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How does the Bhagavadgita describe karma-yoga?

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Indian philosophy In the Bhagavad Gita Arjuna and the Hindu deity Krishna, who also serves as Arjuna's charioteer (as depicted in this 17th-century illustration), engaging in a philosophical dialogue.

In the Bhagavadgita, karma-yoga (the discipline of action) is presented as a path to religious self-realization that reconciles the necessity of performing one's duties with the goal of spiritual liberation (moksha).12

Rather than advocating for the renunciation of all action, which some traditions suggest, the text argues that individuals should perform their prescribed duties (dharma) while maintaining a spirit of nonattachment. The core of this teaching is that it is not the actions themselves that bind a person to the cycle of rebirth, but the selfish intentions and desires for the "fruits" or personal consequences of those actions.123

By acting without attachment to pleasure or pain, profit or loss, or victory or failure, one practices nishkama karma (acting without desire). This approach requires equanimity and is often described as performing "duty for duty's sake". Furthermore, the Bhagavadgita suggests that karma-yoga is interdependent with jnana-yoga (the discipline of knowledge) and bhakti-yoga (the discipline of devotion), as the performance of duty becomes a form of offering to the Divine.23