Karma Yoga
Arjuna said: O Janardana, O Keshava, why do You want to engage me in this awful warfare, if You think that intelligence is better than fruitive work?
My intelligence is confused by Your unclear opposing instructions. Therefore, please tell me decisively what is most beneficial for me.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: O sinless Arjuna, I have already explained that there are two classes of men who try to realize the Self. Some are inclined to understand it by factual, analytical speculation, and others by devotional service.
Not by merely abstaining from work can one achieve freedom from reaction, nor by renunciation (giving up) alone can one attain perfection.
Everyone is forced to act helplessly according to the qualities he has acquired from the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment.
One who controls the senses of action but whose mind thinks on sense objects certainly misleads himself and is called a pretender.
On the other hand, if a sincere person tries to control the active senses by the mind and begins karma-yoga [in Krishna consciousness] without attachment, he is by far superior.
Perform your prescribed duty, for doing so is better than not working. One cannot even maintain one’s physical body without work.
Work done as a sacrifice for Vishnu has to be performed; otherwise work causes bondage in this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain free from bondage.
In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Vishnu, and blessed them by saying, “Be thou happy by this yajna [sacrifice] because its performance will bestow upon you everything desirable for living happily and achieving freedom.”
The demigods, being pleased by sacrifices, will also please you, and thus, by cooperation between men and demigods, prosperity will reign for all.
In charge of the various necessities of life, the demigods, being satisfied by the performance of yajna [sacrifice], will supply all necessities to you. But he who enjoys such gifts without offering them to the demigods in return is certainly a thief.
The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food that is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, certainly eat only sin.
All living bodies survive on food grains, which are produced from rain. Rains are produced by performance of yajna [sacrifice], and yajna is born of prescribed duties.
Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently, the all-pervading Transcendence (Supremacy) is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice.
My dear Arjuna, one who does not follow in human life the cycle of sacrifice thus established by the Vedas certainly leads a life full of sin. Living only for the satisfaction of the senses, such a person lives in vain.
But for one who takes pleasure in the self, whose human life is one of self-realization, and who is satisfied in the self only, fully satiated— for him there is no duty.
A self-realized man has no purpose to fulfill in the discharge of his prescribed duties, nor has he any reason not to perform such work. Nor has he any need to depend on any other living being.
Therefore, without being attached to the fruits of activities, one should act as a matter of duty; for by working without attachment, one attains the Supreme.
Kings such as Janaka attained perfection solely by performance of prescribed duties. Therefore, just for the sake of educating the people in general, you should perform your work.
Whatever action a great man performs, common men follow. And whatever standards he sets by flawless acts, the entire world follows.
O son of Pritha, there is no work prescribed for Me within all the three planetary systems. Nor am I in want of anything, nor have I a need to obtain anything—and yet I am engaged in prescribed duties.
For if I ever failed to engage in carefully performing prescribed duties, O Partha, certainly all men would follow My path.
If I did not perform prescribed duties, all these worlds would be put to ruination. I would be the cause of creating unwanted population, and I would thereby destroy the peace of all living beings.
As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, the learned may similarly act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path.
So as not to disturb the minds of ignorant men attached to the fruitive results of prescribed duties, a learned person should not convince them to stop work. Rather, by working in the spirit of devotion, he should engage them in all sorts of activities [for the gradual development of Krishna consciousness].
The spirit soul confused by the influence of false ego thinks himself the doer of activities that are in actuality carried out by the three modes of material nature.
One who is in knowledge of the Absolute Truth, O mighty-armed, does not engage himself in the senses and sense pleasure, knowing well the differences between work in devotion and work for fruitive results.
Confused by the modes of material nature, the ignorant fully engage themselves in material activities and become attached. But the wise should not disturb them, although these duties are inferior due to the performers’ lack of knowledge.
Therefore, O Arjuna, surrendering all your works unto Me, with full knowledge of Me, without desires for profit, with no claims to proprietorship, and free from lethargy, fight.
Those persons who executes their duties according to My instructions and who follows this teaching faithfully, without envy, become free from the bondage of fruitive actions.
But those who, out of envy, disregard these teachings and do not follow them are to be considered deprived of all knowledge, befooled, and ruined in their attempt for perfection.
Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature, for everyone follows the nature he has acquired from the three modes. What can suppression accomplish?
There are principles to regulate attachment and dislike pertaining to the senses and their objects. One should not come under the control of such attachment and dislike, because they are stumbling blocks on the path of self-realization.
It is far better to discharge one’s prescribed duties, even though faultily, than another’s duties perfectly. Destruction in the course of performing one’s own duty is better than engaging in another’s duties, for to follow another’s path is dangerous.
Arjuna said: O descendant of Vrishni, by what is one compelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?
The Supreme Personality
