Arjuna's Argument at Kurukshetra and Sri Krishna's Answer - Gita's Karma Yoga: Elimination of Desire from Action

Gita’s Karma Yoga:
Elimination of Desire from Action

The secret of Karma Yoga lies in the right dealing with the relationship between desire and action, and in eliminating from the psychological complex by pursuing a sustained method the operation of desire so that one can discover the real origin of all dynamism of action in that supreme will which is omnipotently free, and which is not only free to act or not to act but which at its origin remains permanently poised in the Inactive Brahman, even when, if it so wills, can constantly be engaged in full manifestation of action. Moreover, the seeker is enabled to discover and apply the methods by which the entire psychological complex can remain permanently united with that omnipotent will that is forever reposed in freedom from action.

In our ordinary psychological operation, all action appears to be tied up with desire, and if desire is eliminated, action also ceases to operate. According to the yoga of the Gita, there is no such inevitable connection between desire and action, and action can be united with that omnipotent will which has in it no want or lacuna to fulfill which the machinery of desire would be required. If that Will acts, it is because it is free to act or not to act and to act without losing that status and poise in which there is no vibration of action. It is the discovery of that free will and of the method

by which that will can be made operative through our individual consciousness that constitutes the methodology of Karma Yoga. It is because that operation is inconsistent with the vibration of desire that Karma Yoga proposes those steps by which desire can be eliminated from the human instrument which aspires to be free from the dualities and dilemmas of action and from the afflictions and disabilities for which there is no ordinary solution.