नैष्कर्म्य

Naiṣkarmya literally means “the state of being without karma”. In the Gita it does not mean being without action. It means being free from the binding effect of action.

Verse 3.4 says that one does not reach naiṣkarmya merely by not starting actions, and that renunciation of work alone does not bring perfection. Verse 18.49 names the goal as naiṣkarmya-siddhi, the highest perfection of freedom from action’s bondage, and says it comes to one whose mind is unattached everywhere, who has mastered the self and is free from craving.

Taken together, the two verses make one point: the freedom is reached through the way the work is done, not by dropping the work. This is the same insight as seeing inaction in action, which the topic on karma and akarma explores.

Common misreading: reading the word as “no action”, and so as a reason to withdraw from duties.

Better sense: naiṣkarmya is the inner state in which work goes on and leaves no knots in the mind.

To read further, see the topic Karma and Akarma.