Karma

Author(s): Annie Besant
Publisher: Theosophical Publishing House

Page 82

72
Having abandoned all attachment to the fruit of action, always content, seeking refuge in none, although doing actions, he, is not doing anything.
Free from desire, his thoughts controlled by the Self, having abandoned all attachment, performing action by the body alone, he doth not commit sin.
Content with whatsoever he receiveth, free from the pairs of opposites, without envy, balanced in success and failure, though he hath acted he is not bound;
For with attachment dead, harmonious, his thoughts established in wisdom, his works, sacrifices, all his actions melt away.1
Body and mind work out their full activities; with, the body all bodily action is performed, with the mind all mental; but the Self remains serene, untroubled, lending not of its eternal essence to forge the chains of time. Right action is never neglected, but is faithfully performed to the limit of the available power, renunciation of attachment to the fruit not implying any sloth or carelessness in acting:
As the ignorant act from attachment to action, O Bhārata, so should the wise act without attachment, desiring the maintenance of mankind.
Let no wise man unsettle the mind of ignorant people attached to action: but acting in harmony (with Me) let him render all action attractive.
The man who reaches this state of "inaction in action”, has learned the secret of the ceasing of karma: he destroys by knowledge the action he has generated 1 Bhagavad Gitā, iv, 19-23.
Ibid., iii, 25, 26.