Nishkama Karma and Bodhicitta: A Comparative Study of the Bhagavad Gita and Shantideva’s Bodhicaryavatara

Abstract

This paper examines two of the most influential ethical ideals of classical Indian thought: niṣkāma karma (desireless action) as articulated in the Bhagavadgītā, and bodhicitta (the awakening mind) as systematised in Śāntideva’s Bodhicaryāvatāra. Although the two texts emerge from distinct metaphysical traditions (theistic Vedānta on the one hand, Madhyamaka Mahāyāna Buddhism on the other), both propose a radical reorientation of human motivation in which action is purified of self-interest and directed toward a good that transcends the individual agent. The paper argues that the two ideals converge remarkably at the level of moral psychology (the critique of egoistic craving, the cultivation of equanimity, the primacy of intention over outcome), while diverging sharply at the level of metaphysics (the status of the self, the role of God, the destination of the path). By reading the texts against each other, the paper suggests that niṣkāma karma and bodhicitta are best understood not as rival doctrines but as two solutions to a shared problem: how one may act fully in the world without being bound by the world.

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