The niṣkāma-karma-yogī although engaged in seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, eating (all actions of the knowledge gathering senses, jñāna indriya), moving about, speaking, excreting, receiving (all actions of active senses, karma indriya), sleeping, breathing (actions governed by the life airs, prāṇas), opening and closing the eyes (representative of the five secondary prāṇas) knows that he does nothing at all because he understands that only the senses are interacting with the sense objects. Although engaged in actions, a karma yogī by verifying with his intelligence that only the senses are engaged with their objects thinks he does nothing at all.

The niṣkāma-karma-yogī, even though performing actions such as seeing, from the combination of body, senses, and prāṇas all arising from pradhāna, realizes the true nature of the individual ātmā. Pradhāna is the primal form of unconscious matter, from which the elements, senses, sense objects and false ego are generated. Thus he is convinced that the senses such as eye relate to the sense object such as form by the influence of the Lord according to the individual's previous impressions. He consequently thinks that the ātmā does nothing. He is engaged only in relishing the ātmā. The causes of the actions are only the body, senses and prāṇas, arising from pradhāna, caused by beginningless material impressions.