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Chapter 3 · Karma-yoga · 43 verses

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How to study this verse, in six steps
  1. 1Remember who is speaking. Kṛṣṇa is speaking. Take the verse as He directs.
  2. 2Say the verse and its words. Read the Sanskrit, then each word with its meaning.
  3. 3Read the translation as it is. Let the translation say what it says, without adding your own meaning.
  4. 4Read the purport. Hear the verse through the disciplic succession.
  5. 5Bring your own question. Ask: where does this verse meet my life, my trouble, my doubt?
  6. 6Act on it, remembering Kṛṣṇa. Carry one instruction into your work today.
Read the full guide: how to read the Bhagavad-gītā ›
Questions & crisisChapter 3 · Karma-yoga
2.723.2

Bhagavad-gītā As It Is · Text 3.1

Arjuna asks about action and knowledge

Karma · Action

अर्जुन उवाच

ज्यायसी चेत्कर्मणस्ते मता बुद्धिर्जनार्दन ।

तत्किं कर्मणि घोरे मां नियोजयसि केशव ॥ १ ॥

arjuna uvāca

jyāyasī cet karmaṇas te

matā buddhir janārdana

tat kiṁ karmaṇi ghore māṁ

niyojayasi keśava

Translation

Arjuna said: O Janārdana, O Keśava, why do You want to engage me in this ghastly warfare, if You think that intelligence is better than fruitive work?

Read Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport on Vedabase.io
1

Understand it

What this verse is saying, and where it sits in the story.

3 study points

Arjuna Asks About Action

  1. 1

    Arjuna asks why Kṛṣṇa wants him to fight in such terrible warfare if intelligence is better than work for results.

  2. 2

    Prabhupāda explains that Arjuna mistook Kṛṣṇa consciousness for withdrawal from active life and wanted to use it to avoid fighting.

  3. 3

    Like Arjuna, sincerely ask for guidance rather than use Kṛṣṇa consciousness as an excuse to avoid action.

Key points from the purport

These notes cover verses 3.1–2

Arjuna is confused

Based on Text 2.49, Arjuna doubts the compatibility of Karma (Duty of fighting) & Jnana (Buddhi – yoga based on knowledge of the soul) and requests for the one conclusive path

a

Krishna consciousness often misused as an excuse to avoid duty or misunderstood to be inertia (3.1). Correct understanding is

Without being trained in the philosophy of Krishna consciousness it is not advisable to chant the holy names in a secluded place

It only acquires cheap adoration from the innocent public

b

Practical Application: Sign of a sincere student — Sincere student places the doubt before master to elicit best course of action (3.1). In response Krishna explained karma-yoga (work in Krishna consciousness)

c

Arjuna clears apparently confusing path of Chapter 2 for sincere students of Bhagavad-gita

Further reading

Renunciation Or Work

Arjuna asks if it is better to be situated in knowledge or to work, as if two were opposed to each other

Chapter 3, section I: Renunciation Or Work
2

Word for word

Learn the Sanskrit words of the verse.

  1. arjunaḥ uvācaArjuna said
  2. jyāyasībetter
  3. cetif
  4. karmaṇaḥthan fruitive action
  5. teby You
  6. matāis considered
  7. buddhiḥintelligence
  8. janārdanaO Kṛṣṇa
3

Key ideas in this verse

The spiritual concepts this verse connects to.

Key ideas: saṁśaya, viṣāda.

4

Live it

Take one thing from this verse into your day.

Ask yourself

What does BG 3.1 establish in Śrīla Prabhupāda's translation and purport, and how does it connect to questions & crisis?

Practice

Write down the real question behind your current dilemma.

5

The story behind it

Mahābhārata episodes and stories from the purports that shed light on this verse.

All stories for chapter 3 ›
6

Related verses

Keep going: verses that carry this teaching further.

BG 3.2Arjuna asks about action and knowledgeBG 1.28Compassion entangled with attachmentBG 1.46The bow falls
Live this todayPerform Your Prescribed DutyA practice from BG 3.8, close to this verse

Study notes are editorial summaries, not the translation. Confirm them in the original text and purport.

  1. Learn
  2. Live
  3. Lead
Next in Learn · 4 of 9 · 10 minChapters & storiesGo chapter by chapter, with the Mahābhārata stories that explain what is happening.Back · LearnPrabhupāda's Introduction