Nishkama Karma (निष्कामकर्म)
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Nishkama karma (Samskrit: निष्कामकर्म) is translated as a ‘duty without desire’, ‘an action with no regard to its fruits’, ‘disinterested action’, and ‘selfless action’. Bhagavad Gita emphasizes,
BG 2.47
Niṣkāma karma is a deed intended for everyone’s benefit, similar in a sense to altruism. It is karma that follows dharma, the moral imperative path.[1]
परिचयः ॥ Introduction
Karma (कर्म) refers to 1) any action or deed; 2) the principle of cause and effect; 3) a consequence or “fruit of action” (karmaphala) or “after effect” (uttaraphala), that sooner or later returns upon the doer.
While all physical and mental activities and their consequences over many lives are typically viewed as Karma, a subset namely niṣkāma karma, is where one performs actions without any interest about its consequences. It is investigated as an important Indian psychological construct for both self-actualization (unveiling hidden potential to achieve worldly happiness) and self-realization (realizing one’s true self through self-transformation). Niṣkāma karma or action that has no ego-involvement and pays no attention to the results is the form of action that is involved in karma yoga.[1]
Adi Shankaracharya states that karma is the action that a person may choose to do, not to do, or do in a different way. Shankara Bhashya on Badarayana Brahma Sutra:
Kartum akartum anyatha va kartum sakyam laukikam vaidikam ca karma.[1]
Intention: Sakāma or Niṣkāma Karma
Sakāma karmas are deeds motivated by a fervent desire to achieve worldly goals on the materialistic path. It is the path of pravrtti (expanding social growth) and entails the active involvement of the self with social roles in the family and community. Contrary to it is the path of selfless action, an action without ego-involvement, an activity devoid of goals for personal gratification termed niṣkāma karma.[1] The word ‘kama’ in niṣkāma refers to dismissing the ‘desire’ for an action’s results rather than eliminating the ‘desire’ to propel an action.
Sakāmi persons have a natural propensity to indulge their ego-driven needs, resulting in a range of emotions. Their deeds are motivated by a fervent desire to achieve worldly goals on the materialistic path. This is the path of pravrtti (expanding social growth) and entails the active involvement of the self with social roles in the family and community.
Niṣkāma karma is equated to the Western thought of categorical imperative, known as Kant’s moral law: a duty for duty’s sake. Kant's law, however, differs in that the arguments are intriguing in theory but troublesome in practice because Kant does not offer the applications of the idea.[2]
In the Yogasutras, we find the
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Paranjpe, Anand. C. and Ramakrishna Rao, K. (2016) Psychology in the Indian Tradition. London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
- ↑ Pathak, Krishna Mani. 2013. “Nishkama Karma and the Categorical Imperative: A Philosophical Reflection on the Bhagavad-Gita.” International Journal of Applied Ethics 2:119-140. https://www.academia.edu/19631993. (Page 120)