Bhagavad Gita 4.18
कर्मण्यकर्म यः पश्येदकर्मणि च कर्म यः । स बुद्धिमान्मनुष्येषु स युक्तः कृत्स्नकर्मकृत् ॥
karmaṇy akarma yaḥ paśyed akarmaṇi ca karma yaḥ | sa buddhimān manuṣyeṣu sa yuktaḥ kṛtsna-karma-kṛt ||
Translation
He who sees inaction in action, and action in inaction, is wise among men; he is devoted, he performs all actions.
Reflection
Where today did your hand do one thing while the operator inside was doing another?
Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Four
The chapter's famous paradox. Karmaṇi akarma yaḥ paśyet, akarmaṇi ca karma yaḥ. He who sees inaction in action and action in inaction. The reversal is not mystical. It is precise. Inaction in action: the visible hand at work without the inner grabbing. Action in inaction: the visible stillness that is in fact agitation, calculation, plotting. Sa buddhimān manuṣyeṣu, he is wise among men. The verse is asking the student to learn a kind of double sight. The hand is one fact. What the operator is doing inside is another. Shankara: most people read the first and miss the second.