Unattached

By detached action Krishna wants mortals to act without any attachment. He wants actions to be completed for their own sake, not for the benefits that will be reaped from the action. Detached action is also the realization that no action is individual, that “actions are all effected by the qualities of nature.” (47). This detachment from the action itself, the realization that the action is not yours, but caused by nature, is what Krishna means by detached action. Krishna is not telling Arjuna not to act, simply to remain separated from the action. Krishna says that a man of action “does nothing at all, even when he engages in action” and “performs actions with his body only” (54). These two lines show that while the body will be performing the action the mind will stay completely separated and detached from the action itself. When performing a menial task the mind tends to wander and not be focused on the task at hand, which is what Krishna means by detached action, and what he thinks all actions should be like. With his definition of detached action Krishna also tells Arjuna how to achieve this state. “Renunciation is difficult to attain without discipline” (60), Krishna says. With discipline one can realize that “’It is the senses that engage in sense objects’” (60), not oneself. The senses are separate from the person themselves, and so even when one thinks one is acting, or feeling, or anything that involves the senses, it is not the person themselves who is doing the action, but the senses. Detached attachment is the separation of one’s mind from one’s body and realization that while the body is acting the mind is free and unattached.