Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 3
The Yoga of Action
43 verses · Krishna explains the importance of selfless action, performing one's duty without attachment, and leading by example.
Chapter 3
कर्मयोग
Karma Yoga
3.1
Arjuna said: O Janardana, if You consider knowledge to be superior to action, then why do…
3.2
With seemingly contradictory words, You are confusing my intellect
3.3
The Supreme Lord said: O sinless one, I have already explained that there are two paths…
3.4
A person does not attain freedom from action by abstaining from action, nor does one…
3.5
No one can remain without action even for a moment
3.6
One who restrains the organs of action but continues to dwell on sense objects in the…
3.7
But one who controls the senses with the mind and engages the organs of action in the…
3.8
Perform your prescribed duties, for action is superior to inaction
3.9
Work done as a sacrifice for the Supreme is free from bondage
3.10
In the beginning, the Creator created humankind together with sacrifice and said: By this…
3.11
By sacrifice nourish the celestial beings, and may they nourish you in return
3.12
The celestial beings, nourished by sacrifice, will bestow upon you the desired…
3.13
Righteous people who eat the remnants of sacrifice are freed from all sins
3.14
All living beings are sustained by food; food is produced by rain; rain comes from…
3.15
Know that prescribed action originates from the Vedas, and the Vedas originate from the…
3.16
One who does not follow the cycle of sacrifice thus established lives in vain, O Partha
3.17
But one who rejoices in the Self alone, who is satisfied with the Self, and who is…
3.18
For the self-realized person, there is no purpose to be served by action or inaction
3.19
Therefore, without attachment, always perform your duty efficiently, for by performing…
3.20
By action alone, King Janaka and others attained perfection
3.21
Whatever a great person does, others follow
3.22
O Partha, there is nothing in the three worlds that I need to do, nor is there anything…
3.23
For if I ever ceased to engage in action vigilantly, O Partha, people would follow my…
3.24
If I were to cease acting, these worlds would perish
3.25
As the ignorant act with attachment to their work, O Bharata, so should the wise act…
3.26
The wise should not create confusion in the minds of the ignorant who are attached to…
3.27
All actions are performed by the modes of material nature
3.28
But one who knows the truth about the two divisions of the modes of nature and their…
3.29
Those deluded by the qualities of material nature become attached to the actions of those…
3.30
Surrendering all actions to Me with a mind fixed on the Self, free from desire and…
3.31
Those who always follow this teaching of Mine with faith and without envy are freed from…
3.32
But those who find fault with this teaching and do not follow it — know them to be…
3.33
Even the wise act according to their own nature
3.34
Attraction and aversion are situated in the relation of each sense with its object
3.35
It is far better to perform one's own duty, even imperfectly, than to perform another's…
3.36
Arjuna said: O Varshneya, then by what is a person impelled to commit sin, even…
3.37
The Supreme Lord said: It is desire, it is anger — born of the mode of passion
3.38
As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror by dust, and as an embryo by the womb, so is…
3.39
O son of Kunti, knowledge is covered by this eternal enemy of the wise, which is in the…
3.40
The senses, the mind, and the intellect are said to be the seat of desire
3.41
Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, first controlling the senses, slay this sinful…
3.42
The senses are said to be superior to the body; the mind is superior to the senses; the…
3.43
Thus knowing the Self to be superior to the intellect, O mighty-armed one, steady the…