Sanskrit
कर्मणो ह्यपि बोद्धव्यं बोद्धव्यं च विकर्मणः । अकर्मणश्च बोद्धव्यं गहना कर्मणो गतिः ॥
karmaṇo hy api boddhavyaṃ boddhavyaṃ ca vikarmaṇaḥ akarmaṇaś ca boddhavyaṃ gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ
Translation
It is needful to discriminate action, to discriminate unlawful action, and to discriminate inaction; mysterious is the path of action.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna names three things that must be understood, not just two: action (karma), wrong or forbidden action (vikarma), and inaction (akarma) — a three-way distinction, not a simple binary — and calls the path of action itself “mysterious.” This complicates any reading of karma yoga as a simple formula; verse 18 supplies the actual resolution to the puzzle just posed.
Concepts