śrīmadbhagavadgītā mūlam - tṛtīyo'dhyāyaḥ

Arjuna said: If it be thought by you that knowledge is superior to action, O Janardana, why then, do you, O Kashava, engage me in this terrible action?

With this apparently perplexing speech you confuse, as it were, my understanding; therefore, tell me that one way by which I for certain may attain the Highest.

The Blessed Lord said: In this world there is a two-fold path, as I said before, O sinless one; the 'Path-of-Knowledge' of the SANKHYANS and the 'Path-of-Action' of the YOGINS.

Not by non-performance of actions does man reach actionlessness; nor by mere renunciation does he attain Perfection.

Verily, none can ever remain, even for a moment, without performing action; for, everyone is made to act helplessly, indeed, by the qualities born of PRAKRITI.

He who, restraining the organs-of-action, sits thinking in his mind of the sense-objects, he, of deluded understanding, is called a hypocrite.

But, whosoever, controlling the senses by the mind, O Arjuna, engages his organs-of-action in KARMA YOGA, without attachment, he excels.

You perform (your) bounden duty; for, action is superior to inaction. Even the maintenance of the body would not be possible for you by inaction.

The World is bound by action other than those performed for the sake of sacrifice; do thou, therefore, O son of Kunti, perform action of that sake (for YAJNA ) alone, free from all attachments.

The PRAJAPATI (the Creator), having in the beginning (of creation) created mankind, together with sacrifices, said, by this shall you prosper; let this be the milch-cow of your desire --- KAMADHUK (the mythological cow which yields all desired objects).

With this, you do nourish the gods and may those DEVAS nourish you; thus nourishing one another, you shall, attain the Highest Good.

12 The DEVAS nourished by the sacrifice will give you the desired objects. Indeed he who enjoys objects given by the DEVAS without offering (in return) to them is verily a thief.

The righteous, who eat the remnants of the sacrifices are freed from all sins; but those sinful ones who cook food (only) for their own sake verily eat but sin.

From food come forth beings; from rain food is produced; from sacrifice arises rain, and sacrifice is born of action.

Know you that action comes from BRAHMAJI (the creator) and BRAHMAJI come from the Imperishable. Therefore, the all-pervading BRAHMAN (God-principle) ever rests in sacrifice.

He who does not follow here the wheel thus set revolving, is of a sinful life, rejoicing in the senses. He lives in vain, O Son of Pritha.

But the man who rejoices only in the Self, who is satisfied with the Self, who is content in the Self alone, for Him verily there is nothing (more) to be done.

For him there is here no interest whatever in what is done, or what is not done; nor does he depend upon any being for any object.

Therefore, always perform actions which should be done, without attachment; for, by performing action without attachment, man attains the Supreme.

Janaka and others attained Perfection verily by action only; even with a view to protecting the masses you should perform action.

Whatever a great man does, that other men also do (imitate); whatever he sets up as the standard, that the world (people) follows.

22 There is nothing in the three worlds, O Partha, that has to be done by Me, nor is there anything unattained that should be attained by Me; yet, I engage Myself in action.

For, should I not ever engage Myself in action, without relaxation, men would in every way follow My Path, O son of Pritha.

These worlds would perish if I did not perform action; I would be the author of confusion of castes and would destroy these beings.

As the ignorant men act from attachment to action O Bharata so should the wise men act without attachment wishing the welfare of the world.

Let no wise-man unsettle the minds of ignorant-people, who are attached to action; he should engage them in all actions, himself fulfilling them with devotion.

All actions are performed, in all cases, merely by the Qualities-in-Nature (GUNAS ). He whose mind is deluded by egoism, thinks I am the doer.

But he --- who knows the Truth, O mighty-armed, about the divisions of the qualities and (their) functions, and he who knows that GUNAS -as-senses move amidst GUNAS -as-objects, is not attached.

Those deluded by the qualities of nature, (GUNAS), are attached to the functions of the qualities. The Man-of-Perfect-Knowledge should not unsettle the foolish, who are of imperfect knowledge.

Renouncing all actions in Me, with the mind centered on the Self, free from hope and egoism (ownership), free from (mental) fever, (you) do fight!

Those men who constantly practise this teaching of Mine, full of faith and without cavilling, they too are freed from actions.

But those who carp at My teaching and do not practice it, deluded in all knowledge, and devoid of discrimination, know them to be doomed to destruction.

Even a wise man acts in accordance with his own nature; beings will follow their own nature; what can restraint do?

Attachment and aversion for the objects of the senses abide in the senses; let none come under their sway; for they are his foes.

Better is ones own duty, though devoid of merit, than the duty of another well discharged. Better is death in ones own duty; the duty of another is fraught with fear (is productive of positive danger).

Arjuna said: But, by what impelled does man commit sin, though against his wishes, O Varshneya, constrained, as it were, by force?

The Blessed Lord Said: It is desire, it is anger born of the active all-devouring, all-sinful; know this as the foe here (in this world).

As fire is enveloped by smoke, as a mirror by dust, as an embryo by the womb, so this (wisdom) is enveloped by that (desire or anger).

Enveloped, O Son of Kunti, is wisdom by this constant enemy of the wise in the form of desire, which is difficult to be appeased, like fire.

The senses, the mind, and the intellect are said to be its seat; through these, it deludes the embodied by veiling his wisdom.

Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, controlling first the senses, kill this sinful thing, the destroyer of knowledge and wisdom.

They say that the senses are superior (to the body); superior to the senses is the mind; superior to the mind is the intellect; one who is even superior to the intellect is He, (the Atman ).

Thus knowing Him, who is superior to intellect, and restraining the self by the Self, slay you, O mighty-armed, the enemy in the form of desire, no doubt hard indeed to conquer. Thus in the Upanishads of the glorious Bhagavad Gita, the science of the Eternal, the scripture of Yoga, the dialogue between Sri Krishna and Arjuna, ends the third discourse entitled "The Yoga of Action."