यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धनः । तदर्थं कर्म कौन्तेय मुक्तसङ्गः समाचर ॥
yajñārthāt karmaṇo 'nyatra loko 'yaṃ karma-bandhanaḥ | tad-arthaṃ karma kaunteya mukta-saṅgaḥ samācara ||
Action done as an offering (yajna) does not bind. All other action creates bondage. Do your work as offering.
Word by word (3)
- yajñārthāt karma
- — action for the sake of yajna / sacrifice · Yajña = sacrifice (from yaj, to worship, to offer). Artha = purpose, sake. Yajñārtha = for the sake of sacrifice, as an offering. This is the transformative concept: when action is done as an offering (yajña) rather than for personal gain, it does not bind. The same action with different inner orientation produces completely different karmic results.
- karma-bandhanaḥ
- — action is bondage · Bandhana = bondage, binding (from bandh, to bind). The world — this loka — is karma-bandhanaḥ for action done for purposes other than yajna. Ego-driven action always creates residue (saṃskāra) that perpetuates the cycle of rebirth. Only yajña-action escapes this.
- mukta-saṅgaḥ samācara
- — perform with attachment released · Mukta = released, freed. Saṅga = clinging, attachment. Samācara = perform fully, completely (sam+ā+car). The instruction is comprehensive: do the action completely AND release the attachment. Not partial action with release, or full attachment with the action — both fully.
This world is bound by action — except action done as yajna (sacrifice/offering). Therefore, O Arjuna, perform your actions as an offering, free from attachment.
A modern analogy
Two chefs cook the same meal. One cooks to earn praise and a tip. The other cooks as an offering — to nourish, to serve, with full craft and zero ego. Same kitchen, same ingredients, same physical actions. But one is karma-bandhanaḥ (binding action); one is yajñārtha karma (liberating action). The difference is entirely in the inner orientation.
Take with you
- Yajna does not mean religious ritual — it means any action done as an offering rather than for ego-gain.
- Every profession, every relationship, every task can be practiced as yajna or as karma-bandhana.
- The question before any action: 'Am I doing this as an offering, or for what I'll get from it?'
- Mukta-saṅgaḥ (free from attachment) + samācara (perform fully) — completeness and freedom together.
V9 introduces yajna (sacrifice/offering) as the philosophical mechanism that transforms binding action into liberating action. This is one of the Gita's most important practical teachings. Shankaracharya explains the principle: action creates karma-residue (saṃskāra) when done with ego-ownership — when the doer claims the action as 'mine' and desires its fruit for 'me.' When action is done as yajna — as an offering to a larger purpose, to God, to the cosmic order — the ego-appropriation is removed and the karma-binding does not occur. V9 is the positive solution to V4's problem (inaction doesn't free you) and V8's instruction (do your prescribed duty): do the duty as yajna. Tilak (Gita Rahasya) made this verse central to his argument that the Gita teaches engaged, active, world-transforming karma — not withdrawal. The yajna-concept makes it possible.
Modern parallels
Flow research (Csikszentmihalyi): actions performed in flow states — where the self fades and the task is everything — produce no exhaustion, no resentment, no accumulation of psychological residue. This is the experiential parallel to yajñārtha karma. Viktor Frankl's 'meaning orientation': when action is embedded in a larger meaning beyond personal gain, it does not deplete but energizes. The yajna orientation is meaning-embedded action.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
The world is bound by action except that done for the sake of sacrifice. Do thou, O son of Kunti, perform action for that sake, free from attachment. [1]
The world is bound by action unless performed for the sake of sacrifice. Therefore, O son of Kunti, do thou perform action for that sake, free from attachment. [4]
This world is imprisoned by its own activity except when actions are performed as worship of God. Do thou, therefore, O son of Kunti, perform all actions as an offering, free from attachment. [6]
All acts of sacrifice, whatever, O Kunti's Son! Are for the world's advantage, and must needs Be done. Let all thine acts be sacrifice. [7]
The world is bound by bonds of action except those done with a view to sacrifice. Therefore, O son of Kunti, do thou perform actions for that end, free from attachment. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Action → yajna → rain → food → all beings. Human right-action sustains the entire chain of life.
Instrument, offering, fire, act, destination — all Brahman. One absorbed in Brahman-action reaches Brahman alone.
Whatever you do, eat, offer, give, or practise as austerity — do it all as mad-arpaṇam, an offering to Me.
Therefore: do your required action without attachment — this is the path that leads to the Supreme.
Do My work, hold Me supreme, be My devotee, attachment-free, without enmity toward all — such a one comes to Me!
Sannyāsa = abandoning desire-motivated action; tyāga = abandoning fruits of ALL action — say the learned.