Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3: Karma Yoga, Meaning in Simple Words

In chapter 2 Krishna both praised wisdom and told Arjuna to act. Arjuna is confused about what he should actually do. Chapter 3 answers him: giving up action is neither possible nor right; turning action itself into an offering is the way to freedom.

Verses 1 and 2: Arjuna's question

"If you hold wisdom superior to action, Janardana, why do you urge me into this terrible deed? Your mixed words confuse me. Tell me one thing for certain by which I may reach the good."

Verses 3 to 8: action cannot be avoided

"I have taught two paths: the path of knowledge for the contemplative and the path of action for the active. No one attains freedom from action merely by not starting it, nor perfection by renunciation alone. No one can stay even a moment without acting; the gunas of nature compel everyone. One who restrains the organs of action but keeps brooding on sense objects is a hypocrite. But one who controls the senses with the mind and engages in action without attachment excels."

Niyatam kuru karma tvam karma jyayo hy akarmanah
sharira yatrapi cha te na prasiddhyed akarmanah (3.8)

Meaning: Do your prescribed duty, for action is better than inaction. Without action even the maintenance of your body would not be possible.

Verses 9 to 16: the wheel of yajna

Action not done as yajna, as an offering, binds. So act without attachment, as an offering. At the beginning the Creator brought forth beings together with yajna and said: "By this you will prosper; let it fulfil your wishes. Nourish the gods with it, and they will nourish you; nourishing one another you will reach the highest good." Whoever enjoys the gifts of the gods without offering them back is a thief. Those who eat what remains after the offering are freed from sin; those who cook only for themselves eat sin.

Beings come from food, food from rain, rain from yajna, and yajna from action. Action comes from the Veda and the Veda from the Imperishable; so the all-pervading is ever present in yajna. One who does not keep this wheel turning, living only for the senses, lives in vain.

In plain words: we constantly receive from nature, society and family; giving back is yajna. A life that only takes breaks the wheel.

Verses 17 to 19: unattached action

One who delights in the self, is satisfied and content in the self alone, has no duty left and nothing to gain by acting or not acting. Still, always do your duty without attachment, for by acting without attachment one reaches the Supreme.

Verses 20 to 26: setting an example

"Kings like Janaka attained perfection through action. You should act also for lokasangraha, the welfare and guidance of the world."

Yad yad acharati shreshthas tat tad evetaro janah
sa yat pramanam kurute lokas tad anuvartate (3.21)

Meaning: Whatever a great person does, others follow. Whatever standard they set, the world follows.

"There is nothing in the three worlds that I must do or must gain, yet I keep acting. If I did not, people would follow my example and be ruined. As the ignorant act with attachment, the wise should act without attachment for the good of the world. The wise should not unsettle the minds of the ignorant who are attached to action, but should act well themselves and inspire others to do so."

Verses 27 to 29: who is the doer?

All actions are done by the gunas of nature, but one deluded by ego thinks, "I am the doer." One who knows the truth of the gunas and their workings sees that gunas act on gunas, and is not attached.

Verses 30 to 32: offer everything to God

"Offering all your actions to me, with your mind on the self, free of hope, possessiveness and the fever of grief, fight. Those who follow this teaching with faith and without cavilling are freed from the bondage of action; those who find fault with it and do not follow it are lost."

Verses 33 to 35: nature and svadharma

Even the wise act according to their nature; all beings follow their nature, so what can suppression achieve? Attraction and aversion lurk in every sense object; do not come under their sway, for they are robbers on the path.

Shreyan svadharmo vigunah paradharmat svanushthitat
svadharme nidhanam shreyah paradharmo bhayavahah (3.35)

Meaning: Better one's own duty, though imperfect, than another's duty well performed. Better to die in one's own duty; another's duty is full of fear.

Verses 36 to 43: desire is the enemy

Arjuna asks: "What makes a person commit sin, Krishna, even unwillingly, as if driven by force?"

Krishna answers: "It is desire, which turns into anger, born of rajas. It is never satisfied and is greatly sinful; know it to be the enemy here (3.37). As smoke covers fire, dust a mirror and the membrane an embryo, desire covers knowledge. It is an insatiable fire. The senses, mind and intellect are its seat; through them it veils wisdom and deludes."

"So first control the senses and slay this sinful destroyer of knowledge. The senses are higher than the body, the mind higher than the senses, the intellect higher than the mind, and the self higher still. Knowing the self to be beyond the intellect, steadying the mind by the intellect, slay this enemy in the form of desire, so hard to overcome (3.43)."

What this chapter teaches

• Running away from work is not renunciation; giving up selfishness while working is.
• Giving back to society, nature and family for what we receive is yajna.
• People in high positions set the example for others, so they carry more responsibility.
• Your own natural duty is better than imitating someone else's.
• The root of wrongdoing is not outside but in uncontrolled desire within.