{"entry":{"slug":"bg-chapter-03","title":"Bhagavad Gīta Chapter 3 — Karma Yoga","devanagari":"कर्मयोग","iast":"karma-yoga","type":"bg-chapter","url":"https://thecodex.expert/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-03/","codex":"sanatana-dharma","last_verified":"2026-05","confidence":"high"},"chapter":{"number":3,"name":"Karma-yoga","name_translation":"The Yoga of Action","verses":43,"speaker_primary":"Kṛṣṇa (after BG 3.2); Arjuna (3.1–3.2)","key_verses":["3.5","3.9","3.19","3.27","3.35"]},"summary":"Arjuna challenges: if knowledge is superior to action, why urge terrible war? Kṛṣṇa: no embodied being can avoid action even for a moment (3.5). Three pillars: (1) action performed as yajña (sacrifice) sustains the cosmic cycle; (2) BG 3.19 — asakta (without attachment) action attains the highest; (3) BG 3.27 — it is the Guṇas of Prakṛti that act, not the Ātman; the ego's claim 'I am the doer' is the delusion. Plus: lokagraha (welfare of the world) as independent rationale; BG 3.35 — svadharma is better than paradharma.","key_verses_detail":{"BG_3_5":{"iast":"na hi kaścit kṣaṇam api jātu tiṣṭhaty akarma-kṛt","translation":"No one can remain even for a moment without doing action — everyone is compelled by Guṇas born of Prakṛti.","note":"Demolishes inaction as liberation strategy. The body is Prakṛti; Prakṛti is Guṇas in motion; action is unavoidable."},"BG_3_9":{"iast":"yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṃ karma-bandhanaḥ","translation":"Actions performed for the sake of sacrifice liberate; actions for any other purpose bind.","note":"The cosmic inversion: motivation determines whether action liberates or binds."},"BG_3_19":{"iast":"tasmād asaktaḥ satataṃ kāryaṃ karma samācara / asakto hy ācaran karma param āpnoti pūruṣaḥ","translation":"Therefore, always perform obligatory action without attachment. For by performing action without attachment, a person attains the highest.","note":"The central Karma Yoga verse of Ch.3. asakta = without ego-grasping."},"BG_3_27":{"iast":"prakṛteḥ kriyamāṇāni guṇaiḥ karmāṇi sarvaśaḥ / ahaṅkāra-vimūḍhātmā kartāham iti manyate","translation":"In all cases, actions are performed by the Guṇas of Prakṛti. One whose self is deluded by ego thinks: 'I am the doer.'","note":"The deepest teaching: the Ātman never acts. Ego (ahaṅkāra) wrongly claims the actions of Prakṛti as its own — this claim creates karma and binds the self."},"BG_3_35":{"iast":"śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣṭhitāt / sva-dharme nidhanaṃ śreyaḥ para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ","translation":"Better is one's own Dharma, though imperfectly performed, than the Dharma of another well performed. Death in one's own Dharma is better; the Dharma of another is fraught with danger.","note":"Culmination of the svadharma teaching. Contested: tied to Varṇa/birth (traditional) vs tied to one's deepest nature (reform reading)."},"BG_3_37":{"iast":"kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ","translation":"It is desire; it is anger — born of Rajas — the great enemy, greatly sinful.","note":"The enemy within: desire and anger obscure knowledge as smoke obscures fire."}},"yajna_cakra":"BG 3.10–3.16: Prajāpati creates beings with sacrifice and declares this the source of prosperity. Gods nourished by sacrifice → send rain → rain produces food → food sustains life → life produces action → action as sacrifice → completes cycle. Breaking the cycle = theft (stena, BG 3.12).","lokagraha":"BG 3.20–3.26: Even the liberated person must act for welfare of the world (lokagraha). Even Kṛṣṇa acts — 'lest these worlds should collapse if I did not perform action' (3.23–3.24).","sources":[{"tier":1,"citation":"BG 3.1–3.43 with Śaṅkara Gītābhāṣya · Gambhirananda (Advaita Ashrama, 2006), pp. 120–155"},{"tier":2,"citation":"Zaehner (OUP, 1969), pp. 161–185"},{"tier":2,"citation":"Hiltebeitel, Dharma (OUP, 2011)"}],"navigation":{"previous":{"chapter":2,"url":"/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-02/","name":"Sāṃkhya Yoga"},"next":{"chapter":4,"url":"/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-04/","name":"Jñāna-Karma-Saṃnyāsa Yoga"}},"provenance":{"confidence":"high","last_verified":"2026-05","citation":"\"BG Chapter 3 — Sanātana Dharma Codex\", thecodex.expert/sanatana-dharma/texts/bhagavad-gita/chapter-03/, last updated May 2026."}}