Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 3
The Yoga of Action
Karma Yoga
Why withdrawing from action is not the same as freedom.
Bhagavad Gītā, Chapter 3 (traditional text)
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Story
What happens
Arjuna hears praise of knowledge and concludes that action must be inferior. Krishna corrects him: embodied life is continuous activity, and inaction is itself a choice. What binds a person is not the deed but the grasping attached to it. He also speaks of acting for the sake of the whole, and of desire and anger as the persistent obstacles.
Key ideas
What this chapter turns on
- Karma yoga
- Selfless action
- Desire
- Responsibility
- Karma Yoga
- Action
- Attachment
- Duty
Explore the verses
Verses from this chapter
Verse 3.35
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्। स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः॥
“Better one's own duty imperfectly done than another's duty done well. Better to die in one's own duty; another's duty brings danger.”
Bhagavad Gītā 3.35 (traditional Sanskrit text). English rendering by Frenly Divine — a working translation, not an authoritative one.
Understand thisUnderstand
In plain language
Explanation — written by Frenly Divine, not scripture
Reflect
Something to sit with
- Which of your actions are done for their own sake, and which for what they will get you?