Bhagavad Gita: Understanding One Shloka at a time. (Chp. 4, Verse 19) — HBR Patel
यस्य सर्वे समारम्भा: कामसङ्कल्पवर्जिता: |
ज्ञानाग्निदग्धकर्माणं तमाहु: पण्डितं बुधा: || 19||
One whose every undertaking is devoid of any desires and sense gratification, and whose actions are burnt in the fire of knowledge, is called wise by the enlightened sages.
Bhagwan Shri Krishna explains in this verse and the upcoming five verse, the nature of Karma or the prescribed Vedic activities that leads to detachment from the action and ultimately lead to Moksha.
Our true identity is the eternal soul. However, we tend to think that the physical form that our soul has occupied temporarily is our true identity in this materialistic world.
Our actions are guided by the desire to comfort this mortal body. We perform actions motivated by the desire for sensual or mental gratifications and we are somehow entangled in this materialistic world due to those selfish actions. Liberation becomes hard to achieve as we perform actions based on the sense of doership.
However, Bhagwan Shri Krishna points out that those whose every undertaking is devoid of any desires and sense of gratification and who have burnt the impact of the action by the fire of the knowledge(free from desires by knowing their true-self — Atma{Eternal Soul}) is considered wise by the enlightened sages.
If we want to achieve Moksha, we must know the proper way to perform an action. When we perform an action for the pleasure of the Bhagwan and when we let go of the sense of doership by the fire of knowledge, those actions do not bore any karmic reaction and we are free from the bondage of those actions.
Bhagwan Shri Krishna explains the concept of Karma/Akarma in the upcoming shlokas.
