Few Sanskrit words are used as widely, or as loosely, as karma. In everyday English it usually means a kind of cosmic payback: what goes around comes around. The Bhagavad Gita offers something far subtler, and in Chapter 4 Krishna himself admits it is difficult: gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ, the way of action is hard to understand (4.17).
On Platonix, the Jiva Balance Pause for Wisdom series spends a full week on this topic (Days 67 to 73), building up from the dictionary meaning to the Gita and Adi Shankaracharya's commentary. This article follows that path.
Step 1: Beyond the popular meaning
Day 67 opens with the question: is karma just "what goes around comes around", or something deeper? Day 68 looks at the Sanskrit word itself. Karma comes from the root kṛ, to do. Its first meaning is simply action, anything done. By extension it also refers to the results that actions produce, and to the tendencies they leave behind.
So karma is not primarily a moral scoreboard. It is a description of how action, result and tendency are woven together.
Step 2: The Gita's three terms
In Gita 4.16–4.18, Krishna distinguishes three things that must be understood:
Karma: action
In this context, karma refers to action that is appropriate, prescribed or in line with dharma. Day 14 of the series sums it up as actions performed as per dharma, guided by scripture and right values, which purify the mind and lead to harmony and growth.
Vikarma: wrong action
Vikarma is prohibited or improper action, driven by desire, anger, greed or ego. The Day 70 summary of Shankaracharya's reading describes it as action opposed to scriptural injunction, born of ignorance and desire. Vikarma creates bondage and suffering.
Akarma: actionlessness
This is the subtle one. Akarma literally means non-action. But it does not mean laziness or doing nothing. Day 14 describes it as action performed without ego and expectation of results: outer action, inner renunciation. At the deepest level, the Day 70 summary explains, akarma points to the actionlessness of the Self, which never acts.
Step 3: Seeing inaction in action
Gita 4.18 says, in paraphrase: one who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is wise among people and remains established in yoga while doing all actions.
What could this mean? The Day 70 summary of Shankaracharya's reading offers a clear key:
- Seeing akarma in karma: while actions take place in body and mind, the wise person knows that the Self is actionless. The body walks, the mind thinks, but awareness itself does not "do" anything.
- Seeing karma in akarma: what looks like non-action may still be action, if ignorance, ego, the neglect of duty or subtle mental activity remain. Sitting still while seething with resentment is not akarma.
Day 71 adds the central point: according to Shankaracharya, karma binds only so long as I take myself to be the doer. When knowledge removes the sense of doership, the results of action can no longer bind.
Step 4: Is thought karma too?
Day 72 asks a practical question through an example: is karma measured only by physical actions, or do our thoughts and mental activities also count?
The traditional answer is that thought is a form of action. Repeated thoughts become tendencies (vāsanās), and tendencies drive future actions. Someone who never acts on anger but nurses it constantly is still shaping their character. This is why the Gita pays such attention to the mind.
Why this matters in daily life
Responsibility without fatalism
If karma means action, then our present choices matter. The Gita does not teach passive acceptance of fate; it teaches wise action now.
Freedom from the weight of results
Karma yoga, acting without selfish attachment to results, is the practical application. We do our best and accept outcomes as they come.
Attention to motive
Two identical actions can be very different karma depending on motive. Giving to impress others and giving out of compassion look the same from outside.
Inner as well as outer
Because thoughts are karma, inner work, reflection, prayer and meditation, is not a luxury but part of right action.
A simple practice
At the end of each day, reflect briefly:
- What did I do today that was in line with my values? (karma)
- Where did I act from anger, greed or ego? (vikarma) What can I learn?
- Was there a moment when I acted fully, without worrying about the outcome or about myself? (a taste of akarma)
Over time, this reflection itself becomes a way of refining action.
The culmination
Day 73 closes the topic by linking it to the series' earlier theme of freedom and licence. The thread is clear: real freedom is not doing whatever we like, but acting rightly, without the bondage of ego and craving, and finally knowing ourselves as the actionless Self in whose presence all action happens.
Listen
Start with Day 67 – What does Karma REALLY mean? on the Jiva Balance channel on Platonix and follow through to Day 73. Each talk is about ten minutes.