Chapter 3 Karma Yoga
WHICH IS BETTER? RENUNCIATION OR WORK?
(3.1-9)
FIGHT! DO YOUR DUTY BUT WITHOUT ATTACHMENT
(3.3-9)
FROM KARMA-KANDA TO KARMA-YOGA ( 3.10-16)
NISKAMA KARMA- do your duty with out attachment to
set the proper example, and elevate yourself
(3.17-35)
BEWARE OF LUST AND ANGER. 36-42
Arjuna’s question: 3:1-2
Janardana, O Kesava, why do
You want to engage me in this
ghastly warfare, if You think that
intelligence is better than
fruitive work?
In text 2:49 You said,
“Keep all abominable
activities far distant.” And war is
certainly an abominable
activity
My intelligence is bewildered by Your equivocal instruction.
Please tell me one truth !!
NEITHER!!
Not by merely abstaining from work
can one achieve freedom from
reaction, nor by renunciation alone
can one attain perfection. Vs 4
You will be forced to act
helplessly according to the
qualities you have acquired
from the modes of material
nature! Vs 5
Otherwise renunciation without
purification leads to fall down
one will be a pretender and fall down!
Vs. 3-8
Don’t be a pretender!
Work for the Supreme
Knowledge ( you’re not this
body = Jnana)
+ detachment =
Nis kama karma Yoga!
Verses 8-9
To reach the Ultimate level
one must offer
everything to Visnu!
This changes Buddhi Yoga
to Bhakti Yoga.
Vs. 1012
Verse 3:11 purport
Vs. 3:14-16
All embodied living entities have
complete dependence on the
Lord because they
Depend on food
grains
Which come
from the
Supreme Lord
Which depend on
rains
Which depend on
performance of
Yajna (sacrifice)
Which are born of duties
prescribed in the Vedas
Considering this the
purpose of human life
is to please the
Supreme Lord
The best sacrifice to please Him is unalloyed
and undeviated devotional service.
The best sacrifice for this age is sankirtan
yajna, chanting and distributing the Holy
Name-- Hare Krsna Hare Krsna Krsna
Krsna Hare Hare Hare Rama Hare
Rama Hare Hare
Verse 17 Sri Krsna says:
But for one who takes pleasure in the
self, whose human life is one of selfrealization, and who is satisfied in the
self only, fully satiated—for him there
is no duty!
And Arjuna thinks:
That’s what I said before!
If one who is conscious of YOU has no
duty to perform.
and
if one is totally detached from the fruits
of his work, then why do anything,
especially fight?
Better to just meditate and
study sastra!
Vs. 19-30 Sri Krsna’s response:
Act out of duty:
To set an example for others because
whatever great men do common men
follow!
You should follow the
example of others like
1. Janaka Maharaja
2. Myself
Also act to purify yourself!
From Niskama Yoga you can be
elevated to Bhakti vs 30-1
Therefore, O Arjuna, surrendering all your
works unto Me, with full knowledge of Me,
without desires for profit, and no claims to
proprietorship, and free from lethargy, fight!
Those persons who execute
their duties according to MY
injunctions and who
follow this teaching
Faithfully without envy,
become free from the
bondage of fruitive actions.
What good is
repression?
Do not come under the control
of attachment and aversion.
Control your senses by the
Vedic principles because they
regulate attachment and
aversion
Better to do your duty than
another’s.
Meet Mr. Lust
Vs 36: By what is one impelled to sinful acts,
even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?
Vs 37: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of
contact with the material mode of passion
and later transformed into wrath, and which
is the all-devouring sinful enemy of this
world.
Lust
Mind
Intelligence
Senses
Verse 38