Action & Work

Karma-yoga — work as a spiritual path — 151 verses, starred ones first.

2.47 ★ Your right is to act — never to the fruits. Don't act for results. Don't hide in inaction.
2.48 ★ Do the work rooted in yoga, unattached. Equanimity in success and failure — that IS yoga.
2.50 ★ The wisdom-yoked person rises above good and bad karma alike. Yoga is supreme skill in action.
3.19 ★ Therefore: do your required action without attachment — this is the path that leads to the Supreme.
3.27 ★ All actions are done by the gunas of nature. The ego-deluded one thinks 'I am the doer' — this is the root of bondage.
4.11 ★ However you approach Me — I respond in that same way. All human paths ultimately follow My path.
4.18 ★ Seeing inaction in action, action in inaction — that one is wise, a yogi, a complete doer of all actions.
4.38 ★ Nothing in this world purifies like jñāna. The karma-yogi finds it within themselves in time.
8.7 ★ Therefore remember Me at all times and fight — mind and intellect fixed on Me, you will come to Me without doubt.
9.27 ★ Whatever you do, eat, offer, give, or practise as austerity — do it all as mad-arpaṇam, an offering to Me.
11.33 ★ Arise and win glory! These warriors are already slain by Me — be merely the instrument, O Savyasācin!
11.55 ★ Do My work, hold Me supreme, be My devotee, attachment-free, without enmity toward all — such a one comes to Me!
18.78 ★ Where yogeśvara Kṛṣṇa is, where archer Pārtha stands — there abide fortune, victory, flourishing, and steadfast dharma.
4.24 ☆ Instrument, offering, fire, act, destination — all Brahman. One absorbed in Brahman-action reaches Brahman alone.
6.1 ☆ Who acts in duty without depending on fruit — that one is the true sannyāsī and yogī, not the fireless or the inactive.
6.24 ☆ Abandon all desires born of mental planning — without remainder — and restrain the senses completely, by the mind alone.
7.28 ☆ Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
14.5 ☆ Sattva, rajas, tamas — three guṇas born of Prakṛti — bind the indestructible ātman in every body.
17.23 ☆ OṀ Tat Sat: triple name of Brahman — by which brāhmaṇas, Vedas, and yajñas were ordained in the beginning.
18.2 ☆ Sannyāsa = abandoning desire-motivated action; tyāga = abandoning fruits of ALL action — say the learned.
18.17 ☆ One with no ego-doer-sense, whose buddhi is untainted — even while killing all these beings, kills not, is not bound.
18.55 ☆ By bhakti one truly knows what and who I am; then knowing Me truly, one enters into Me immediately.
18.73 ☆ Destroyed is my delusion, memory restored by Your grace — I stand firm, free of doubt, and will do Your word.
1.13 The battlefield erupts into sound — and the point of no return passes.
1.16 Yudhishthira, Nakula, Sahadeva — each sounding his own note in the symphony of dharma.
1.18 The next generation sounds its own conch — Arjuna's son among them.
1.20 Arjuna lifts his bow — then pauses. The crisis begins here.
2.18 Bodies end — the soul does not. Therefore: fight.
2.21 If you know the soul is indestructible — who kills whom?
2.38 Treat pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat as equal — then engage. No sin follows from this.
2.39 Sankhya gave the map. Now hear Yoga — the vehicle by which you break free from the bonds of karma.
2.40 No effort on this path is ever wasted — even a little progress protects you from great fear.
2.42 Flowery speech promises heaven and pleasure from ritual — but it is the talk of those who cannot see beyond it.
2.43 Elaborate rituals for pleasure and power lead to rebirth — not liberation. The cycle continues.
2.45 The Vedas deal in the three qualities of nature — go beyond them: free from opposites, self-possessed.
2.49 Acting for reward is the lowest form of action. Seek the wisdom that transcends reward-seeking.
2.51 Wise action without fruit-seeking breaks the birth-cycle and leads to the sorrowless state.
2.64 Move through the world with senses free from attraction and aversion — that clarity is the natural reward.
3.1 Arjuna's honest confusion: if wisdom is better than action, why push me into this terrible fight?
3.3 Two paths: knowledge for the reflective, action for the active. Both lead to the same summit.
3.4 Freedom from karma's bonds does not come from inaction. Perfection does not come from mere renunciation.
3.5 No one can be truly inactive even for a moment — the gunas of Nature drive all beings to act.
3.7 Inner control → outer action without attachment = karma-yoga. That person genuinely excels.
3.8 Do your prescribed duty. Action is better than inaction — even the body cannot be maintained without it.
3.9 Action done as an offering (yajna) does not bind. All other action creates bondage. Do your work as offering.
3.14 Action → yajna → rain → food → all beings. Human right-action sustains the entire chain of life.
3.15 Action arises from Brahman, Brahman from the Imperishable. The all-pervading ultimate is present in every act of yajna.
3.17 The fully self-realized person has no binding duty — their joy, satisfaction, and fullness come entirely from within.
3.18 For the fully realized: neither action nor inaction gains or loses anything. They depend on no being for any purpose.
3.20 Janaka attained perfection through action — not despite it. Act for the welfare of the world (lokasaṃgraha).
3.22 Krishna: I have nothing to gain anywhere — yet I act. The model for pure action done for the world.
3.23 If even I stopped acting, humans would follow. The great one's withdrawal is never neutral.
3.24 If the great one withdraws, the worlds collapse and they become the cause of chaos — not a neutral bystander.
3.25 The wise act like the unwise — same actions, same engagement — but without attachment, for the world's welfare.
3.26 Don't shake the intellect of those not ready for the philosophy. Lead by example — let your action draw others forward.
3.29 Those deluded by gunas cling to guna-actions. The one with complete knowledge acts with compassionate restraint.
3.30 Surrender all action to Me, mind on the Self, free from hope and possessiveness — then fight, free from fever.
3.43 Know the Self as higher than the intellect. Steady the self by the Self. Then slay the formidable enemy — desire.
4.4 Arjuna: You were born after Vivasvān — how could You have taught him at the start of time?
4.5 Both of us have had many births. I know all of them — you do not. That is the difference.
4.9 Whoever truly knows My divine birth and action — leaving the body, they do not return. They come to Me.
4.12 Those seeking results worship the gods who grant results. Quick success comes from action in the human world.
4.14 Actions don't taint Me — I have no longing for their fruits. Whoever knows Me thus is not bound by their actions.
4.15 The ancient seekers of liberation knew this — and they acted. Therefore you too must act, following the ancients.
4.16 Even the wise are confused about action vs. inaction. I will explain — knowing this frees you from all wrong.
4.17 Three things must be understood: action, wrong-action, inaction. The nature of action is deep and impenetrable.
4.19 All actions free from desire and intention; karmas burned by jñāna's fire — the wise call this one paṇḍita.
4.20 Attachment to fruits abandoned, ever content, no dependence — fully active yet truly doing nothing at all.
4.21 No longing, controlled mind, no possessions — acting only through the body, one incurs no sin at all.
4.23 For the liberated one — attachment gone, mind settled in knowledge, acting for yajna — all karma completely dissolves.
4.27 All sense-actions, all vital-breath actions — offered into the fire of self-mastery yoga, kindled by knowledge.
4.29 Offering prāṇa into apāna, apāna into prāṇa — the breath itself becomes yajna for those devoted to prāṇāyāma.
4.32 Many forms of yajna spread through Brahman's mouth — all born of action. Knowing this, you will be freed.
4.33 Knowledge-yajna surpasses all material sacrifice. Every action without exception culminates in knowledge.
4.41 Action renounced through yoga, doubt cut by knowledge, self-possessed — actions cannot bind that person.
5.1 Arjuna asks: You praise both renunciation and action — tell me decisively which is truly better.
5.2 Both sannyāsa and karma-yoga lead to liberation — karma-yoga surpasses mere renunciation.
5.4 Only the immature see Sānkhya and Yoga as separate — the wise know one path, practiced rightly, yields both fruits.
5.6 Renunciation without yoga is painful to achieve — the yoga-joined muni attains Brahman swiftly.
5.7 Yoga-joined, purified, self-controlled, seeing one's Self as the Self of all beings — even while acting, untainted.
5.10 Surrendering all actions to Brahman, abandoning attachment — like a lotus leaf, sin never clings.
5.11 Yogis act with body, mind, intellect, and bare senses — abandoning attachment — solely for self-purification.
5.13 The self-controlled one mentally renounces all actions, rests happily in the nine-gated city — not acting, not causing.
5.14 The Lord creates neither doership, actions, nor fruit-unions for the world — svabhāva alone operates.
6.3 For the aspiring muni, action is the means to yoga; for the one ascended to yoga, stillness (śama) is the means.
6.4 When unattached to sense objects and to actions, and all saṃkalpas are renounced — then one is called yogārūḍha.
6.17 Regulate food, recreation, effort and sleep — and yoga becomes the destroyer of all pain.
9.9 These acts do not bind Me — I sit as one uninvolved, unattached to them, O Dhananjaya.
11.21 Gods' hosts enter You; some join palms in fear — great seers and Siddhas sing 'Svasti!' and praise You with full hymns!
11.31 Who are You, fierce-formed? I bow — be gracious! I wish to know You, the Primeval, for I do not grasp Your action.
12.6 Offer all actions to Me alone, worship through undivided yoga — the mat-parāḥ hold Me as their supreme goal.
12.10 If even abhyāsa is beyond you — hold My work as supreme; performing actions for My sake, you will attain perfection!
12.11 Unable even to act for My sake? Then take refuge in Me, abandon all fruits of action — with self-restraint.
13.21 Prakṛti is the cause of action; puruṣa is the cause of experiencing pleasure and pain in the field.
13.25 Four paths to see the Self: meditation / Sāṃkhya yoga / karma yoga / following tradition — all valid.
13.30 Seeing all actions done by prakṛti alone and the Self as non-doer — that is true seeing.
14.7 Rajas — passion, thirst, attachment — binds the embodied one specifically through attachment to action.
14.8 Tamas — born of ignorance — deludes all beings and binds through carelessness, laziness, and sleep.
14.9 Sattva binds to happiness; rajas to action; tamas veils wisdom and chains to heedlessness.
14.10 Sattva, rajas, or tamas — each can become dominant over the others, alternating in every mind.
14.12 Greed, restless activity, and longing surge — know that rajas is predominant and karma-saṅga is binding.
14.15 Dying in rajas, one is born among the action-attached; dying in tamas, one is born in irrational wombs.
14.16 The fruit of sattvic action is pure; the fruit of rajas is pain; the fruit of tamas is ignorance.
14.23 Sitting as a neutral — unmoved by guṇas, knowing 'guṇas act' — firm, unshaken, the pure witness.
14.25 Equal in honor and disgrace, equal to friend and foe, abandoning all undertakings — he has gone beyond guṇas.
15.2 Guṇa-fed branches spread everywhere; in the human world, karma-roots grow downward entangling further.
15.16 Two puruṣas: kṣara (all mutable beings) and akṣara (kūṭastha, immutable ground) — both about to be transcended.
16.8 The āsurī worldview: the world is unreal, groundless, Godless — produced only by matter-union and desire.
16.9 Holding that nihilistic view, ruined selves of limited mind and fierce action, they rise as enemies of the world.
16.22 Free from these three tamas-gates, one acts for one's genuine good and reaches the Supreme Goal.
16.23 One who abandons śāstra-vidhi to act from desire's impulse attains neither siddhi, nor sukha, nor the Supreme Goal.
16.24 Therefore śāstra is your pramāṇa for kārya-akārya. Know what śāstra declares — then act accordingly in the world.
17.1 Arjuna asks: those who perform yajña with sincere śraddhā but without śāstric ordinance — what guṇa is their state?
17.16 Mental tapas: serenity of mind, kindliness, silence, self-restraint, and purity of motive/bhāva.
17.24 Therefore, Brahman-knowers always begin yajña, dāna, and tapas with 'OṀ' as ordained by scripture.
17.26 Sat means: being/reality, goodness/virtue, and praiseworthy action — three registers of the one word.
17.27 Steadiness in yajña, tapas, and dāna is called Sat; and even supporting action for their sake is Sat.
18.3 Some say all karma is faulty and should be abandoned; others say yajña-dāna-tapas must not be abandoned.
18.4 Hear My definitive word on tyāga, O best of Bharatas — tyāga has been declared three-fold, O tiger among men.
18.5 Yajña, dāna, and tapas must NOT be abandoned — they must be performed; they are purifiers of the wise.
18.6 Even yajña-dāna-tapas must be performed having abandoned attachment and fruits — my settled, highest opinion.
18.8 Rājasic tyāga: abandoning action as painful/from fear of body-trouble — obtains no fruit of tyāga.
18.10 The sāttvic tyāgī: neither hates difficult action nor clings to pleasant — sattva-pervaded, wise, doubts severed.
18.11 No embodied being can abandon ALL action; the true tyāgī is the karma-phala-tyāgī — the fruit-abandoner.
18.12 Three-fold karma-fruit (evil/good/mixed) accrues after death to non-tyāgīs — never at all to genuine renouncers.
18.13 Learn these five causes of all action from Me, O Mighty-armed — as declared in the Sāṃkhya final teaching.
18.14 Five causes of action: body-locus, agent, various instruments, diverse efforts, and — fifth — the Divine/Fate.
18.15 Whatever action a person initiates with body, speech, and mind — right or the reverse — these five are its causes.
18.16 One who — given the five causes — sees the self alone as doer due to unrefined intellect sees not; that is durmati.
18.18 Three-fold impulse to action: knowledge, knowable, knower. Three-fold action-structure: organ, act, agent.
18.19 Knowledge, action, and agent are each three-fold by guṇa-distinction — as declared in the guṇa-science. Hear them.
18.24 Rājasic karma: done desiring pleasures or with ego-pride, involving great effort.
18.25 Tāmasic karma: begun from delusion, ignoring consequences, waste, injury to beings, and one's own capacity.
18.26 Sāttvic kartā: attachment-free, non-egotistic, firm, enthusiastic, unmoved by success or failure.
18.34 Rājasic dhṛti: holds fast to dharma, kāma, and artha with attachment, desiring the fruit of each.
18.37 Sāttvic sukha: poison-like at first, nectar-like at the end — born of the clarity of Self-knowing intellect.
18.40 No being — neither on earth nor among the devas in heaven — is free from these three guṇas born of Prakṛti.
18.41 The duties of Brāhmaṇas, Kṣatriyas, Vaiśyas, and Śūdras are distributed by the guṇas born of their own nature.
18.42 Brāhmaṇa dharma: śama, dama, tapas, purity, forbearance, uprightness, knowledge, wisdom, faith — born of svabhāva.
18.43 Kṣatriya dharma: bravery, vigor, fortitude, skill, not-fleeing-battle, generosity, lordly bearing — born of svabhāva.
18.45 Devoted each to his own duty, a person attains complete perfection — hear how one so devoted finds siddhi.
18.47 One's own dharma even imperfectly done is better than another's well done; svabhāva-ordained karma incurs no sin.
18.48 Do not abandon one's innate duty even if imperfect — all undertakings are enveloped by fault as fire by smoke.
18.49 The unattached-minded, self-conquered, desire-free one attains supreme naiskarmya-siddhi through sannyāsa.
18.50 Learn briefly from Me how one who has attained siddhi attains Brahman — the supreme culmination of knowledge.
18.51 Endued with pure buddhi, regulating self with dhṛti, renouncing sense-objects, setting aside rāga-dveṣa —
18.56 Even doing all actions always, with refuge in Me — by My grace one attains the eternal imperishable abode.
18.57 Mentally offering all actions to Me, with Me as highest — resorting to buddhi-yoga, always be mind-in-Me.
18.60 Bound by your svabhāva-born karma, what from delusion you don't wish to do — you will do even helplessly.
18.68 Whoever teaches this supreme secret among My devotees, with supreme bhakti — comes to Me without doubt.
18.69 No one among humans does dearer service to Me, nor is there another dearer to Me on earth, than the Gita-teacher.