Sanskrit
किं कर्म किमकर्मेति कवयोऽप्यत्र मोहिताः । तत्ते कर्म प्रवक्ष्यामि यज्ज्ञात्वा मोक्ष्यसेऽशुभात् ॥
kiṃ karma kim akarmeti kavayo 'py atra mohitāḥ tat te karma pravakṣyāmi yaj jñātvā mokṣyase 'śubhāt
Translation
"What is action, what inaction"? Even the wise are herein perplexed. Therefore I will declare to thee the action by knowing which thou shalt be loosed from evil.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna flags the difficulty of what’s coming: even wise men are confused about what counts as action versus inaction. This is a deliberate rhetorical pause before the paradoxes of verses 17-20 — announcing that the distinction is subtle enough to require careful unpacking, not obvious common sense, and setting reader expectations before the argument gets genuinely difficult.
Concepts