Necessary vs. Detached

Krishna presents what appear to be two differing views on action. However, looked at more closely, Krishna’s teachings on action are not contradictinig, but rather complementary. Firstly, Krishna does not teach that action should not be performed at all, as Arjuna first thought. Rather, it is “necessary action” that must be performed, for “it is more powerful than inaction; without action you even fail to sustain your own body” (3:8). Therefore, there must always be action in order to continue living. However, every other action beyond those that are life-sustaining must be defined as “detached action.” According to Krishna, actions must not be done with the motive of desire or any other emotion, as Krishna specifically asserts, “Know it here as the enemy, voracious and very evil!” (3:37). Put even more simply, action done for the sake of the senses should be avoided, for the senses are the foundation of desire that corrupt action. “The senses…are said to harbor desire; with these desire obscures knowledge and confounds the embodied self” (3:40). So, if action is not to be completed through desire or senses, then what is left is action performed solely through the self. This self, the inner persona, stripped of all constraints placed upon it by desire and tempting senses, is the fully realized person that is capable of going through life entirely without needs or wants. The simple existence is enough to sustain, and elicits actions that are not corrupted by selfish desires but rather by inspiration of Krishna and the forces of the universe.