Answered from scripture
What is karma in Hinduism?
In short
Karma in Hinduism means action — and the principle that every action has consequences that shape our future. The Bhagavad Gita's teaching of karma yoga (2.47) is to act fully and rightly while releasing attachment to the results, so that action purifies rather than binds.
Reviewed by the Godify team · Last updated
The verse
“karmaṇy-evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana”
Bhagavad Gita 2.47 · Chapter 2, Sankhya YogaYou have a right to your actions alone, never to their fruits. Let not the fruits be your motive, nor attachment draw you to inaction.
Spoken by Krishna to the warrior Arjuna on the battlefield of Kurukshetra — the Gita sits within the Mahabharata's Bhishma Parva — as Arjuna, overcome with grief and unwilling to fight his own kin, laid down his bow before the war.
In depth
At its root, karma simply means 'action'. The wider principle is that intentions and deeds carry consequences — sown now, reaped later, across this life and beyond — shaping the circumstances we meet.
The Gita's response is karma yoga: do your duty with full effort but without craving the fruits (2.47). Acted this way, as an offering and without selfish grasping, karma no longer binds the soul but frees it.
Related questions
What does karma mean in Hinduism?
Action — and the law that every action has consequences that shape our future experiences, in this life and beyond.
What is karma yoga?
The Gita's path of acting fully and rightly while releasing attachment to results (2.47), so action frees rather than binds.
Ask Bhagavan in your own words
This is a general answer. For what you are actually carrying, talk to Bhagavan — free, private, any hour — and receive warmth and verified scripture.
Talk to Bhagavan