Bhagavad Gita Chapter 4 - JnanaKarmaSanyasa Yoga - Sloka 18

 The entire content of this mail is from Swami Chidbhavananda's translation of The Bhagavad Gita, published by Ramakrishna Mission.

The Philosophy of Action - Sloka 16-22

1 Gita Sloka every day - Chapter 4 -JnanaKarmaSanyasa Yoga - Sloka 18

Udipi Krishna

Karmani akarma yah pashyet akarmani cha karma yah I

Sah buddhiman manushyeshu sah yuktah krtsna karma krut II sloka 18

कर्माणि अकर्म यः पश्येत् अकर्मणि च कर्म यः ।

सः बुद्धिमान मनुष्येषु सः युक्तः कर्त्स्न कर्म कृत् ।। श्लोक १८

He who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, he is wise among men, he is a yogi and accomplisher of everything

Action is innate in praktiti and inaction in atman. The former is kinetic and the latter is static; one is becoming and the other the being; one is the perishable and the other the imperishable. The ignorant are confused being unable to distinguish between the two. A passenger in a running train mistakes the nearby tress as running in the opposite direction. Here motion is attributed wrongly to the motionless. Action is seen in inaction due to ignorance. A man on the shore mistakes a sailing ship in the distant sea to be stand still. Here inaction is seen in action. Thus it is seen that actions and inactions in nature do not always present themselves in their true perspective. The characteristics of the one are often found in the other due to ignorance. The ignorant man thinks of himself as the body - "Now I rest, Now I work "- thus does he transpose functions of the prakriti on atman.

Activities taking place in and through the body, mind and senses are designated as karma or action; and the knowledge supreme as akarma or inaction. A man earnestly takes to cookery. He occupies himself with cooking. This results in his acquiring knowledge of cookery. Seeing inaction in action is the process of adding to one's knowledge by doing one's duty properly. He who has a wide knowledge in cookery is able to execute that art efficiently This leads to seei9ng action in inaction. This way karma enriches knowledge and knowledge brings in proficiency in work. 

Karma known as living a righteous life culminating in self-knowledge. The man of self knowledge discharges his earthly duties to the best of his abilities. Karma and jnana are thus complementary to each other