Shankaracharya's commentary, trans. Alladi Mahadeva Sastry (1897)
[1]Do thou perform thy prescribed action; for action is better than inaction. Even the maintenance of thy body would not be possible for thee without action.
BG 3.8
नियतं कुरु कर्म त्वं कर्म ज्यायो ह्यकर्मणः । शरीरयात्रापि च ते न प्रसिद्ध्येदकर्मणः ॥
niyataṃ kuru karma tvaṃ karma jyāyo hy akarmaṇaḥ | śarīra-yātrāpi ca te na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ ||
"Do your prescribed duty. Action is better than inaction — even the body cannot be maintained without it."
All public-domain translations
5 translations · all pre-1928 or released to public domain · sources
Swami Swarupananda, Srimad Bhagavad Gita (1909)
[4]Do thou perform thy prescribed action, for action is superior to inaction. Even the maintenance of thy body would not be possible for thee by inaction.
William Quan Judge, The Bhagavad Gita (1890)
[6]Perform thy prescribed action, for action is preferable to inaction. Without action even the maintenance of the body is impossible.
Sir Edwin Arnold, The Song Celestial (1885)
[7]Do thine allotted task! Better to do thine own task with fault Than do another's well. Death is better far To do another's work than thine own undone.
K.T. Telang, Sacred Books of the East Vol. 8 (1882)
[9]Perform obligatory action; for action is better than inaction. Even the support of the body is not possible for thee without action.