Karma Yoga

Arjuna said: O Janardana, O Keshava, if You consider knowledge superior to action, then why do You urge me to engage in this terrible action?

With these seemingly contradictory words, You are confusing my intelligence.

The Blessed Lord said: O sinless one, in this world I have taught a twofold path from ancient times - the path of knowledge (Jnana Yoga) for the contemplative, and the path of action (Karma Yoga) for the active.

Not by merely abstaining from action does one attain freedom from action, nor by mere renunciation does one attain perfection.

No one can remain without action even for a moment.

One who restrains the organs of action but continues to dwell on sense objects in the mind is deluded and is called a hypocrite.

But one who controls the senses with the mind and engages the organs of action in Karma Yoga without attachment - that person excels, O Arjuna.

Perform your prescribed duty, for action is superior to inaction.

Work done as a sacrifice to the Supreme frees one from bondage.

In the beginning, the Creator created humankind together with sacrifice and said: By this shall you prosper; let this be the wish-fulfilling cow for you.

Nourish the gods through sacrifice, and the gods will nourish you.

The gods, nourished by sacrifice, will bestow upon you the desired enjoyments.

The righteous who eat the remnants of sacrifice are freed from all sins.

All living beings subsist on food, food is produced by rain, rain comes from sacrifice, and sacrifice is born of action.

Know that prescribed action originates from the Vedas, and the Vedas arise from the Imperishable.

One who does not follow this cosmic wheel thus set in motion, who lives a sinful life delighting only in the senses - that person lives in vain, O Partha.

But for one who delights only in the Self, who is satisfied in the Self, and who is content in the Self alone - for such a person there is no obligatory duty.

For such a self-realized person, there is nothing to be gained by action done, nor anything lost by action not done.

Therefore, without attachment, always perform your obligatory duty; for by performing action without attachment, one attains the Supreme.

King Janaka and others attained perfection through action alone.

Whatever a great person does, common people follow.

O Partha, there is nothing in the three worlds that I need to do, nor anything unattained that I need to attain - yet I continue to engage in action.

For if I ever ceased to engage in action carefully, O Partha, all people would follow My path in every way.

If I did not perform action, these worlds would perish.

As the ignorant act with attachment, O Bharata, so should the wise act without attachment, desiring the welfare of the world.

The wise should not unsettle the minds of the ignorant who are attached to action.

All actions are performed by the gunas of material nature.

But one who knows the truth about the divisions of the gunas and their actions, O mighty-armed, understanding that it is the gunas acting upon the gunas, does not become attached.

Those deluded by the gunas of nature become attached to the actions of the gunas.

Surrendering all actions to Me with a spiritual consciousness, free from desire and possessiveness, fight without mental fever.

Those who always follow this teaching of Mine with faith and without envy are freed from the bondage of actions.

But those who, finding fault with this teaching, do not follow it - know them to be deluded in all knowledge, ruined, and devoid of discrimination.

Even a wise person acts according to their own nature.

Attachment and aversion are situated in the relationship between the senses and their objects.

Better is one's own dharma, though imperfectly performed, than the dharma of another well performed.

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

The Blessed Lord said: It is desire, it is anger, born of the mode of passion (rajas).

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

O son of Kunti, knowledge is covered by this eternal enemy of the wise in the form of insatiable desire, which burns like fire.

The senses, mind, and intellect are said to be the seat of desire.

Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, first controlling the senses, slay this sinful destroyer of knowledge and realization.

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

Thus knowing the Self to be superior to the intellect, and steadying the mind with the Self, O mighty-armed one, slay the enemy in the form of desire, which is difficult to overcome.