न कर्मणामनारम्भान्नैष्कर्म्यं पुरुषोऽश्नुते | न च संन्यसनादेव सिद्धिं समधिगच्छति ||३-४||
na karmaṇāmanārambhānnaiṣkarmyaṃ puruṣo.aśnute . na ca saṃnyasanādeva siddhiṃ samadhigacchati ||3-4||
Chapter 3 · Verse 4
Karma Yoga
कर्मयोग
In plain words
You must realize that simply avoiding work will not bring you true peace or freedom. You cannot escape the cycle of karma, or action, by just sitting idle. Real freedom comes from purifying your heart and gaining jnana, which is spiritual knowledge, rather than merely abandoning your daily responsibilities.
Translation
3.4 No man experiences freedom from activity (Naiskarmya) by abstaining from works; and no man ever attains success by mere renunciation of works.
Meaning
Actionlessness (Naishkarmyam) and perfection (Siddhi) are synonymous. The sage who has attained to perfection or reached the state of actionlessness rests in his own essential nature as ExistenceKnowledgeBliss Absolute (Satchidananda Svarupa). He has neither necessity nor desire for action as a means to an end. He has perfect satisfaction in the Self. One attains to the state of actionlessness by gaining the knowledge of the Self. If a man simply sits iet by abandoning action you cannot say that he has attained to the state of actionlessness. His mind will be planning scheming and speculating. Thought is real action. The sage who is free from affirmative thoughts wishes and likes and dislikes who has the knowledge of the Self can be said to have attained to the state of actionlessness. No one can reach perfection or freedom from action or knowledge of the Self by mere renunciation or by simply giving up activities without possessing the knowledge of the Self. (Cf. XVIII.49).
Word by word
न not कर्मणाम् of actions अनारम्भात् from nonperformance नैष्कर्म्यम् actionlessness पुरुषः man अश्नुते reaches न not च and संन्यसनात् from renunciation एव only सिद्धिम् perfection समधिगच्छति attains.