing people from going astray, and if they are done by one who has withdrawn from actions, then they are merely for the maintenance of the body-; and jnanagni-dagdha-karmanam, whose actions have been burnt away by the fire of wisdom. Finding inaction etc. in action etc. is jnana, wisdom; that itself is agnih, fire. He whose actions, karma, described as good and bad, have been dagdhani, burnt away by that fire of wisdom, is jnana-agni-dagdha-karma. However, one who is a perceiver of ‘inaction’ etc. [Perceiver of inaction etc.: He who knows the truth about action and inaction as explained before.-Tr.] is free from actions owing to the very fact of his seeing ‘inaction’ etc. He is a monk, who acts merely for the purpose of maintaining the body. Being so, he does not engage in actions although he might have done so before the dawn of discrimination. He again who, having been engaged in actions under the influence of past tendencies, later on becomes endowed with the fullest Self-knowledge, he surely renounces (all) [Ast. adds this word sarva, all.-Tr.] actions along with their accessories as he does nnot find any purpose in activity. For some reason, if it becomes impossible to renounce actions and he, for the sake of preventing people from going astray, even remains engaged as before in actions-without attachment to those actions and their results because of the absence of any selfish purpose-, still he surely does nothing at all! His actions verily become ‘inaction’ because of having been burnt away by the fire of wisdom. By way of pointing out this idea, the Lord says: