तस्मादसक्तः सततं कार्यं कर्म समाचर।
असक्तो ह्याचरन्कर्म परमाप्नोति पूरुषः।।3.19।।
Therefore, remaining unattached, always perform the obligatory duty; for, by performing one’s duty without attachment, a person attains the highest.
Osho’s Commentary
And so Krishna brings Arjuna back to the path. He has shown him the goal—the one who is free from all action. But the way to that goal is through action itself. He says, “Therefore, without attachment, perform the action that is to be done.” The key is asaktah, without attachment. We are all attached. Attached to the fruits of our action, attached to success, attached to praise. Or we are averse, which is just the other side of attachment. Aversion to failure, to blame. This attachment and aversion keeps the mind in a constant state of turmoil. The man of anasakti, of non-attachment, acts, but he is not concerned with the result. He acts with his whole being, but he leaves the outcome to the cosmos. He does his best, and then he is at peace. This is the art of action that Krishna is teaching. And he says that by acting in this way, without attachment, a man attains the supreme, the Param. How? Because in non-attachment, the ego cannot survive. The ego feeds on success and is wounded by failure. The ego is always concerned with the result. When you become indifferent to the result, when you find your joy in the action itself, the ego begins to starve. And when the ego dies, what remains is the supreme. The supreme is not a goal to be achieved in the future; it is the reality that is revealed when the ego is no more.