Karma Yoga

ज्यायसी चेत्कर्मणस्ते मता बुद्धिर्जनार्दन |

O Janardana, O Keshava, if You think that intelligence is better than fruitive work, then why do You want to engage me in this terrible warfare?

व्यामिश्रेणेव वाक्येन बुद्धिं मोहयसीव मे |

My intelligence is bewildered by Your equivocal instructions. Therefore, please tell me decisively which will be most beneficial for me.

श्रीभगवानुवाच |

The Supreme Lord said: O sinless Arjuna, I have already explained that there are two classes of men who try to realize the self. Some are inclined to understand it by empirical, philosophical speculation, and others are inclined to know it by devotional work.

न कर्मणामनारम्भान्नैष्कर्म्यं पुरुषोऽश्नुते |

Not by merely abstaining from work can one achieve freedom from reaction, nor by renunciation alone can one attain perfection.

न हि कश्चित्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत् |

Everyone is forced to act helplessly according to the qualities he has acquired from the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment.

कर्मेन्द्रियाणि संयम्य य आस्ते मनसा स्मरन् |

One who restrains the senses of action but whose mind dwells on sense objects certainly deludes himself and is called a pretender.

यस्त्विन्द्रियाणि मनसा नियम्यारभतेऽर्जुन |

On the other hand, if a sincere person tries to control the active senses by the mind and begins karma yoga without attachment, he is by far superior.

नियतं कुरु कर्म त्वं कर्म ज्यायो ह्यकर्मणः |

Perform your prescribed duty, for doing so is better than not working. One cannot even maintain one's physical body without work.

यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धनः |

Work done as a sacrifice for Vishnu has to be performed, otherwise work causes bondage in this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage.

सहयज्ञाः प्रजाः सृष्ट्वा पुरोवाच प्रजापतिः |

In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Vishnu, and blessed them by saying, 'Be thou happy by this yajna; it shall give you the things necessary for a happy life and liberation in the end.'

देवान्भावयतानेन ते देवा भावयन्तु वः |

The demigods, being pleased by sacrifices, will also please you; thus nourishing one another, you will attain the highest good.

इष्टान्भोगान्हि वो देवा दास्यन्ते यज्ञभाविताः |

In charge of the various necessities of life, the demigods, being satisfied by the performance of yajna, will supply all necessities to you. But he who enjoys such gifts without offering them to the demigods in return is certainly a thief.

यज्ञशिष्टाशिनः सन्तो मुच्यन्ते सर्वकिल्बिषैः |

The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.

अन्नाद्भवन्ति भूतानि पर्जन्यादन्नसम्भवः |

All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are produced from rains. Rains are produced by performance of yajna, and yajna is born of prescribed duties.

कर्म ब्रह्मोद्भवं विद्धि ब्रह्माक्षरसमुद्भवम् |

Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently the all-pervading Transcendence is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice.

एवं प्रवर्तितं चक्रं नानुवर्तयतीह यः |

My dear Arjuna, one who does not follow in human life the cycle of sacrifice thus established by the Vedas certainly leads a life full of sin. Living only for the satisfaction of the senses, such a person lives in vain.

यस्त्वात्मरतिरेव स्यादात्मतृप्तश्च मानवः |

But for one who takes pleasure in the self, whose human life is one of self-realization, and who is satisfied in the self only, fully satiated — for him there is no duty.

नैव तस्य कृतेनार्थो नाकृतेनेह कश्चन |

A self-realized man has no purpose to fulfill in the discharge of his prescribed duties, nor has he any reason not to perform such work. Nor has he any need to depend on any other living being.

तस्मादसक्तः सततं कार्यं कर्म समाचर |

Therefore, without being attached to the fruits of activities, one should act as a matter of duty, for by working without attachment one attains the Supreme.

कर्मणैव हि संसिद्धिमास्थिता जनकादयः |

Kings such as Janaka attained perfection solely by performance of prescribed duties. Therefore, just for the sake of educating the people in general, you should perform your work.

यद्यदाचरति श्रेष्ठस्तत्तदेवेतरो जनः |

Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.

न मे पार्थास्ति कर्तव्यं त्रिषु लोकेषु किञ्चन |

O son of Pritha, there is no work prescribed for Me within all the three planetary systems. Nor am I in want of anything, nor have I a need to obtain anything — and yet I am engaged in prescribed duties.

यदि ह्यहं न वर्तेयं जातु कर्मण्यतन्द्रितः |

For if I ever failed to engage in carefully performing prescribed duties, O Partha, certainly all men would follow My path.

उत्सीदेयुरिमे लोका न कुर्यां कर्म चेदहम् |

If I did not perform prescribed duties, all these worlds would be put to ruination. I would be the cause of creating unwanted population, and I would thereby destroy the peace of all living beings.

सक्ताः कर्मण्यविद्वांसो यथा कुर्वन्ति भारत |

As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, the learned may similarly act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path.

न बुद्धिभेदं जनयेदज्ञानां कर्मसङ्गिनाम् |

So as not to disrupt the minds of ignorant men attached to the fruitive results of prescribed duties, a learned person should not induce them to stop work. Rather, by working in the spirit of devotion, he should engage them in all sorts of activities for the gradual development of Krishna consciousness.

प्रकृतेः क्रियमाणानि गुणैः कर्माणि सर्वशः |

The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by nature.

तत्त्ववित्तु महाबाहो गुणकर्मविभागयोः |

But one who knows the truth, O mighty-armed, about the divisions of the gunas and their actions — knowing that it is the gunas that move among the gunas — is not attached.

प्रकृतेर्गुणसम्मूढाः सज्जन्ते गुणकर्मसु |

Those who are fully deluded by the qualities of material nature become attached to the activities of the gunas. The knower of the whole truth should not unsettle those fools of incomplete knowledge.

मयि सर्वाणि कर्माणि संन्यस्याध्यात्मचेतसा |

Dedicating all actions to Me, with consciousness fixed in the Self, free from longing, free from possessiveness — fight, free from the fever of anxiety.

ये मे मतमिदं नित्यमनुतिष्ठन्ति मानवाः |

Those human beings who always follow this teaching of Mine with faith and without envy — they too are freed from the bondage of karma.

ये त्वेतदभ्यसूयन्तो नानुतिष्ठन्ति मे मतम् |

But those who, out of envy, do not follow My teaching — know them to be completely deluded in all knowledge, lost, and devoid of true awareness.

सदृशं चेष्टते स्वस्याः प्रकृतेर्ज्ञानवानपि |

Even the wise person acts according to their own nature. All beings follow their nature. What will suppression accomplish?

इन्द्रियस्येन्द्रियस्यार्थे रागद्वेषौ व्यवस्थितौ |

In each sense and for each sense-object, there exist both attraction and repulsion. One should never come under the sway of either of these two, for they are indeed the greatest obstacles on the path.

श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् |

It is far better to discharge one's prescribed duties, even though faultily, than another's duties perfectly. Destruction in the course of performing one's own duty is better than engaging in another's duties, for to follow another's path is dangerous.

अर्जुन उवाच

Arjuna said: O descendant of Vrishni, by what is a person driven to commit sin even unwillingly, as if compelled by force?

श्री भगवानुवाच

The Blessed Lord said: It is desire, it is wrath — born of the quality of rajas — all-devouring and greatly sinful. Know this to be the enemy here in this world.

धूमेनाव्रियते वह्निर्यथादर्शो मलेन च |

As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror by dust, and as an embryo is enclosed by the womb — so is this knowledge covered by that desire.

आवृतं ज्ञानमेतेन ज्ञानिनो नित्यवैरिणा |

Thus the knowledge of the knower is covered by this eternal enemy, O son of Kunti — by desire, which is like an insatiable fire.

इन्द्रियाणि मनो बुद्धिरस्याधिष्ठानमुच्यते |

The senses, the mind, and the intellect are said to be the seat of desire. Through these, desire bewilders the embodied soul by covering its knowledge.

तस्मात्त्वमिन्द्रियाण्यादौ नियम्य भरतर्षभ |

Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, regulate the senses from the very beginning and slay this sinful destroyer of knowledge and self-realization.

इन्द्रियाणि पराण्याहुरिन्द्रियेभ्यः परं मनः |

The senses are said to be superior to inert matter; the mind is superior to the senses; the intellect is superior to the mind; and that which is superior to the intellect — that is the Self.

एवं बुद्धेः परं बुद्ध्वा संस्तभ्यात्मानमात्मना |

Thus knowing the Self to be superior to the intellect, O mighty-armed, steady the self by the Self and slay the enemy in the form of desire — difficult though it is to overcome.