Bhagavad Gita · Chapter 3

Path of Selfless Service

3.1Arjuna is confused. He asks Krishna, calling him Janārdana and Keshava, why Krishna is pushing him into this terrible battle if knowledge is better than action.Arjuna
3.2Arjuna tells Krishna that his mixed messages are confusing him. He asks Krishna to tell him clearly the one way that will lead to true happiness.Arjuna
3.3Krishna explains that there are two paths in life. One is the path of knowledge, followed by thinkers called Sankhyas. The other is the path of action, followed by people who serve through their work.Krishna
3.4Krishna says you cannot become free just by refusing to act. Simply giving things up does not make a person perfect.Krishna
3.5Krishna says no one can stop acting, not even for a moment. Everyone is pushed to do things by the natural forces inside them.Krishna
3.6Krishna says a person who holds his body still but keeps thinking about pleasures is fooling himself. Such a person is a fake.Krishna
3.7Krishna says a person who controls his senses with his mind and does his work without clinging to results is truly worthy. This is the path of action.Krishna
3.8Krishna tells Arjuna to do his proper work. Acting is better than doing nothing, and without action you could not even keep your body alive.Krishna
3.9Krishna says actions tie us down unless they are done as an offering. So Arjuna should act for that higher purpose, without being attached to what he gets out of it.Krishna
3.10Krishna says that long ago the Creator made people along with sacrifice, or giving offerings. The Creator told them that through sacrifice they would grow and get what they wish for.Krishna
3.11The Creator's words continue: people should care for the gods, the Shining Ones, through offerings, and the gods will care for people. By caring for each other, all will reach the highest good.Krishna
3.12The gods, pleased by offerings, will give people the good things they want. But anyone who enjoys these gifts without giving anything back is like a thief.Krishna
3.13Krishna says good people who eat what is left after making an offering are freed from wrongdoing. But selfish people who cook only for themselves are eating sin.Krishna
3.14Krishna describes a cycle: living beings come from food, food comes from rain, rain comes from sacrifice, and sacrifice comes from action.Krishna
3.15Krishna says action comes from Brahma, the sacred word or Veda, and Brahma comes from the eternal God. So the eternal, everywhere-present God is always found in sacrifice.Krishna
3.16Krishna says a person who does not take part in this turning cycle of giving, and lives only for pleasure, wastes his life.Krishna
3.17Krishna says a person who finds full joy and contentment in the Self, the true inner spirit, has no duty left to do.Krishna
3.18Such a person gains nothing by acting and loses nothing by not acting. He does not depend on anyone for anything.Krishna
3.19So Krishna tells Arjuna to always do his duty without attachment. Working this way, a person reaches the Supreme, God.Krishna
3.20Krishna points out that King Janaka and others reached perfection through action. Arjuna should also act, keeping the good of the world in mind.Krishna
3.21Krishna says whatever a great person does, others copy. The example a leader sets is what people follow.Krishna
3.22Krishna tells Arjuna (here called Pārtha, son of Pritha) that there is nothing in all the worlds he needs to do and nothing he still needs to gain. Even so, he keeps on working.Krishna
3.23Krishna says that if he ever stopped working, people everywhere would copy him. They watch what he does and follow it.Krishna
3.24Krishna says the worlds would fall apart if he stopped acting. He would cause social disorder, including the mixing up of castes (the traditional social groups), and he would bring harm to all beings.Krishna
3.25Krishna says foolish people work hard because they want the results. Wise people should work just as hard, but without craving results, and for the good of the world.Krishna
3.26Krishna says a wise person should not confuse simple people who are attached to their work. Instead, the wise person should work in tune with God and show by example that good work is worth doing.Krishna
3.27Krishna says all actions are really carried out by the forces of nature, which he calls the qualities. But a person fooled by ego thinks, "I am the one doing it."Krishna
3.28Krishna says the person who truly understands how nature's qualities work sees that they are only acting on each other. So this person does not get attached.Krishna
3.29Krishna says people fooled by nature's qualities get attached to what those qualities do. Someone who fully understands should not upset people who understand less.Krishna
3.30Krishna tells Arjuna to offer all his actions to him and keep his mind on the highest Self. Free of selfish hopes, ego and anxious feverish worry, he should fight.Krishna
3.31Krishna says people who follow this teaching steadily, with faith and without picking fault, are also freed from the binding effects of their actions.Krishna
3.32Krishna says people who mock his teaching and do not follow it are confused and lack understanding. He warns that they are headed for ruin.Krishna
3.33Krishna says even a wise person acts according to their own nature. All beings follow their nature, so just forcing yourself to hold back does not achieve much.Krishna
3.34Krishna says the senses naturally feel liking for some things and dislike for others. No one should let these likes and dislikes take control, because they block the spiritual path.Krishna
3.35Krishna says it is better to do your own duty, even poorly, than to do someone else's duty well. It is better even to die doing your own duty, because following another's path is full of danger.Krishna
3.36Arjuna asks Krishna (here called Vārshneya, of the Vrishni clan) what pushes a person to do wrong, even when they do not want to, as if they were forced.Arjuna
3.37Krishna answers that it is desire, and the anger that comes from it. They arise from the restless quality of nature, are never satisfied, cause great harm, and are our enemy in this world.Krishna
3.38Krishna says desire covers wisdom the way smoke covers a fire, dust covers a mirror, and the womb's covering surrounds an unborn baby.Krishna
3.39Krishna says desire is the constant enemy of wise people. It hides their wisdom, and like a fire it is never satisfied.Krishna
3.40Krishna says desire lives in the senses, the mind and the thinking intellect. Through them it hides wisdom and confuses the soul living in the body.Krishna
3.41Krishna tells Arjuna to first take control of his senses. Then he should destroy desire, the source of wrongdoing that ruins wisdom and understanding.Krishna
3.42Krishna says the senses are powerful, the mind is stronger than the senses, and reason (our power to judge and decide) is stronger than the mind. But stronger than reason is the true Self, the divine presence within.Krishna
3.43Krishna tells Arjuna to know that his true Self is higher than his thinking mind. Using that higher Self to steady his lower self, he should defeat desire, an enemy that is very hard to beat.Krishna