In plain words
What is action and what is inaction? Even the wise are confused about this. I shall explain action to you; knowing it, you will be freed from evil.
Word for word
'What is action? What is inaction?' Even the wise are confused in this; therefore I shall declare action to you, knowing which you will be freed from the inauspicious.
The commentators
Bhagavadgītābhāṣyam
तत्र कर्म चेत् कर्तव्यं त्वद्वचनादेव करोम्यहम् , किं विशेषितेन ‘पूर्वैः पूर्वतरं कृतम्’ इत्युच्यते ; यस्मात् महत् वैषम्यं कर्मणि । कथम् ? —
किं कर्म किं च अकर्म इति कवयः मेधाविनः अपि अत्र अस्मिन् कर्मादिविषये मोहिताः मोहं गताः । तत् अतः ते तुभ्यम् अहं कर्म अकर्म च प्रवक्ष्यामि, यत् ज्ञात्वा विदित्वा कर्मादि मोक्ष्यसे अशुभात् संसारात् ॥ १६ ॥
In plain words
Here someone objects: if action is what I have to do, your word alone is enough — I will do it. So what is the point of the added detail, that it is said, "the ancients did it, long before"? — Because in the matter of action there is enormous confusion. How so? —
"What is action, and what is inaction?" — even the kavayaḥ, and by that word read the keen-minded, are bewildered right here, in this whole question of action and what goes with it: bewildered means they have walked straight into delusion. That — meaning, for that very reason — I will lay out for you, for you, what action is and what inaction is. And knowing it, truly understanding action and the rest, you will be released from the inauspicious: from saṃsāra itself.
Close to the Sanskrit
There [an objection]: if action is to be done, I do it from your word alone; what is the use of the qualification, that it is said, 'it was done by the ancients, still earlier'? — Because there is a great unevenness in regard to action. How? —
"What is action, and what is non-action?" — thus even the kavayaḥ, that is, the intelligent, are here, in this matter of action and the rest, mohitāḥ, that is, gone into delusion. That, that is, therefore, to you — to you — I shall declare action and non-action; knowing which, that is, having understood which, namely action and the rest, you will be released from the inauspicious, that is, from saṃsāra.
Gītā Vāhini
“బావా! నీవును అటులనే తలంచి కర్మలు చేయుము. అట్లు చేసితివేని నీకు తప్పక ‘చిత్తశుద్ధి’ కలుగును. ఇంతియే కాక ఈ కర్మలయందే కర్మ, అకర్మలన్న నేమియో నీకు తెలిపెదెను వినుము.”
In plain words
“Brother-in-law! You too, thinking in just that way, do karmas. If you do so, you will surely gain 'citta-śuddhi'. Not only this: I shall tell you what karma and akarma are within these very karmas; listen.”