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CHAPTER
THREE Karma-yogaTEXT 1: Arjuna said: O Janārdana, O Keśava, why do You want to
engage me in this ghastly warfare, if You think that intelligence is better
than fruitive work? TEXT 2: My intelligence is bewildered by Your equivocal
instructions. Therefore, please tell me decisively which will be most
beneficial for me. TEXT 3: The Supreme Personality of Godhead 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 by devotional service. TEXT 4: Not by merely abstaining from work can one achieve freedom
from reaction, nor by renunciation alone can one attain perfection. TEXT 5: 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. TEXT 6: One who restrains the senses of action but whose mind
dwells on sense objects certainly deludes himself and is called a pretender. TEXT 7: On the other hand, if a sincere person tries to control
the active senses by the mind and begins karma-yoga [in Kṛṣṇa consciousness] without
attachment, he is by far superior. TEXT 8: Perform your prescribed duty, for doing so is better than
not working. One cannot even maintain one’s physical body without work. TEXT 9: Work done as a sacrifice for Viṣṇu has to be performed;
otherwise work causes bondage in this material world. Therefore, O son of
Kuntī, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way
you will always remain free from bondage. TEXT 10: In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures
sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Viṣṇu, and blessed them by
saying, “Be thou happy by this yajña [sacrifice] because its performance will
bestow upon you everything desirable for living happily and achieving
liberation.” TEXT 11: The demigods, being pleased by sacrifices, will also
please you, and thus, by cooperation between men and demigods, prosperity
will reign for all. TEXT 12: In charge of the various necessities of life, the
demigods, being satisfied by the performance of yajña [sacrifice], will
supply all necessities to you. But he who enjoys such gifts without offering
them to the demigods in return is certainly a thief. TEXT 13: 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. TEXT 14: All living bodies subsist on food grains, which are
produced from rains. Rains are produced by performance of yajña [sacrifice],
and yajña is born of prescribed duties. TEXT 15: 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. TEXT 16: 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. TEXT 17: 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. TEXT 18: 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. TEXT 19: 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. TEXT 20: 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. TEXT 21: Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow.
And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues. TEXT 22: O son of Pṛthā, 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. TEXT 23: For if I ever failed to engage in carefully performing
prescribed duties, O Pārtha, certainly all men would follow My path. TEXT 24: 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. TEXT 25: 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. TEXT 26: 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
Kṛṣṇa consciousness]. TEXT 27: The spirit soul bewildered by the influence of false ego
thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by
the three modes of material nature. TEXT 28: One who is in knowledge of the Absolute Truth, O
mighty-armed, does not engage himself in the senses and sense gratification,
knowing well the differences between work in devotion and work for fruitive
results. TEXT 29: Bewildered by the modes of material nature, the ignorant
fully engage themselves in material activities and become attached. But the
wise should not unsettle them, although these duties are inferior due to the
performers’ lack of knowledge. TEXT 30: Therefore, O Arjuna, surrendering all your works unto Me,
with full knowledge of Me, without desires for profit, with no claims to
proprietorship, and free from lethargy, fight. TEXT 31: Those persons who execute their duties according to My
injunctions and who follow this teaching faithfully, without envy, become
free from the bondage of fruitive actions. TEXT 32: But those who, out of envy, disregard these teachings and
do not follow them regularly are to be considered bereft of all knowledge,
befooled, and ruined in their endeavors for perfection. TEXT 33: Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature,
for everyone follows the nature he has acquired from the three modes. What
can repression accomplish? TEXT 34: There are principles to regulate attachment and aversion
pertaining to the senses and their objects. One should not come under the
control of such attachment and aversion, because they are stumbling blocks on
the path of self-realization. TEXT 35: 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. TEXT 36: Arjuna said: O descendant of Vṛṣṇi, by what is one impelled
to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force? TEXT 37: The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: It is lust only,
Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material mode of passion and later
transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this
world. TEXT 38: As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by
dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, the living entity is similarly
covered by different degrees of this lust. TEXT 39: Thus the wise living entity’s pure consciousness becomes
covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied
and which burns like fire. TEXT 40: The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting
places of this lust. Through them lust covers the real knowledge of the
living entity and bewilders him. TEXT 41: Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bhāratas, in the very
beginning curb this great symbol of sin [lust] by regulating the senses, and
slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization. TEXT 42: The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is
higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he
[the soul] is even higher than the intelligence. TEXT 43: Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to the material senses, mind and intelligence, O mighty-armed Arjuna, one should steady the mind by deliberate spiritual intelligence [Kṛṣṇa consciousness] and thus – by spiritual strength – conquer this insatiable enemy known as lust. |