Chapter 3 — Karma Yoga

Translation (English):Arjuna asks: If you consider disciplined understanding superior to action, why do you urge me toward this terrible action, O Krishna?

Translation (English):Your words seem mixed and confusing to my understanding. Tell me one definite path by which I may attain the highest good.

Translation (English):In this world I have taught two paths: the path of knowledge for the contemplative and the path of selfless action for the yogin.

Translation (English):A person does not attain freedom from action merely by avoiding action, nor does perfection come simply from renouncing outwardly.

Translation (English):No one can remain completely inactive even for a moment; everyone is made to act by the qualities of nature.

Translation (English):One who restrains the organs of action but mentally dwells on sense objects is deluded and is called a hypocrite.

Translation (English):But one who controls the senses with the mind and engages the organs of action in selfless work is superior, O Arjuna.

Translation (English):Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better than inaction; even the maintenance of the body would not be possible through complete inaction.

Translation (English):Work done for sacrifice does not bind; other work binds a person. Therefore perform action for that higher purpose, free from attachment.

Translation (English):The Creator brought forth beings together with sacrifice and declared: through this may you prosper; may it fulfill your worthy aims.

Translation (English):Nourish the divine powers through sacrifice, and let those powers nourish you; supporting one another, you will attain the highest good.

Translation (English):The divine powers, strengthened by sacrifice, will grant you desired enjoyments. But one who enjoys what is given without offering it back is indeed a thief.

Translation (English):Those who partake of what remains after sacrifice are freed from sin; those sinful people who cook only for themselves consume sin.

Translation (English):Beings arise from food, food comes from rain, rain arises from sacrifice, and sacrifice arises from action.

Translation (English):Know that action arises from sacred knowledge, and sacred knowledge arises from the imperishable Absolute; therefore the all-pervading Absolute is ever established in sacrifice.

Translation (English):One who does not follow this divinely established cycle lives wastefully, delighting only in the senses; such a person lives in vain.

Translation (English):But the person who delights in the Self, is satisfied in the Self, and content in the Self alone has no obligatory personal task.

Translation (English):Such a person gains nothing by action and loses nothing by inaction, and has no personal dependence on any being for any purpose.

Translation (English):Therefore, remain unattached and constantly perform the duty that should be done; through action without attachment a person reaches the highest.

Translation (English):Janaka and others attained perfection through action alone. You too should act, keeping in view the welfare and stability of the world.

Translation (English):Whatever a great person does, others follow; whatever standard that person establishes, the world follows.

Translation (English):I have nothing that must be done in all three worlds, nor is there anything unattained that I need to attain; yet I continue to act.

Translation (English):For if I did not diligently engage in action, people would in every way follow my path, O Arjuna.

Translation (English):If I ceased to act, these worlds would fall into disorder; I would become the cause of confusion and would destroy the welfare of these beings.

Translation (English):As the ignorant act with attachment to work, so should the wise act without attachment, wishing to preserve the order and welfare of the world.

Translation (English):The wise should not unsettle the understanding of those attached to action; while acting in discipline, they should encourage everyone to perform their duties.

Translation (English):All actions are carried out by the qualities of nature, but one deluded by ego thinks, 'I am the doer.'

Translation (English):The knower of truth understands the distinction between qualities and their actions, knowing that the qualities act upon the qualities, and therefore does not become attached.

Translation (English):Those deluded by the qualities of nature become attached to actions arising from those qualities; the wise, who understand the whole, should not disturb the understanding of the less discerning.

Translation (English):Dedicate all actions to Me with an inwardly spiritual mind; free from expectation and possessiveness, fight without inner fever or agitation.

Translation (English):Those who faithfully and without criticism follow this teaching of Mine are freed from bondage to action.

Translation (English):But those who reject this teaching and do not follow it are deluded in all knowledge and, lacking discernment, are headed toward ruin.

Translation (English):Even a person with knowledge acts according to their own nature; beings follow their nature. What can mere suppression accomplish?

Translation (English):At the level of each sense, attraction and aversion are present. Do not come under their control, for they obstruct your path.

Translation (English):One’s own duty, even imperfectly performed, is better than another’s duty well performed. It is better to die fulfilling one’s own duty; another’s duty is dangerous.

Translation (English):Arjuna asks: What is it that impels a person to commit sin even against their wish, as though driven by force, O Krishna?

Translation (English):It is desire, and it is anger, born from the quality of passion; it is insatiable and deeply sinful. Know it to be the enemy here.

Translation (English):As fire is covered by smoke, a mirror by dust, and an embryo by the womb, so knowledge is covered by this force.

Translation (English):Knowledge is veiled by this insatiable fire in the form of desire, the constant enemy of the wise.

Translation (English):The senses, mind, and intellect are said to be its dwelling places; through them it deludes the embodied being by covering knowledge.

Translation (English):Therefore first restrain the senses, O best of the Bharatas, and slay this sinful force that destroys knowledge and wisdom.

Translation (English):The senses are said to be superior to the gross body; higher than the senses is the mind, higher than the mind is the intellect, and beyond the intellect is That—the Self.

Translation (English):Knowing the Self to be beyond the intellect, steadying the mind through the Self, O mighty-armed one, conquer this difficult enemy in the form of desire.