The Path of Action

This chapter contains forty-three verses, three spoken by Arjuna and forty by Kṛṣṇa. Just as a student who is full of prejudices and preconceptions has difficulty understanding new ideas and information presented by a teacher, Arjuna, who had already made up his mind not to fight, could not thoroughly grasp Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s teachings. Kṛṣṇa’s words appeared ambiguous and confusing to him. So this chapter begins with Arjuna asking Śrī Kṛṣṇa a question to clear his doubt.
Kṛṣṇa had briefly explained sāṅkhya-yoga (the discipline of analytic knowledge) and karma-yoga (the path of sacred action). Arjuna now asks Kṛṣṇa, “If You consider resolute intelligence (free from the guṇas) superior to work, then why do You engage me in this terrible war?” Arjuna asks what would be better for him, cultivating transcendental knowledge or adhering to the path of action (1–2)?
In response, Bhagavān begins explaining the difference between jñāna-yoga and karma-yoga. He emphasizes the performance of action as a way to attain equanimity (4–29). Further, He states that no one can remain without action even for a moment. One’s nature impels one to act. A hypocrite makes a show of renunciation while harboring internal desires for enjoyment. Thus, one should perform one’s duty. Action is superior to inaction (5–8). In Vedic society, great importance was given to performance of yajña, or offering oblations into the fire, along with the chanting of mantras to propitiate specific deities. Śrī Kṛṣṇa explains the importance of yajña and equates it with karma, or duty. One who is satisfied in the self has no duties to perform (9–19).
Great kings like Janaka attained perfection through karma-yoga. Even a perfected karma-yogī should continue performing his duties to set an example for others, although he is not obliged to act. In this regard, Śrī Kṛṣṇa posits His own behavior as an example (20–24). Those who are attached to the fruits of their actions should not be encouraged to renounce them. All actions are impelled by the guṇas of prakṛti, yet a deluded person thinks himself or herself to be the agent. A person situated in knowledge is aware of the play of the guṇas and thus does not become implicated in them (25–29). Kṛṣṇa recommends that a person should surrender all actions to Him with discerning vision, free from desire and egoism. Having done so, one should perform actions with a peaceful mind (30). Kṛṣṇa declares the benefits of following His teaching and the loss in failing to do so (31–32). He then concludes, “It is better to perform one’s own duty, even though imperfectly, than to perform another’s duty well” (35).
Arjuna then inquires as to that mysterious force which impels a person to knowingly engage in unrighteous acts (36). Kṛṣṇa replies, “It is material desire (kāma), born from the guṇa of passion (rajas) and which later transforms into anger, that is insatiable and highly inauspicious. Know it to be the enemy on the path of liberation” (37). He states that this enemy, in the form of the desire for enjoyment, occupies one’s senses, mind, and intellect, covers the power of discernment, and bewilders one about the real purpose of life. Therefore, He prescribes controlling the senses, the mind, and the body, and slaying the enemy of desire through resolute intellect (40–43).

All Verses

  1. Verse 1Arjuna inquired: O Janārdana, if You consider resolute intelligence [free from the guṇas] superior to fruitive action, why then do You, O Keśava, engage me in this terrible battle?
  2. Verse 2You are virtually bewildering my intelligence with Your apparently conflicting words. Please ascertain and then inform me of that one process by which I may obtain the highest good.
  3. Verse 3Śrī Bhagavān said: O sinless Arjuna, I have previously enunciated two types of spiritual fixity that are available in this world — the jñānīs, or the sāṅkhya-yogīs*, proceed by the path of knowledge ( jñāna-yoga), whereas the karma-yogīs progress via the path of action without selfish motives (karma-yoga).
  4. Verse 4Without performing prescribed duties, one cannot gain freedom from the bondage of karma (naiṣkarmya), and a person of impure heart cannot attain perfection merely by giving up prescribed action.
  5. Verse 5Indeed, no one can ever remain even for a moment without performing action, because everyone is impelled to act helplessly by the guṇas born of prakṛti (material nature).
  6. Verse 6A person who outwardly restrains the organs of action [and the cognitive sense faculties as well*] but who dwells internally upon the recollection of sense objects, is of deluded intellect and is called a hypocrite.
  7. Verse 7But, O Arjuna, one who controls the senses by the mind, who remains unattached to the fruits of action, and who undertakes his prescribed duties through means of the organs of action [and the cognitive senses] — such a person is far superior.
  8. Verse 8Therefore, perform your obligatory actions, for action is superior to inaction. Moreover, without action, even your bodily sustenance cannot be accomplished.
  9. Verse 9All endeavors other than those that are performed as an offering to Viṣṇu are the source of bondage in this world. Therefore, O Kaunteya (Arjuna), perform your duty efficiently for the sake of Viṣṇu alone, remaining unattached to the fruits [of action].
  10. Verse 10In the beginning of creation, after Brahmā brought forth humankind along with the performance of yajña*, he said, “You shall prosper by this yajña. May it become that which fulfills all objects of longing desired by you.”
  11. Verse 11[Brahmā continues:] “Nourish the devas through this yajña, and [by so doing] may the devas be gracious to you. Thus, through mutual benevolence, you shall attain the highest welfare.”
  12. Verse 12[Śrī Kṛṣṇa continued:] Pleased by the yajñas, the devas will bestow upon you your desired objects. Therefore, one who enjoys the gifts bestowed by the devas without making an offering to them in return is verily a thief.
  13. Verse 13The virtuous who partake of the remnants of yajña are absolved of all reactions to their misdeeds. But those wrongdoers who cook food for their own gratification alone partake only of demerit [i.e., detrimental karma].
  14. Verse 14All beings subsist on food, and food is produced from rain. Rain is caused by yajña, and yajña ensues from prescribed duty.
  15. Verse 15Know that prescribed duty originates from the Vedas, and the Vedas manifest from the indestructible [Parabrahman]. Therefore, all-pervading Brahman [i.e., Parabrahman] is ever present in yajña.
  16. Verse 16O Arjuna, one who in this life does not observe this creative cycle set into motion in the manner depicted leads a sinful life, delighting only in the senses. Such a person lives in vain.
  17. Verse 17But the person who delights only in the self, who is self-satisfied and content in the self alone, has no duties to perform.
  18. Verse 18In this world, such a self-realized person has nothing at all to gain by the performance of prescribed duty nor anything to lose by the non-performance of duty, nor does he depend on anyone for fulfilling any purpose.
  19. Verse 19Therefore, always perform your prescribed duty efficiently without attachment for the results. By carrying out one’s prescribed duty without attachment, a person certainly attains the supreme goal.
  20. Verse 20Indeed, by motiveless action alone, Janaka* and others realized perfection. Considering too the right ideal to be set for the instruction of people in general, you should certainly perform your duty.
  21. Verse 21Whatever action a great person performs, the general populace emulates. Whatever standard such an eminent person sets, common people follow.
  22. Verse 22O Arjuna, I have no duty to perform, since there is nothing whatsoever in the three worlds that is not already obtained by Me nor anything to be attained [in the future], yet still I too am engaged in action.
  23. Verse 23If I ever ceased to be vigilantly engaged in action, O Arjuna, then certainly people in general would follow My footsteps in all respects.
  24. Verse 24If I did not perform action, all these worlds would come to ruin, and I would become the cause of the disruption of the social classes and their duties. In this way, I would be responsible for the destruction of these people.
  25. Verse 25As the unaware engage in action with attachment, O Bhārata, so should the wise perform action without attachment, intending the welfare of the world.
  26. Verse 26A wise person should not unsettle the minds of the unaware who are attached to action [by prompting them toward inaction]. Rather, being situated in evenness of mind, he should engage them in action, while meticulously carrying out all manner of action.
  27. Verse 27All actions are conducted by the senses that are composed of the guṇas of prakṛti. Yet, the person whose mind is deluded by egoic identification thinks, “I am the doer.”
  28. Verse 28But, O mighty-armed, one who knows the truth of the self’s distinction from the mind and senses (guṇas) and their functions (karma) remains unattached, knowing that only the mind and senses (guṇas) are engaged with their respective objects (guṇeṣu).
  29. Verse 29Being deluded by the guṇas of prakṛti, people become attached to the senses and their functions. A person in perfect wisdom should not disturb the minds of those who are unaware and of unawakened intellect.
  30. Verse 30Therefore, dedicating all actions to Me with your mind fixed on the self, being devoid of desire for the fruits, free from all notions of proprietorship, and having abandoned all mental anguish, be engaged in battle.
  31. Verse 31Those human beings who, being endowed with faith and devoid of envy, constantly abide this teaching of Mine, they too are surely freed from karma.
  32. Verse 32But those who are envious and do not adhere to this teaching of Mine, know them to be deluded in the matter of all knowledge, succumbed to ruin, and bereft of discriminating intellect.
  33. Verse 33Even a wise person acts in accordance with his own priorly acquired nature. All living beings follow their acquired disposition. What can external restraint accomplish?
  34. Verse 34Attachment and aversion pertaining to the sense faculties are rooted in their corresponding sensory objects. One should not come under the sway of such attachment and aversion, for they are impediments to the spiritual aspirant.
  35. Verse 35The performance of one’s “own duty,” even if somehow deficient, is superior to taking up another’s duty, even if performed well. Even death occurring in the discharge of one’s own duty is superior to the execution of another’s duty, since the latter path is perilous.
  36. Verse 36Arjuna inquired: What impels a person, O Kṛṣṇa, to commit sin even unwillingly, as if driven by force?
  37. Verse 37Śrī Bhagavān replied: It is material desire (kāma), born from the guṇa of passion (rajas) and which later transforms into anger, that is insatiable and highly inauspicious. Know it to be the enemy on the path of liberation.
  38. Verse 38Just as fire is covered by smoke, a mirror by dirt, and the embryo by the womb, so is discernment (jñāna) covered by desire (kāma).
  39. Verse 39O Arjuna, discernment is covered by this eternal enemy of the wise in the form of desire, which is insatiable like fire.
  40. Verse 40The senses, the mind, and the intellect are said to be the abode of desire (kāma). Covering discernment through these faculties, desire deludes the embodied self.
  41. Verse 41Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, by first regulating the senses, cast off this embodiment of sin [desire], which destroys discernment and immediate realization [of truth].
  42. Verse 42The senses are said to be superior [to the objects of perception, such as the gross body], superior to the senses is the mind, superior even to the mind is the intellect, but, that which is superior to the intellect is he [the self].
  43. Verse 43O mighty-armed Arjuna, knowing the self as thus superior to the intellect and stabilizing the mind [manas] by resolute intellect [niścayātmikā-buddhi], destroy this formidable enemy in the form of desire.