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{{Hindu philosophy}}
'''Akriya''' ([[Sanskrit]]: अक्रिय ) is a Sanskrit adjective (derived from the verb ''kr'') which means – inactive, dull, torpid, without essential works, abstaining from religious rites, without action of any kind, epithet of god, worthless, good for nothing; – या ''Akriyā'' ([[Sanskrit]]: अक्रिया) means – inactivity, neglect of duty.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Practical Sanskrit-English Dictionary|author=V.S.Apte|publisher=Digital Dictionaries of South Asia|page=6|url= http://dsalsrv02.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/philologic/search3advanced?dbname=apte&query=%E0%A4%85%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%AF&matchtype=exact&display=utf8 |year=1957}}</ref> In the [[Bhagavad Gita]], the word ''akriya'' refers to the person, who having renounced all desires and gained peace within, is not bound to perform any actions, rituals or works; such a person does not find any reason to perform any duty.<ref>{{cite book|title=Bhagavad Gita Chapter 6|author=Parama Karuna Devi|publisher=Lulu.com|page=7|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=1gPHBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA7 |isbn=9781482548419|date=9 March 2013}}</ref> According to ''[[Akriyavada]]'', man's suffering or pleasures are not because of his own actions but because of other factors.<ref>{{cite book|title=Early Buddhism and Bhagavad Gita|author=Kashinath Upadhyaya|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|page=90|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=JBbznHuPrTYC&pg=PA90 |isbn=9788120808805|date=31 December 1997}}</ref> From [[Bhagavata Purana|Śrimad Bhāgavatam]] (Sl.IX.17.10) it is learnt that the son of Rabhā was Rabhasa whose son was Gambhira who was the father of Akriya, all descendants of Ksatrvrddha rulers of Kasi. Akriya was a Brahmvida.<ref>{{cite web|title=Srimad-Bhagvatam|url=http://veda.sattvicspirit.org/bhagavatam-verse-09-17-10|access-date=14 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141214101223/http://veda.sattvicspirit.org/bhagavatam-verse-09-17-10|archive-date=14 December 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Krishna]] discusses the subject of ''[[Dhyana in Hinduism|Dhyanayoga]]'' in detail (in the 6th chapter of the [[Bhagavada Gita]]) after declaring that ''[[Samkhya|Sankhyayoga]]'' and ''[[Karma yoga]]'' both lead to the highest goal, the latter being easier of practice, [[Krishna]] tells [[Arjuna]] ([[Bhagavada Gita]] (VI.1) that :-

:अनाश्रितः कर्मफलं कार्यं कर्म करोति यः |
:स सन्यासी च योगी च न निरग्निर्न चाक्रियः ||

:"He who does his duty without expecting the fruit of actions is a Sannyasi (Sankhyayogi) and a Yogi (Karmayogi) both; he is no Sannyasi (renouncer) who has merely renounced the sacred fire; even so he is no Yogi, who has merely given up all activity."

In other words, he explains that attachment naturally stimulates desire for the fruit of actions, a ''Karmayogi'' having renounced all thoughts of the attains true knowledge which is the fruit of both disciplines; the ideal ''Yogi'' is he who having renounced all activities remains constantly engaged in meditation and whose mind is free from all evils. The word, ''Akriya'', stands for one who has totally abandoned all forms of activity and is wholly absorbed in meditation. Krishna further explains that ''[[Sannyasa]]'' is ''[[Yoga]]'' and one who has not given up thoughts of the world is not a ''Yogi''.<ref>{{cite book|title=Srimadbhagavadgita Tattvavivecani|author=Jayadayal Goyandka|publisher=Gita Press|pages=271–273|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=NFWHMwEACAAJ |isbn=9788129300317|year=2010}}</ref>

During [[Buddha]]'s time the main organised [[Sramana|Sramana schools]] were [[Buddhist]], [[Ājīvika|Ajivaka]], [[Cārvāka|Lokayata]], [[Jainism|Jain]] and [[Avidyā (Buddhism)|Ajñāna]] schools. The ''Ajivikas'' believed that each individual soul passes automatically to experience the final peace after experiencing all possible kind of life; they developed an elaborate system of divination and prognostication.{{cn|date=September 2020}} From ''Mahā-vagga'', a Jain text, it is learnt that Buddha had taught the ''akriyāvāda'' to Sīha, who was once a lay disciple of Mahāvira.<ref>{{cite book|title=Outlines of Jainism|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=xxxi|url= https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.180503 |year=1916}}</ref> And, from ''Mahācittārisaka'' of the ''[[Majjhima Nikaya]]'', it is learnt that two [[Utkala Kingdom|Utkala]] tribes – ''Vassa'' and ''Bhañña'', had renounced their faith in ''ahetuvāda'', ''akriyāvāda'' and ''nāstikavāda'' and embraced [[Buddhism]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Ancient India, History and Archeology|author=Dilip Kumar Ganguly|publisher=Abhinav Publications|page=83|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=N2tlKzxwhY8C&pg=PA83 |isbn=9788170173045|year=1994}}</ref> ''Akriyā-vāda'' or the Doctrine of Non-action, which greatly influenced the [[Buddhist]] and [[Hindu]] thought was propounded by Purana Kassapa, who died in 499 BCE (or 503 BCE), and was a contemporary of [[Buddha]] and [[Mahavira]] both of whom had rejected this doctrine according to which the soul is passive and no action, good or bad affects the soul, and therefore, there is no cause or effect (consequence) and no merits or demerits.<ref>{{cite book|title=Encyclopaedia of the Hindu World|publisher=Concept Publishing|page=305|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WjDcd0cTFxQC&pg=PA305 |isbn=9788170223757|year=1992}}</ref>

According to [[Advaita Vedanta|Mayavada]] of [[Adi Shankara|Shankara]], – what the mind sees is a reality, it is the [[Atman (Hinduism)|Atman]], it is [[Brahman]] but the ideas, the terms in which the mind sees is false, what it sees is not the truth. Buddha had not defined [[Nirvana]] and had remained vague, but Shankara by terming the action-less and peaceful Atman as ''shanta akriya Sacchidananda'' accepted that the law of [[karma]] was applicable to this false world and replaced the notion of the [[Anatta|non-self]] with the knowledge of the real self,<ref>{{cite book|title=The Upanishads|publisher=Sri Aurobindo Ashrama|page=498|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=f4XsuPPjQlIC&pg=PA498 |isbn=9788170587491|year=2004}}</ref> it is so because according to [[Advaita Vedanta]], [[Atman (Hinduism)|Atman]] is actionless (''akriya''), changeless and eternal (''kutasthanitya''),<ref>{{cite book|title=A Thousand Teachings|author=Sengaku Mayeda|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|page=207|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=3Jc9RHYN3qsC&pg=PA207 |isbn=9788120827714|year=2006}}</ref> and, according to [[Shuddhadvaita|Śuddhādvaita]] of [[Vallabha Acharya|Vallabhacarya]], the three [[lakshana]]s of the [[Jiva|Jivātman]] are – a) it is cognized through I-consciousness, it is beginning-less, [[nirguna]] and regulator of [[Prakṛti]], b) its nature is self-luminosity and c) associated with though unaffected by [[Guṇa|gunas]] and ''dosas'' of the universe it is eligible for liberation; by nature ''akriya'' ('non-doer') assumes the role of the ''karta'' ('doer') and the ''karma'' ('object').<ref>{{cite book|title=Kalatattvakosa|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass|page=63|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=q1XoNhUrP1MC&pg=PA64|isbn=9788120805842|year=2001}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Akriyavada]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Indian philosophy|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Vedanta]]
[[Category:Sanskrit words and phrases]]
[[Category:Hindu philosophical concepts]]

Akriya - Revision history

UpdateBot at 13:18, 25 October 2021