Chapter 3

Path of Action

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Gita 3.1
अर्जुन उवाच। ज्यायसी चेत्कर्मणस्ते मता बुद्धिर्जनार्दन। तत्किं कर्मणि घोरे मां नियोजयसि केशव।।

arjuna uvāca jyāyasī cet karmaṇas te matā buddhir janārdana tat kiṁ karmaṇi ghore māṁ niyojayasi keśava

"Arjuna said: O Krishna, if you consider knowledge to be superior to action, then why do you urge me to engage in this terrible action of war?"

All 43 verses of Chapter 3

  1. 3.1Arjuna said: O Krishna, if you consider knowledge to be superior to action, then why do you urge me to...
  2. 3.2Your words seem contradictory and confuse my mind. Please tell me decisively the one path by which I can...
  3. 3.3The Supreme Lord said: O sinless one, I have already explained that there are two paths in this world, the...
  4. 3.4One cannot achieve freedom from action by merely abstaining from action. Nor can one attain perfection by...
  5. 3.5No one can remain without action even for a moment. Everyone is helplessly driven to act by the qualities...
  6. 3.6One who restrains the organs of action but sits thinking about sense objects in the mind is deluded and is...
  7. 3.7But one who controls the senses with the mind, O Arjuna, and engages the organs of action in Karma Yoga...
  8. 3.8Perform your prescribed duties, for action is better than inaction. Even the maintenance of your body...
  9. 3.9Work done as sacrifice to the Supreme does not bind. All other work binds one to this world. Therefore, O...
  10. 3.10In the beginning, the Creator created humankind along with sacrifice and said: 'By this shall you prosper...
  11. 3.11Nourish the gods with sacrifice, and the gods will nourish you. By nourishing each other, you will attain...
  12. 3.12The gods, pleased by sacrifice, will give you the enjoyments you desire. But one who enjoys what is given...
  13. 3.13The good who eat the remnants of sacrifice are freed from all sins. But the selfish who cook only for...
  14. 3.14All beings are born from food; food is born from rain; rain is born from sacrifice; and sacrifice is born...
  15. 3.15Know that action arises from the Vedas, and the Vedas arise from the Imperishable. Therefore, the...
  16. 3.16One who does not follow this cycle of sacrifice thus set in motion lives in vain, O Arjuna. Such a person...
  17. 3.17But for one who delights in the Self alone, who is satisfied in the Self, and who is content in the Self...
  18. 3.18Such a person has nothing to gain from actions done, nor anything to lose from actions not done. They have...
  19. 3.19Therefore, always perform your duty without attachment. By working without attachment, one attains the...
  20. 3.20King Janaka and others attained perfection through action alone. You should also act, considering the...
  21. 3.21Whatever a great person does, common people follow. Whatever standard they set, the world follows.
  22. 3.22O Arjuna, there is nothing in the three worlds that I need to do, nothing that I have not attained or need...
  23. 3.23If I ever stopped working vigilantly, O Arjuna, all people would follow my path in every way.
  24. 3.24If I did not act, these worlds would perish. I would cause confusion and destroy all these beings.
  25. 3.25As the ignorant act with attachment, O Arjuna, so should the wise act without attachment, wishing for the...
  26. 3.26The wise should not unsettle the minds of the ignorant who are attached to action. Acting with focus, the...
  27. 3.27All actions are performed by the gunas of material nature. One whose mind is deluded by ego thinks, 'I am...
  28. 3.28But one who knows the truth about the division of the gunas and their actions understands that the gunas...
  29. 3.29Those deluded by the gunas of nature become attached to the actions of the gunas. But the one who knows...
  30. 3.30Surrendering all actions to Me, with consciousness fixed on the Self, free from desire and possessiveness...
  31. 3.31Those who always follow this teaching of Mine with faith, without envy, are freed from the bondage of action.
  32. 3.32But those who criticize and do not follow this teaching, know them to be deluded, devoid of all wisdom...
  33. 3.33Even a wise person acts according to their own nature. All beings follow their nature, what can repression...
  34. 3.34Attraction and aversion are located in the relationship between each sense and its objects. One should not...
  35. 3.35Better is one's own dharma, though imperfectly performed, than the dharma of another well performed...
  36. 3.36Arjuna said: Then what is it that compels a person to commit sin, O Krishna, even unwillingly, as if...
  37. 3.37The Supreme Lord said: It is desire, it is anger, born of the quality of rajas. Know this to be the...
  38. 3.38As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror by dust, as an embryo by the womb, so is wisdom covered by desire.
  39. 3.39Wisdom is covered by this eternal enemy of the wise, O Arjuna, desire, which is insatiable like fire.
  40. 3.40The senses, mind, and intellect are said to be its seat. Through these, it deludes the embodied soul by...
  41. 3.41Therefore, O Arjuna, first control the senses, and slay this sinful destroyer of knowledge and realization.
  42. 3.42The senses are said to be superior to the body; the mind is superior to the senses; the intellect is...
  43. 3.43Thus knowing the Self to be superior to the intellect, O mighty-armed one, steady the mind with the Self...