What is desireless action?

Following is an excerpt from a samvaad (dialogue) session with Acharya Prashant.

Questioner: Acharya Ji, how will I get motivation to do some work, if I am not attached to the result of the work?

Acharya Prashant Ji: When you come to this hall, you are probably prompted by some desire, aren’t you?

Q: Yes.

Acharya Prashant Ji: There are desires, there are calculations, there are pluses and minuses. You probably weigh the pros and cons. All those things are there. Sometimes there is a nagging question you want to get rid of, therefore you come. That’s how the thing mostly starts. So this is ‘sakaam karma’ (desire-oriented action). Your movement in this hall is motivated by a desire.

You want something, therefore you do.

This is the common ‘saakaam karma’.

You ‘do’ because you want.

So, the action is a means of fulfilling the desire.

This is normal ‘saakaam karma’.

That’s how things are at Twelve Noon. You are sitting ready to fire your questions, you have a purpose in being here. What is the purpose? — ‘I want my questions answered.’ You have a definite…