Chapter 3 of 18
कर्मयोग Karma Yoga Action
43 verses
Withdrawing from action is not available to anyone alive; what is available is acting without gripping the result.
Arjuna opens chapter 3 with a fair complaint. Chapter 2 told him understanding is the higher thing and then told him to fight; he points out that these are two instructions and asks for one.
What closes the argument is a single verse: no one can remain even a moment without acting. Sitting down on the floor of a chariot is also something a person does. The choice was never between acting and not acting, and the chapter is sharp about the alternative — a still body with a circling mind is called not a lesser stage but a false performance.
Then the mechanism: do the work as an offering. Seven verses build the wheel of food, rain, sacrifice and action to explain why offering is the right word — and to make taking without giving a matter of theft rather than of manners.
The chapter's last stretch is its most human. Arjuna asks what compels a person to do wrong against their own will, and the answer is one thing with two faces, desire and anger, insatiable as fire and named the constant enemy of the wise. Knowledge exempts nobody. A few verses earlier the chapter had already admitted it: even one who knows acts according to their own nature — what can suppression do?
ज्यायसी चेत्कर्मणस्ते मता बुद्धिर्जनार्दन
तत्किं कर्मणि घोरे मां नियोजयसि केशव
jyāyasī chet karmaṇas te matā buddhir janārdana
tat kiṁ karmaṇi ghore māṁ niyojayasi keśhava
If understanding is better than action, Krishna, why do you urge me into this terrible work?
Arjuna's complaint is fair, and worth granting as such.
Chapter 2 told him understanding is the higher thing — and then told him to fight. He asks the obvious question: why urge me into this terrible work?
He is not resisting here. He is pointing out that he has been given two instructions and cannot obey both, which is a reasonable objection to a teaching, not a failure of nerve.
Word by wordarjunaḥ uvācha — Arjun said · jyāyasī — superior · chet — if · karmaṇaḥ — than fruitive action · te — by you · matā — is considered · buddhiḥ — intellect · janārdana — he who looks after the public, Krishna · tat — then · kim — why · karmaṇi — action · ghore — terrible · mām — me · niyojayasi — do you engage · keśhava — Krishna, the killer of the demon named Keshi
Chapter 3 · Action · ← → to move, d for depth
All 43 verses
The Blessed One said
- 3.3 लोकेऽस्मिन्द्विविधा निष्ठा पुरा प्रोक्ता मयानघ Two paths, as I said
- 3.4 न कर्मणामनारम्भान्नैष्कर्म्यं पुरुषोऽश्नुते Refusing to act frees no one
- 3.5 न हि कश्िचत्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत् Not a moment without acting
- 3.6 कर्मेन्द्रियाणि संयम्य य आस्ते मनसा स्मरन् Still body, circling mind
- 3.7 यस्त्विन्द्रियाणि मनसा नियम्यारभतेऽर्जुन The other way round
- 3.8 नियतं कुरु कर्म त्वं कर्म ज्यायो ह्यकर्मणः Even keeping your body
- 3.9 यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धनः Do it as an offering
- 3.10 सहयज्ञाः प्रजाः सृष्ट्वा पुरोवाच प्रजापतिः Beings and sacrifice together
- 3.11 देवान्भावयतानेन ते देवा भावयन्तु वः Sustaining one another
- 3.12 इष्टान्भोगान्हि वो देवा दास्यन्ते यज्ञभाविताः Taking without giving is theft
- 3.13 यज्ञशिष्टाशिनः सन्तो मुच्यन्ते सर्वकिल्बिषैः Cooking only for yourself
- 3.14 अन्नाद्भवन्ति भूतानि पर्जन्यादन्नसम्भवः Food, rain, sacrifice, action
- 3.15 कर्म ब्रह्मोद्भवं विद्धि ब्रह्माक्षरसमुद्भवम् Present in every offering
- 3.16 एवं प्रवर्तितं चक्रं नानुवर्तयतीह यः Keeping the wheel turning
- 3.17 यस्त्वात्मरतिरेव स्यादात्मतृप्तश्च मानवः Nothing that must be done
- 3.18 नैव तस्य कृतेनार्थो नाकृतेनेह कश्चन Gaining nothing either way
- 3.19 तस्मादसक्तः सततं कार्यं कर्म समाचर So do your work, unattached
- 3.20 कर्मणैव हि संसिद्धिमास्थिता जनकादयः Janaka reached it by acting
- 3.21 यद्यदाचरति श्रेष्ठस्तत्तदेवेतरो जनः Whatever standard they set
- 3.22 न मे पार्थास्ति कर्तव्यं त्रिषु लोकेषु किञ्चन I need nothing, and I act
- 3.23 यदि ह्यहं न वर्तेयं जातु कर्मण्यतन्द्रितः If I did not act
- 3.24 उत्सीदेयुरिमे लोका न कुर्यां कर्म चेदहम् I would be the cause of chaos
- 3.25 सक्ताः कर्मण्यविद्वांसो यथा कुर्वन्ति भारत The wise act the same way
- 3.26 न बुद्धिभेदं जनयेदज्ञानां कर्मसङ्गिनाम् Do not unsettle them
- 3.27 प्रकृतेः क्रियमाणानि गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः I am the doer
- 3.28 तत्त्ववित्तु महाबाहो गुणकर्मविभागयोः Strands acting on strands
- 3.29 प्रकृतेर्गुणसम्मूढाः सज्जन्ते गुणकर्मसु Those who know only part
- 3.30 मयि सर्वाणि कर्माणि संन्यस्याध्यात्मचेतसा Surrender it all, and fight
- 3.31 ये मे मतमिदं नित्यमनुतिष्ठन्ति मानवाः Without complaint
- 3.32 ये त्वेतदभ्यसूयन्तो नानुतिष्ठन्ति मे मतम् Those who scorn it
- 3.33 सदृशं चेष्टते स्वस्याः प्रकृतेर्ज्ञानवानपि What can suppression do?
- 3.34 इन्द्रियस्येन्द्रियस्यार्थे रागद्वेषौ व्यवस्थितौ They sit in the senses
- 3.35 श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् Your own work, done badly
The Blessed One said
- 3.37 काम एष क्रोध एष रजोगुणसमुद्भवः Desire and anger, one thing
- 3.38 धूमेनाव्रियते वह्निर्यथाऽऽदर्शो मलेन च Smoke, dust, and the womb
- 3.39 आवृतं ज्ञानमेतेन ज्ञानिनो नित्यवैरिणा Insatiable as fire
- 3.40 इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिरस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते Where it lives
- 3.41 तस्मात्त्वमिन्द्रियाण्यादौ नियम्य भरतर्षभ Master the senses first
- 3.42 इन्द्रियाणि पराण्याहुरिन्द्रियेभ्यः परं मनः A ladder in one line
- 3.43 एवं बुद्धेः परं बुद्ध्वा संस्तभ्यात्मानमात्मना Strike it down
Where this sits
Chapter 3 against the whole of it: who is speaking, verse by verse, and how much of the book this chapter is.
Arjuna's first words in this chapter are a fair complaint, and worth granting as such.
Chapter 2 told him that understanding is better than action, and also to get up and fight. He is not being obtuse when he asks which. Anyone who has been told to care deeply and hold lightly at the same time has stood exactly here.