<p>The karmic duties are categorized as sakama and nishkama, whereas akarma is abstinence from duty. Lord Krishna commands Arjuna to perform his duty and declares that one who sees akarma in karma and vice versa(karma in akarma) is truly liberated from all reactions to karma. How is one to decode this statement? The explanation offered by revered seers is this.</p><p>One is to perform one’s duty with the strong faith that the doer is the almighty and one is only the instrument. In contrast, without one’s conscious effort one observes nature going about its activities, the internal digestion process in full swing, and the occurring of unusual dreams during sleep. Who is the doer here? Thus the former is seeing inaction in action and the latter, action in inaction. It is only when one does this he does not become bound by his actions or karma.</p><p>Under karma itself, sakama or fruitive action, is one which is done with some desire in mind, which does not help the doer in his soul purification process. It is like a business transaction, and you perform a ritual with expectation of a blessing like construction of a house or procurement of a job and so on. The other type is the nishkama karma or one done with no material intention in mind but only the desire to please the almighty. When a child visits his parents to seek their help it will no doubt please them as it indicates their importance to the child, but if the child visits just to spend time with them, their happiness will be multifold making them yearn to give back something to their child.</p><p>Similarly nishkama karma has tremendous potency as it pleases the almighty immensely. According to the seers excellent examples of this is the daily obligatory ritual of Sandhyavandan, and the chanting of Vishnu sahasranama(1000 names of Vishnu).</p><p>It is also significant to keep offering the fruits of one’s activities to the almighty so that one is not bound by them and one remains unfettered by karmic reactions to the extent possible. As the second verse of Ishopanishad states, doing such nishkama karma we may each aspire to live a hundred years - “jijivisecchatam samah” - without the taint of karma or akarma clinging to us.</p>
<p>The karmic duties are categorized as sakama and nishkama, whereas akarma is abstinence from duty. Lord Krishna commands Arjuna to perform his duty and declares that one who sees akarma in karma and vice versa(karma in akarma) is truly liberated from all reactions to karma. How is one to decode this statement? The explanation offered by revered seers is this.</p><p>One is to perform one’s duty with the strong faith that the doer is the almighty and one is only the instrument. In contrast, without one’s conscious effort one observes nature going about its activities, the internal digestion process in full swing, and the occurring of unusual dreams during sleep. Who is the doer here? Thus the former is seeing inaction in action and the latter, action in inaction. It is only when one does this he does not become bound by his actions or karma.</p><p>Under karma itself, sakama or fruitive action, is one which is done with some desire in mind, which does not help the doer in his soul purification process. It is like a business transaction, and you perform a ritual with expectation of a blessing like construction of a house or procurement of a job and so on. The other type is the nishkama karma or one done with no material intention in mind but only the desire to please the almighty. When a child visits his parents to seek their help it will no doubt please them as it indicates their importance to the child, but if the child visits just to spend time with them, their happiness will be multifold making them yearn to give back something to their child.</p><p>Similarly nishkama karma has tremendous potency as it pleases the almighty immensely. According to the seers excellent examples of this is the daily obligatory ritual of Sandhyavandan, and the chanting of Vishnu sahasranama(1000 names of Vishnu).</p><p>It is also significant to keep offering the fruits of one’s activities to the almighty so that one is not bound by them and one remains unfettered by karmic reactions to the extent possible. As the second verse of Ishopanishad states, doing such nishkama karma we may each aspire to live a hundred years - “jijivisecchatam samah” - without the taint of karma or akarma clinging to us.</p>
