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GITA, TRANSLATION & COMMENTARY, CHAP. IV 951
According to the Gită science, the only true means by which one escapes the bondage of Action is by performing Action unattachedly, that is, 'giving up the Hope of Fruit' (See GI. Ra. Ch. V. pp. 148 to 156 and Ch. X. p. 394). Therefore, that Action alone, which is performed in this way, that is, unattachedly, is the proper, that is, the sättvika Action, according to the Gita (Gi. 18. 9). That is the true 'Non-Action' (akarma) according to the Gita; because, its 'karmatva' (that is, its nature of being a karma"), or its binding force (bandhakatva) according to the law of Causality (karma-paka-prakriya) is lost. When, from all that men do, (and even sitting idle is included in the word 'do'), Action of the above kind, that is, sattvika Action, or, akarma' according to the Gits, is deducted, all that remains can be divided into two parts, namely, (i) rājasa Action and (ii) tāmasa Action. Out of this, tämasa Action is the result of Ignorance (moha), and therefore, it falls into the category of Wrong Action (vikarma). Thus, if Action is abandoned as a result of Ignorance, it is still a 'cikarma", not an 'akarma' (GL. 18. 7). Then remains the rajasa. Action. This Action is not of the first class, that is, sättvika; nor is it what the Gitä describes as true 'akarma'. The Gita calls this 'rujasa Action'; but if any one wants to do so, he may use the single word 'karma' to mean this kind of rajasa Action. In short, whether a particular Action is a 'karma' or an 'akarma' is to be decided according to the binding force of the Action, and not from its nature of being an act, nor also according to what may be laid down in barren religious treatises. The Astavakra-Gită supports the Path of Renunciation. Yet, even in it, it is said that:
nivrttir api muḍhasya pravrttar upajayate\ pravṛttir api dhirasya nivṛttiphalabhagini 11
(Astă. 18. 61);
that is: "the 'nivṛth' of fools, that is, their turning away from Action, as a result of perversity or of Ignorance, in itself amounts to pravrtti' or 'Karma'; and the 'pravrits' of the wise, that is to say, their Desireless Action, gives the same benefit as nivṛtti (i.e., Renunciation) or karmatyāga
