Action or inaction?

“Perform your bounden duty, for action is superior to inaction. Even the maintenance of the body would not be possible for you by inaction” (GITA lll :8)
“But the Gita preaches renunciation. So?” Swami Chinmayananda Ji answered the youth: To sit back physically retired is not the way to reach any goal, much less the state of perfection. If physical retirement is not accompanied by an equal amount of mental withdrawal from the world of desires, the spiritual future of that seeker is sure to be bleak and dreary, tarnished by mental repressions. The Vedantic scriptures though describing a goal of ‘inaction’, insist that we perform actions that are obligatory to our present social status, our domestic situation, community and nation. Not to perform our duties diligently would be inaction. Inactivity brings about the destruction of not only the nation, the society, the home, but also the individual himself, as he becomes victimised by his own idleness and suffers intellectual psychological and physical deterioration.
Thus, a life of dynamic action is always superior to a passive life of slothful inaction. Waste not your time, with faith in yourself and your ideal, act diligently. A fresh stream of strength will reach you as though from above, and you will find at the end of the play, won or lost, that you have grown stronger, healthier, and mightier. Never fear, never hesitate, act nobly. To face problems dynamically and to act diligently is nobler than escaping passively from the problems and retreating into a hole of bitterness, self -reproach, and self-condemnation.
Not only is a life of courage and strength good for our inner development, but an active life is essential even for the healthy maintenance of the body. Sunlight, hard work and good exercise, all bring a glow of vitality and beauty to the human body.