The true nature of action is very difficult to understand. Therefore, one should know the nature of attached action, the nature of detached action, and also the nature of forbidden action. (4.17)

Explanation:

Attached action is work done with only selfish benefit in mind, and is in the mode of passion that produces Karmic bondage and leads to transmigration. Detached action is work done to the best of one’s ability accepting the result as His will, and is in the mode of goodness that leads to salvation. Detached action is considered to be inaction; because from the Karmic viewpoint, it is as if no action was performed. Action forbidden by the scriptures, done in the mode of ignorance, is harmful to both the doer and the society. It creates misfortune here and hereafter.

All acts are the acts of the Supreme Being, the inactively active actor. The Bible says: The words you speak are not yours; they come from the Spirit of your Father (Matthew 10.20). The wise perceive the inactive, infinite, and invisible reservoir of potential energy of the Supreme as the ultimate source of all visible and invisible kinetic energy in the cosmos, just as invisible electricity drives a fan. The one who has abandoned selfish attachment to the fruit of work, and remains ever content and dependent on no one but God, such a person ¾ though engaged in activity ¾ does nothing at all, and incurs no Karmic reaction.

Required discipline:

Lord Krishna said:

Do your duty and dedicate all work to God in a spiritual frame of mind; become free from ego, mental grief and the compulsion to satisfy all desires. (3.30) Likes and dislikes are two major stumbling blocks, on the path to Self-realization. (3.34) (Control over attachment, and aversion, is needed to attain peace of mind and tranquility.)

The one who is free from desire, whose mind and senses are under control, and who has renounced all proprietorship, does not incur sin ¾ the Karmic reaction ¾ by doing bodily action. (4.21)

A Karma Yogi ¾ who is content with whatever gain comes naturally by His will, and is unaffected by pairs of opposites, free from envy, equanimous in success and failure ¾ is not bound by Karma. (4.22)

Arjuna said: O Krishna, what impels one to commit sin as if forced against one’s will? (3.36)

Lord Krishna said:

It is lust born of passion that becomes anger when unfulfilled. Lust is insatiable and is a great devil. Know it as an enemy. (3.37) The senses, the mind, and the intellect are said to be the abode of lust; with these it deludes a person by veiling Self-knowledge. (3.40) Therefore, O Arjuna, by controlling the senses first, control this devil of material desire that destroys Self-knowledge and Self-realization. (3.41)

The Lord neither creates the urge for action, nor the feeling of doership, nor the attachment to the result of action in people. The power of Material Nature does all this. (5.14)

The creative power of the Eternal Being (Spirit) that causes manifestation of the living entity is called Karma. (8.03)

Attachment to the three modes of Material Nature is caused by previous Karma, which also causes birth of living entity in good and evil wombs. (13.21)

Explanation:

Lust is defined as intense desire for material and sensual pleasure. Lust is the result of ego, pride, likes, dislikes, proprietorship, greed and envy. Therefore, attachment to senses is the cause of previous karma. Our ability to use our intellect to control our senses causes future karma.