Nishkaamakarma - An ethical discussion regarding Indian concept of \'Action without any desire\' PDF

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An ethical discussion regarding Indian concept of 'Action without any desire'...

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Nishkaamakarma In Karma yoga philosophy, there are two central concepts: Sakam Karma and Nishkam Karma. Sakam Karma is to take action under self-centered motivations with the goal of being thanked or receiving goodness in return. Nishkam Karma is the opposite of Sakam Karma and is considered to be selfless action without even the subtle internal hope for a “thank you” or goodness returned.

Nishkamakarma is a prominent theme of Bhagavad Gita. It is also considered as the essence or the central message of Bhagavad Gita. In Sanskrit, nishkamkarma means “action without motive,” “work without desire" or "desire-less.” When acting out of Nishkam Karma, an individual is acting without any expectation that good will be returned to him/her. The agent should never be motivated by the results of the actions he performs nor should he/she have any affinity for not doing his/her prescribed activities. This concept has two basic implications: (1) One should always act according to one's spiritual–moral nature (svabhava), and (2) he/she should always act according to duties prescribed by society for the sake of righteousness as a moral virtue.

When caught up in the moral dilemma of whether to go to war for righteousness or to leave the battlefield for unrighteousness, Arjuna asks Krishna a very philosophical question of metaphysics in which he wants to know what it means to be an enlightened or a rational person. Krsna answers, O' Arjuna when gives up all desires for sense gratification produced within the mind and becoming satisfied by the realization of the self in the pure state of the soul; then it is said one is properly situated in perfect knowledge.

The Gita tells us that regardless of whether the agent acts from his/her nature or from social duties, he/she should not have any desire of or any attachment to the fruits of those actions. If an action is done from a desire or feeling or an attachment, it has no moral worth; even if the agent desires to achieve a certain result, he/she cannot always achieve it because the result of an action is not in his/her hands; rather it is in the hands of the Supreme Self. Hence, a kshatriyas primal duty is to protect its kingdom even in the cost of him taking lives of the rivals., likewise, a Bhraman can fulfill its duty by performing his rituals by sacrificing.

In the Gita, an action performed according to nishkama karma is known as karma-yoga and the agent/doer as karma-yogi in the sense that acting from selfless motives is possible only if the agent sacrifices his desires and inclinations. A verse of the Gita says that one should always perform one's duty

to the best of one's moral capacity with one's mind attached to the lord, abandoning selfish attachment to the results and remaining calm in both success and failure. Acting in this kind of yogic manner brings peace and equanimity to his/her mind. In order to be a nishkami agent, one needs to go through yogic exercise to overpower one's desires and feelings. This is a unique technique we find in the Gita and other classical texts of Hinduism. It makes the Gita's concept of nishkama karma uniquely different from Kant's conception of the categorical imperative because Kant does not tell us how we can defeat our sensuous inclinations

It is interesting to know that nishkarma karma is devoid of desires, but not of karma (duty). The reason the Gita gives is quite clear: embodied beings cannot completely renounce actions until they reach the level of enlightenment. For this reason, it can be said that the Gita's concept of nishkama karma is not negation of actions, but negation of desires attached to one's duty. Since desires cause bondage and limit one's potential for renunciation or self-realization, an agent must free himself/herself before he/she can realize his/her own reality.A person whose mind is unperturbed by sorrow, who does not crave pleasures, and is completely free from attachment, fear, and anger, is called an enlightened sage of steady intellect.

If an action is done from a desire or feeling or an attachment, it has no moral worth; even if the agent desires to achieve a certain result, he/she cannot always achieve it because the result of an action is not in his/her hands; rather it is in the hands of the Supreme Self. The Gita's interpretation of nishkama karma as a determining law of morality looks similar to Kant's interpretation of the categorical imperative, which implies that the moral agent should always act according to his/her reason or good will free from sensuous inclinations and desires. From the perspective of dharma, nishkarma karma is a universal moral law and from the perspective of svadharma as varnashramdharma, it is a moral maxim determined by society.

It is also of moral significance that despite several conceptual and practical problems in the Gita's and Kant's ethical theories, they both convey to the world the fascinating and inspiring ethical message of non-attachment to sensuous inclinations and desires: Their message is the importance of achieving a universal moral approach to dealing with social issues like protecting righteousness, justice, and bias from unrighteousness, injustice, and partiality....