Nishkama karma, or action without attachment to results, is a concept in the Bhagavad Gita. While it seems impossible to act without thinking of results, subtle actions like thinking and feelings cannot be defined by their physical causes and effects. As actions evolve, they become less crude and more cosmic in nature, with results that cannot be quantified. The highest form of action is namasmāran, or remembering God, as it merges subjectivity and objectivity such that ownership of actions and results ceases. Namasmāran is widely practiced in religions and can help emancipate oneself and others.

1. YOGA
KARMA &
NAMASMARAN
DR.
SHRINIWAS
KASHALIKAR

2. One of the enigmas of Geeta (Gita)
philosophy is NISHKAMA
KARMA, which means action
without expectation of a particular
result.
How can you perhaps do anything
without expectation of a result,
when you see that everything is
associated with result?
Excepting perhaps involuntary
actions and activities during sleep,

3. every action and its planning are
associated with anticipation or
projection of its result.
It is understandable that if you focus
on; or get obsessed by a particular
result or start day dreaming about it,
then it can distract you from the
procedural skills and concentration.
But how can you completely forget
or get rid of the thought or idea of
the result?
It is also true that you should not get
involved in the result, because it can

4. disappoint you if you don’t get the
expected result. This is also fair and
pragmatic. It can protect you from
imminent reactive depression or
psychiatric maniacal elation.
But still, how can you totally
dissociate the vision about the result
from the action?
While thinking about these
questions; suddenly I realized that
even as most actions are associated
with results, all the actions and their
results i.e. cause and effect

5. relationship; do not follow the same
logic. This is especially true of
subtle actions; for example, my
thinking or feelings are not
describable in terms of their
physicochemical details and hence
their cause and effect relationship/s
with their results and the nature of
their also can not be defined!
It is true that actions are roughly and
in general; associated with successes
and failures.

6. But the human civilization is
evolution of actions (including the
thoughts and feelings and the
vision). As they evolve further; they
become subtler and cosmic. Their
nature and results; can not be
qualified or quantified by routine
gauging and assessment. Further,
neither the actions nor the results
remain personal or subjective and
hence their “Ownership” or “Credit”
ceases completely! So we no longer
remain attached to it. This is
NISHKAMA KARMA!

7. Geeta (Gita) inspires us for
evolution of our actions from
crudity, tight attachment to or
insistence on cause and effect
relationships, arbitrariness and
subjectivity; to; subtlety where
subjectivity and objectivity and the
procedure and the results
conceptually merge and the
ownership ceases!!
One such absolutely evolved action
is NAMASMARAN i.e.
remembering God or one’s true self!
Billions are already practicing it in

8. different religions and billions more
are most likely to practice it and
emancipate themselves and others!
One can ponder over these
explanations and decide about the
option of NAMASMARAN!
DR. SHRINIWAS KASHALIKAR