Chapter Three
The title of this chapter in Sanskrit is Karma Yoga, “The Way of Action,” and here we take an apparently sharp turn away from the subject of the previous chapter. In fact, Arjuna changes the subject completely. Krishna has been trying to convince him that he has an immortal soul, but Arjuna continues to worry about his immediate predicament. It is not that he is uninterested in mystical enlightenment, but his main concern at the moment is just what he is supposed to do next.
Or, he asks, perhaps what he does is not so important after all. Has Krishna been telling him to concentrate on acquiring spiritual wisdom and to forget about his apparent duties in the world?
Krishna replies that there is no way Arjuna can avoid the obligation of selfless action, or karma yoga. Arjuna must act selflessly, out of a sense of duty. He must work not for his own sake, but for the welfare of all. Krishna points out that this is a basic law underlying all creation. Each being must do its part in the grand scheme of things, and there is no way to avoid this obligation – except perhaps by the complete enlightenment which loosens all the old bonds of karma.
Here the Gita refers to the doctrine of karma, one of the basic teachings in all Hindu and Buddhist scriptures. Karma literally means deed or action; what is sometimes called the “law of karma” refers to an underlying law of cause and effect that is seen to permeate all existence. The idea is that every action leads to a reasonable result – and, consequently, that everything that happens can be traced to something done in the past. Actions determine destiny: this is the basic idea of karma. If anything happens to us that is truly good, we must have done something in the past to deserve it; if something ill befalls us, then at some time in the past we did something that was not so meritorious. This is a basic moral law that all great spiritual traditions share: the belief that we reap what we sow.
The Hindu tradition gave a great deal of thought to this problem of moral cause and effect, and generation after generation of spiritual teachers fathomed its depths and implications. One fear that developed over time was that all action was in a sense an open door to bondage: anything a person did would bind him to the endless cycle of cause and effect. Some “fruits” of action would of course be pleasant – not all karma is painful. But even this pleasure could be a trap, because we would seek it compulsively, tying ourselves tighter and tighter to the responsibilities and opportunities of the worldly life and forgetting our spiritual dimension altogether.
In chapter 3 Krishna begins to tell Arjuna the way out of this maze of cause and effect. It is not to avoid work, especially the duties required by his station in life, but to perform those duties without selfish attachment to their “fruit,” or outcome. If Arjuna follows this path of selfless work, Krishna explains, he will enjoy this world as well as the next. More important, he will gain a spiritual blessing and will be lessening his debt of karma. Only when he is free from every bond of karma – every consequence of past action – can he achieve life’s ultimate goal.
The world is bound in its own activity, for all creatures except the illumined man or woman work for their own pleasure and gain. Because they act selfishly, they are bound by the results, whether good or bad. We must act in a selfless spirit, Krishna says, without ego-involvement and without getting entangled in whether things work out the way we want; only then will we not fall into the terrible net of karma. We cannot hope to escape karma by refraining from our duties: even to survive in the world, we must act.
True, the Hindu scriptures do hold out another path – jnana yoga, the path of wisdom – which does not enjoin action. But Krishna does not really offer this to Arjuna as an alternative; it is acknowledged and then dropped. Perhaps Krishna knows that Arjuna is not the type to disengage himself and go off on a search for the mystical vision. For Arjuna, the active life is essential.
The danger, of course, of a life of active engagement in the world is that Arjuna will get caught up in his actions and begin to act out of selfish motives. If this were to happen, he would be doomed to spiritual failure.
Having a good deal of self-knowledge, Arjuna senses this danger. He asks Krishna a fundamental question: What power binds us to our selfish ways? Even if we wish to act rightly, so often we do the wrong thing. What power moves us?
Krishna replies that anger and selfish desire are our greatest enemies. They are the destructive powers that can compel us to wander away from our purpose, to end up in self-delusion and despair.
Here it is necessary to introduce two technical terms from Hindu philosophy. The Gita is not an academic work of philosophy, but a poetic, practical text. Still, it does refer from time to time to Sankhya, one of the six traditional schools of Indian philosophy. In Sankhya, the phenomenal world of mind and matter is described as having three basic qualities or gunas: sattva– goodness, light, purity; rajas– passion, activity, energy; and tamas– darkness, ignorance, inertia. According to Sankhya, spiritual evolution progresses from tamas to rajas to sattva, and final liberation takes the soul beyond the three gunas altogether.
Here Krishna warns Arjuna to beware the pitfalls of rajas, for it is from rajas that anger and selfish desire arise. Arjuna must realize that his true nature, the Atman, is above entanglement in the gunas. The gunas act and react upon one another, but Arjuna’s inner being is not affected. If he cannot reach this detachment, he will be always caught in the emotional storms of passion (rajas) or the quagmires of inertia (tamas) which alternate in dominating the mind and body.
Krishna offers Arjuna the example of King Janaka, well known from holy legend, as a model for the princely estate. Janaka was a king who ruled well and did not shirk his responsibilities, yet he was detached and worked from a sense of duty, not for personal gain or enjoyment. He was revered as a royal sage who pursued his enlightenment not by renouncing the world, but by working in it and contributing to its welfare, thus enjoying the best of both worlds. –D.M.
3: Selfless Service
ARJUNA
1 O Krishna, you have said that knowledge is greater than action; why then do you ask me to wage this terrible war? 2 Your advice seems inconsistent. Give me one path to follow to the supreme good.
KRISHNA
3 At the beginning of time I declared two paths for the pure heart: jnana yoga, the contemplative path of spiritual wisdom, and karma yoga, the active path of selfless service.
4 One who shirks action does not attain freedom; no one can gain perfection by abstaining from work. 5 Indeed, there is no one who rests for even an instant; all creatures are driven to action by their own nature.
6 Those who abstain from action while allowing the mind to dwell on sensual pleasure cannot be called sincere spiritual aspirants. 7 But they excel who control their senses through the mind, using them for selfless service.
8 Fulfill all your duties; action is better than inaction. Even to maintain your body, Arjuna, you are obliged to act. 9 Selfish action imprisons the world. Act selflessly, without any thought of personal profit.
10 At the beginning, mankind and the obligation of selfless service were created together. “Through selfless service, you will always be fruitful and find the fulfillment of your desires”: this is the promise of the Creator.
11 Honor and cherish the devas as they honor and cherish you; through this honor and love you will attain the supreme good. 12 All human desires are fulfilled by the devas, who are pleased by selfless service. But anyone who enjoys the things given by the devas without offering selfless acts in return is a thief.
13 The spiritually minded, who eat in the spirit of service, are freed from all their sins; but the selfish, who prepare food for their own satisfaction, eat sin. 14 Living creatures are nourished by food, and food is nourished by rain; rain itself is the water of life, which comes from selfless worship and service.
15 Every selfless act, Arjuna, is born from Brahman, the eternal, infinite Godhead. Brahman is present in every act of service. 16 All life turns on this law, O Arjuna. Those who violate it, indulging the senses for their own pleasure and ignoring the needs of others, have wasted their life. 17 But those who realize the Self are always satisfied. Having found the source of joy and fulfillment, they no longer seek happiness from the external world. 18 They have nothing to gain or lose by any action; neither people nor things can affect their security.
19 Strive constantly to serve the welfare of the world; by devotion to selfless work one attains the supreme goal of life. 20 Do your work with the welfare of others always in mind. It was by such work that Janaka attained perfection; others too have followed this path.
21 What the outstanding person does, others will try to do. The standards such people create will be followed by the whole world. 22 There is nothing in the three worlds for me to gain, Arjuna, nor is there anything I do not have; I continue to act, but I am not driven by any need of my own. 23 If I ever refrained from continuous work, everyone would immediately follow my example. 24 If I stopped working I would be the cause of cosmic chaos, and finally of the destruction of this world and these people.
25 The ignorant work for their own profit, Arjuna; the wise work for the welfare of the world, without thought for themselves. 26 By abstaining from work you will confuse the ignorant, who are engrossed in their actions. Perform all work carefully, guided by compassion.
27 All actions are performed by the gunas of prakriti. Deluded by identification with the ego, a person thinks, “I am the doer.” 28 But the illumined man or woman understands the domain of the gunas and is not attached. Such people know that the gunas interact with each other; they do not claim to be the doer.
29 Those who are deluded by the operation of the gunas become attached to the results of their action. Those who understand these truths should not unsettle the ignorant. 30 Performing all actions for my sake, completely absorbed in the Self, and without expectations, fight! – but stay free from the fever of the ego.
31 Those who live in accordance with these divine laws without complaining, firmly established in faith, are released from karma. 32 Those who violate these laws, criticizing and complaining, are utterly deluded, and are the cause of their own suffering.
33 Even the wise act within the limitations of their own nature. Every creature is subject to prakriti; what is the use of repression? 34 The senses have been conditioned by attraction to the pleasant and aversion to the unpleasant. Do not be ruled by them; they are obstacles in your path.
35 It is better to strive in one’s own dharma than to succeed in the dharma of another. Nothing is ever lost in following one’s own dharma, but competition in another’s dharma breeds fear and insecurity.
ARJUNA
36 What is the force that binds us to selfish deeds, O Krishna? What power moves us, even against our will, as if forcing us?
KRISHNA
37 It is selfish desire and anger, arising from the guna of rajas; these are the appetites and evils which threaten a person in this life.
38 Just as a fire is covered by smoke and a mirror is obscured by dust, just as the embryo rests deep within the womb, knowledge is hidden by selfish desire – 39 hidden, Arjuna, by this unquenchable fire for self-satisfaction, the inveterate enemy of the wise.
40 Selfish desire is found in the senses, mind, and intellect, misleading them and burying the understanding in delusion. 41 Fight with all your strength, Arjuna! Controlling your senses, conquer your enemy, the destroyer of knowledge and realization.
42 The senses are higher than the body, the mind higher than the senses; above the mind is the intellect, and above the intellect is the Atman. 43 Thus, knowing that which is supreme, let the Atman rule the ego. Use your mighty arms to slay the fierce enemy that is selfish desire.