Vyasa · a new plain-English translation from the Sanskrit
3.1 Arjuna said: If you consider understanding superior to action, Janardana, then why do you urge me to this terrible action, Keshava?
3.2 With seemingly contradictory words you appear to confuse my understanding. Tell me the one path with certainty, by which I may attain what is best.
3.3 The Blessed Lord said: In this world, blameless one, a twofold path has been taught by me since ancient times: the path of knowledge for followers of Sankhya, and the path of action for followers of yoga.
3.4 A man does not attain freedom from action merely by abstaining from action, nor does he reach perfection through renunciation alone.
3.5 For no one ever remains, even for an instant, without performing action; everyone is made to act helplessly by the gunas born of nature.
3.6 One who restrains the organs of action but sits dwelling in the mind on the objects of the senses, whose self is deluded, is called a hypocrite.
3.7 But one who controls the senses with the mind, Arjuna, and undertakes the discipline of action with the organs of action, unattached, that person is superior.
3.8 Perform your appointed action, for action is better than inaction; even the maintenance of your body would not be accomplished through inaction.
3.9 This world is bound by action, except when action is done for the sake of sacrifice; for that purpose, son of Kunti, perform action free from attachment.
3.10 Having created creatures together with sacrifice in the beginning, Prajapati said: By this shall you multiply; let this be the cow that grants your desires.
3.11 Nourish the gods with this, and let the gods nourish you; nourishing one another, you shall attain the highest good.
3.12 Nourished by sacrifice, the gods will indeed grant you the enjoyments you desire. One who enjoys what is given by them without offering anything in return is truly a thief.
3.13 The good, who eat what remains after sacrifice, are freed from all sins; but the wicked, who cook only for their own sake, eat sin.
3.14 From food, beings come into existence; from rain, food arises; from sacrifice, rain arises; and sacrifice arises from action.
3.15 Know that action arises from brahman, and brahman arises from the imperishable. Therefore the all-pervading brahman is ever established in sacrifice.
3.16 One who does not follow, here in this world, this wheel thus set in motion, living sinfully, delighting in the senses, that person lives in vain, Partha.
3.17 But for the man who delights only in the self, who is satisfied in the self, and content only in the self, for him there is nothing that needs to be done.
3.18 He has no purpose to serve here by action performed, nor any by action left undone; nor does he depend for any purpose on any being.
3.19 Therefore, always unattached, perform the action that must be done; for a man performing action without attachment attains the highest.
3.20 By action alone did Janaka and others attain perfection. You should perform action also with regard to holding the world together.
3.21 Whatever the best of men does, other men do as well; whatever standard he sets, the world follows.
3.22 There is nothing in the three worlds, Partha, that I must do, nothing unattained that must be attained; yet still I engage in action.
3.23 For if I did not engage tirelessly in action, men would follow my path in every way, Partha.
3.24 These worlds would perish if I did not perform action; I would become the cause of the mingling of castes, and I would be the ruin of these creatures.
3.25 As the ignorant act with attachment to action, descendant of Bharata, so should the wise act without attachment, seeking to hold the world together.
3.26 The wise should not unsettle the understanding of the ignorant who are attached to action; rather, joined in discipline, he should encourage them to perform all their actions.
3.27 Actions are performed in every way by the gunas of nature; one whose self is deluded by egotism thinks, I am the doer.
3.28 But one who knows the truth, mighty-armed, about the distinction between the gunas and their actions, understanding that it is the gunas acting upon the gunas, does not become attached.
3.29 Those deluded by the gunas of nature become attached to the actions of the gunas; but the one who knows the whole should not unsettle those of little understanding who know only in part.
3.30 Surrendering all your actions to me, with your mind fixed on the self, free from craving and from the sense of mine, fight, with the fever of your soul cast off.
3.31 Those who constantly follow this teaching of mine, full of faith and free from envy, they too are freed from the bondage of action.
3.32 But those who, full of envy, do not follow this teaching of mine, know them to be deluded in all knowledge, lost, and without discernment.
3.33 Even a man of knowledge acts in accordance with his own nature; beings follow their nature. What can restraint accomplish?
3.34 In the object of each sense, attraction and aversion are fixed; one should not come under the sway of these two, for they are one's enemies lying in wait.
3.35 Better is one's own duty, though imperfectly performed, than the duty of another well performed. Death in the pursuit of one's own duty is better; the duty of another invites danger.
3.36 Arjuna said: But impelled by what does a man commit wrong, O descendant of Vrishni, even against his own wish, as if driven to it by force?
3.37 The Blessed Lord said: It is desire, it is anger, born of the guna of passion, all-devouring and deeply sinful; know this to be the enemy here.
3.38 As fire is covered by smoke, and a mirror by dust, and an embryo enveloped by its membrane, so is this world covered by that desire.
3.39 Knowledge is covered by this constant enemy of the wise, which takes the form of desire, son of Kunti, an insatiable fire.
3.40 The senses, the mind, and the understanding are said to be its seat; through these it deludes the embodied self, covering over his knowledge.
3.41 Therefore, first restrain the senses, bull among the descendants of Bharata, and cast off this evil thing, which destroys knowledge and discernment.
3.42 The senses are said to be superior to the body; the mind is superior to the senses; and understanding is superior to the mind; but that which is superior to understanding, is he, the self.
3.43 Thus, knowing that which is beyond understanding, and steadying the self by the self, slay the enemy, mighty-armed, in the form of desire, so difficult to overcome.