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Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 3
Karma Yoga
The Yoga of Action
Krishna answers Arjuna's question on action versus renunciation: no one can stop acting, so the question is never whether to act but from what consciousness. Work as sacrifice, duty as worship, and desire as the enemy hiding in the senses.
All 43 verses
Each verse links to its full Sanskrit text, transliteration, plain-English meaning, key learning and practical application.
Gita 3.1-2jyāyasī cetkarmaṇaste matā buddhirjanārdana | tatkiṃ karmaṇi ghore māṃ niyojayas…Arjuna said: If you hold knowledge superior to action, O Janardana, why do you urge me to this terrible deed? With seemi…Gita 3.3loke'smin dvividhā niṣṭhā purā proktā mayānagha | jñānayogena sāṅkhyānāṃ karmayo…The Blessed Lord said: In this world a twofold path was taught by Me of old, O sinless one, the yoga of knowledge for th…Gita 3.4-5na karmaṇāmanārambhānnaiṣkarmyaṃ puruṣo'śnute | na ca saṃnyasanādeva siddhiṃ sam…Not by abstaining from action does one attain freedom from action, nor by mere renunciation does one attain perfection. …Gita 3.6karmendriyāṇi saṃyamya ya āste manasā smaran | indriyārthānvimūḍhātmā mithyācāra…One who restrains the organs of action but sits remembering sense-objects in the mind, that deluded person is called a h…Gita 3.7yastvindriyāṇi manasā niyamyārabhate'rjuna | karmendriyaiḥ karmayogamasaktaḥ sa …But one who controls the senses by the mind, O Arjuna, and engages the organs of action in the yoga of action without at…Gita 3.8niyataṃ kuru karma tvaṃ karma jyāyo hyakarmaṇaḥ | śarīrayātrāpi ca te na prasidd…Perform your prescribed duty, for action is superior to inaction; even the maintenance of the body would not be possible…Gita 3.9yajñārthātkarmaṇo'nyatra loko'yaṃ karmabandhanaḥ | tadarthaṃ karma kaunteya mukt…The world is bound by action, except action done as sacrifice. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform action for that purpos…Gita 3.10-12sahayajñāḥ prajāḥ sṛṣṭvā purovāca prajāpatiḥ | anena prasaviṣyadhvameṣa vo'stviṣ…Having created beings together with sacrifice, Prajapati said of old: ‘By this shall you prosper; let this be the cow of…Gita 3.13yajñaśiṣṭāśinaḥ santo mucyante sarvakilbiṣaiḥ | bhuñjate te tvaghaṃ pāpā ye paca…The good who eat the remnants of sacrifice are freed from all sins; but the wicked who cook only for themselves eat sin.Gita 3.14-15annādbhavanti bhūtāni parjanyādannasambhavaḥ | yajñādbhavati parjanyo yajñaḥ kar…From food beings come forth; from rain food is produced; from sacrifice comes rain; and sacrifice is born of action. Kno…Gita 3.16evaṃ pravartitaṃ cakraṃ nānuvartayatīha yaḥ | aghāyurindriyārāmo moghaṃ pārtha s…One who does not follow the wheel thus set in motion, O Partha, sinful, delighting in the senses, lives in vain.Gita 3.17-18yastvātmaratireva syādātmatṛptaśca mānavaḥ | ātmanyeva ca santuṣṭastasya kāryaṃ …But the person who delights only in the Self, who is satisfied in the Self, content in the Self alone, for that one ther…Gita 3.19tasmādasaktaḥ satataṃ kāryaṃ karma samācara | asakto hyācarankarma paramāpnoti p…Therefore, always perform without attachment the work that must be done; for performing action without attachment, one a…Gita 3.20karmaṇaiva hi saṃsiddhimāsthitā janakādayaḥ | lokasaṅgrahamevāpi sampaśyankartum…By action alone Janaka and others attained perfection. Also, simply for the welfare of the world, you should act.Gita 3.21yadyadācarati śreṣṭhastattadevetaro janaḥ | sa yatpramāṇaṃ kurute lokastadanuvar…Whatever a great person does, common people imitate; whatever standard such a one sets, the world follows.Gita 3.22-24na me pārthāsti kartavyaṃ triṣu lokeṣu kiñcana | nānavāptamavāptavyaṃ varta eva …There is nothing in the three worlds, O Partha, that I must do, nothing unattained to be attained, yet I engage in actio…Gita 3.25saktāḥ karmaṇyavidvāṃso yathā kurvanti bhārata | kuryādvidvāṃstathāsaktaścikīrṣu…As the ignorant act with attachment to their work, O Bharata, so should the wise act without attachment, desiring the we…Gita 3.26na buddhibhedaṃ janayedajñānāṃ karmasaṅginām | joṣayetsarvakarmāṇi vidvānyuktaḥ …Let the wise not unsettle the minds of the ignorant who are attached to action; rather, acting with discipline, let the …Gita 3.27prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ | ahaṅkāravimūḍhātmā kartāhamiti ma…All actions are performed by the gunas of nature; one whose mind is deluded by egoism thinks ‘I am the doer.’Gita 3.28tattvavittu mahābāho guṇakarmavibhāgayoḥ | guṇā guṇeṣu vartanta iti matvā na saj…But the knower of the truth about the divisions of guna and action, O mighty-armed one, understanding that gunas merely …Gita 3.29prakṛterguṇasammūḍhāḥ sajjante guṇakarmasu | tānakṛtsnavido mandānkṛtsnavinna vi…Those deluded by the gunas of nature are attached to the workings of the gunas. The knower of the whole should not unset…Gita 3.30mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi saṃnyasyādhyātmacetasā | nirāśīrnirmamo bhūtvā yudhyasva vi…Renouncing all actions in Me, with mind centred on the Self, free from longing and the sense of ‘mine,’ fight, with the …Gita 3.31-32ye me matamidaṃ nityamanutiṣṭhanti mānavāḥ | śraddhāvanto'nasūyanto mucyante te'…Those who constantly follow this teaching of Mine, full of faith and without cavilling, are released from the bondage of…Gita 3.33sadṛśaṃ ceṣṭate svasyāḥ prakṛterjñānavānapi | prakṛtiṃ yānti bhūtāni nigrahaḥ ki…Even a person of knowledge acts according to their own nature; beings follow their nature, what will restraint accomplis…Gita 3.34indriyasyendriyasyārthe rāgadveṣau vyavasthitau | tayorna vaśamāgacchettau hyasy…Attraction and aversion abide in the senses toward their objects; let none come under their sway, they are one's waylaye…Gita 3.35śreyānsvadharmo viguṇaḥ paradharmātsvanuṣṭhitāt | svadharme nidhanaṃ śreyaḥ para…Better is one's own dharma, though imperfectly performed, than the dharma of another well-performed. Better is death in …Gita 3.36atha kena prayukto'yaṃ pāpaṃ carati pūruṣaḥ | anicchannapi vārṣṇeya balādiva niy…Arjuna said: But impelled by what does a person commit sin, O Varshneya, even unwillingly, as if driven by force?Gita 3.37kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajoguṇasamudbhavaḥ | mahāśano mahāpāpmā viddhyenamiha vairi…The Blessed Lord said: It is desire, it is anger, born of the guna of rajas, all-devouring, greatly sinful. Know this to…Gita 3.38-39dhūmenāvriyate vahniryathādarśo malena ca | yatholbenāvṛto garbhastathā tenedamā…As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror by dust, as an embryo by the womb, so is knowledge covered by this. Knowledge i…Gita 3.40indriyāṇi mano buddhirasyādhiṣṭhānamucyate | etairvimohayatyeṣa jñānamāvṛtya deh…The senses, the mind, and the intellect are said to be its seat; through these it deludes the embodied one, covering kno…Gita 3.41tasmāttvamindriyāṇyādau niyamya bharatarṣabha | pāpmānaṃ prajahi hyenaṃ jñānavij…Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, controlling the senses first, slay this sinful thing, the destroyer of knowledge and …Gita 3.42-43indriyāṇi parāṇyāhurindriyebhyaḥ paraṃ manaḥ | manasastu parā buddhiryo buddheḥ …The senses, they say, are superior; superior to the senses is the mind; superior to the mind is the intellect; and that …
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All 18 chapters
1Arjuna Vishada YogaThe Yoga of Arjuna's Despair2Sankhya YogaThe Yoga of Knowledge3Karma YogaThe Yoga of Action4Jnana Karma Sanyasa YogaKnowledge & Renunciation of Action5Karma Sanyasa YogaThe Yoga of Renunciation6Dhyana YogaThe Yoga of Meditation7Jnana Vijnana YogaKnowledge of the Absolute8Akshara Brahma YogaThe Imperishable Absolute9Raja Vidya Raja Guhya YogaThe Royal Knowledge & Royal Secret10Vibhuti YogaThe Yoga of Divine Glories11Vishvarupa Darshana YogaThe Vision of the Universal Form12Bhakti YogaThe Yoga of Devotion13Kshetra Kshetrajna Vibhaga YogaThe Field & the Knower of the Field14Gunatraya Vibhaga YogaThe Three Gunas15Purushottama YogaThe Supreme Person16Daivasura Sampad Vibhaga YogaThe Divine & Demonic Natures17Shraddhatraya Vibhaga YogaThe Three Kinds of Faith18Moksha Sanyasa YogaLiberation through Renunciation