3.5 Not a moment without acting Krishna speaks
न हि कश्िचत्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत्
कार्यते ह्यवशः कर्म सर्वः प्रकृतिजैर्गुणैः
na hi kaśhchit kṣhaṇam api jātu tiṣhṭhatyakarma-kṛit
kāryate hyavaśhaḥ karma sarvaḥ prakṛiti-jair guṇaiḥ
No one can stay for even a moment without acting. Everyone is made to act by the strands of nature, whether they will it or not.
Explanation
Not for even a moment.
This is the verse that closes the exit Arjuna was reaching for. Everyone is made to act by the strands, whether they will it or not.
Sitting down on the floor of a chariot is also something a person does. The choice was never between acting and not acting — it is only ever between kinds of acting.
Going further
Word by word
- na
- not
- hi
- certainly
- kaśhchit
- anyone
- kṣhaṇam
- a moment
- api
- even
- jātu
- ever
- tiṣhṭhati
- can remain
- akarma-kṛit
- without action
- kāryate
- are performed
- hi
- certainly
- avaśhaḥ
- helpless
- karma
- work
- sarvaḥ
- all
- prakṛiti-jaiḥ
- born of material nature
- guṇaiḥ
- by the qualities
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No one can remain even a moment without acting.
This is the verse that closes the exit Arjuna was reaching for. Sitting down on the chariot floor was not a withdrawal from action; it was an action, with consequences, taken under the same compulsions as any other. The Gita's whole ethics rests on this: since abstention is unavailable, the only question left is how.