Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3, Verse 9

Chapter 3 – Karma Yoga · Speaker: Krishna

Sanskrit verse

यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धनः ।
तदर्थं कर्म कौन्तेय मुक्तसङ्गः समाचर ॥

Transliteration

yajñārthātkarmaṇo.anyatra loko.ayaṃ karmabandhanaḥ .
tadarthaṃ karma kaunteya muktasaṅgaḥ samācara ॥

Meaning

Apart from action done for the sake of sacrifice, this world is bound by action. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform action for that purpose, free from attachment.

Word meanings

यज्ञार्थात् – done for the sake of sacrifice
कर्मणः – than action
अन्यत्र – other than
लोकः – the world, people
अयम् – this
कर्मबन्धनः – bound by action
तदर्थम् – for that purpose
कर्म – action
कौन्तेय – O son of Kunti
मुक्तसङ्गः – free from attachment
समाचर – perform well

Anvaya (word order)

कौन्तेय, यज्ञार्थात् कर्मणः अन्यत्र अयं लोकः कर्मबन्धनः (भवति); (अतः) मुक्तसङ्गः (सन्) तदर्थं कर्म समाचर ।

Explanation

Having insisted that we must act, the Lord now faces the obvious objection: does not action chain us? He answers with one of the most important sentences of the chapter. The world is bound by action, he says, except when the action is done for the sake of yajna. It is not work itself but self-centred work, done for one's own gain alone, that ties a person down. Work offered as yajna is the very thing that frees.

The word yajna has layers. In the literal sense it is the Vedic sacrifice. Shankara widens it to mean any action done for the Lord, since "yajno vai Vishnuh", the sacrifice is Vishnu Himself. Ramanuja explains yajna as the worship of the Supreme Person through all one's prescribed duties, while Madhva too sees it as service to Vishnu. In everyday terms, yajna is work done for a purpose larger than the doer: for the family, the community, a cause or the Divine.

The second half gives the method: "tad-artham karma samachara", perform action for that purpose, mukta-sangah, free from attachment. Notice that detachment is not indifference. A doctor who treats a patient with full attention but who does not demand gratitude is practising precisely this. The doing is wholehearted; the clinging is dropped.

Take two people in the same office doing the same task. One works only for his promotion and is tormented by every delay. The other works for the good of the team, takes the delay in stride, and goes home lighter. Their outward actions look identical, but only the second is free. The bondage lies in the motive, not in the deed.

Seen this way, yajna is the Gita's answer to the question of how to live in the world without being swallowed by it. It also prepares the ground for the cycle of mutual giving described in verses 3.10 to 3.16. The same idea appears again in 4.23, where the action of a person free from attachment "melts away", and in 5.10, where the one who offers actions to the Lord is not stained by sin, like a lotus leaf unwetted by water. Even small acts, such as cooking a meal for the family as an offering of love, can become yajna.

Context

After commanding prescribed action in 3.8, the natural objection in Arjuna's mind would be that action binds. The Lord answers here, and from 3.10 He unfolds the cycle of yajna in detail.

Life lesson

Work does not bind; the selfishness behind it does. Do your tasks as service to others and as an offering to God, and duty ceases to be a burden and becomes a discipline.

Key terms

Yajna: action done in a spirit of sacrifice; worship of the Divine
Karma-bandhana: bondage produced by action
Muktasanga: free from attachment