Bhagavad Gita
Chapter III — Virtue in Work
Bhagavān Śrī Kṛṣṇa18856 min read
Bhagavad GitaKrishnaBhakti
Arjuna
Thou whom all mortals praise, Janardana!If meditation be a nobler thingThan action, wherefore, then, great Kesava!Dost thou impel me to this dreadful fight?Now am I by thy doubtful speech disturbed!Tell me one thing, and tell me certainly;By what road shall I find the better end?
Krishna
I told thee, blameless Lord! there be two pathsShown to this world; two schools of wisdom.
First
The Sankhya's, which doth save in way of worksPrescribed by reason; next, the Yog, which bidsAttain by meditation, spiritually:Yet these are one! No man shall 'scape from actBy shunning action; nay, and none shall comeBy mere renouncements unto perfectness.Nay, and no jot of time, at any time,Rests any actionless; his nature's lawCompels him, even unwilling, into act;[For thought is act in fancy]. He who sitsSuppressing all the instruments of flesh,Yet in his idle heart thinking on them,Plays the inept and guilty hypocrite:But he who, with strong body serving mind,Gives up his mortal powers to worthy work,Not seeking gain, Arjuna! such an oneIs honourable. Do thine allotted task!Work is more excellent than idleness;The body's life proceeds not, lacking work.There is a task of holiness to do,Unlike world-binding toil, which bindeth notThe faithful soul; such earthly duty doFree from desire, and thou shalt well performThy heavenly purpose. Spake Prajapati--In the beginning, when all men were made,And, with mankind, the sacrifice-- "Do this!Work! sacrifice! Increase and multiplyWith sacrifice! This shall be Kamaduk,Your 'Cow of Plenty,' giving back her milkOf all abundance. Worship the gods thereby;The gods shall yield thee grace. Those meats ye craveThe gods will grant to Labour, when it paysTithes in the altar-flame. But if one eatsFruits of the earth, rendering to kindly HeavenNo gift of toil, that thief steals from his world."
Who eat of food after their sacrificeAre quit of fault, but they that spread a feastAll for themselves, eat sin and drink of sin.By food the living live; food comes of rain,And rain comes by the pious sacrifice,And sacrifice is paid with tithes of toil;Thus action is of Brahma, who is One,The Only, All-pervading; at all timesPresent in sacrifice. He that abstainsTo help the rolling wheels of this great world,Glutting his idle sense, lives a lost life,Shameful and vain. Existing for himself,Self-concentrated, serving self alone,No part hath he in aught; nothing achieved,Nought wrought or unwrought toucheth him; no hopeOf help for all the living things of earthDepends from him. Therefore, thy task prescribedWith spirit unattached gladly perform,Since in performance of plain duty manMounts to his highest bliss. By works aloneJanak and ancient saints reached blessedness!Moreover, for the upholding of thy kind,Action thou should'st embrace. What the wise chooseThe unwise people take; what best men doThe multitude will follow. Look on me,Thou Son of Pritha! in the three wide worldsI am not bound to any toil, no heightAwaits to scale, no gift remains to gain,Yet I act here! and, if I acted not--Earnest and watchful--those that look to meFor guidance, sinking back to sloth againBecause I slumbered, would decline from good,And I should break earth's order and commitHer offspring unto ruin, Bharata!Even as the unknowing toil, wedded to sense,So let the enlightened toil, sense-freed, but setTo bring the world deliverance, and its bliss;Not sowing in those simple, busy heartsSeed of despair. Yea! let each play his partIn all he finds to do, with unyoked soul.All things are everywhere by Nature wroughtIn interaction of the qualities.The fool, cheated by self, thinks, "This I did"And "That I wrought; "but--ah, thou strong-armed Prince!--A better-lessoned mind, knowing the playOf visible things within the world of sense,And how the qualities must qualify,Standeth aloof even from his acts. Th' untaughtLive mixed with them, knowing not Nature's way,Of highest aims unwitting, slow and dull.Those make thou not to stumble, having the light;But all thy dues discharging, for My sake,With meditation centred inwardly,Seeking no profit, satisfied, serene,Heedless of issue--fight! They who shall keepMy ordinance thus, the wise and willing hearts,Have quittance from all issue of their acts;But those who disregard My ordinance,Thinking they know, know nought, and fall to loss,Confused and foolish. 'Sooth, the instructed oneDoth of his kind, following what fits him most:And lower creatures of their kind; in vainContending 'gainst the law. Needs must it beThe objects of the sense will stir the senseTo like and dislike, yet th' enlightened manYields not to these, knowing them enemies.Finally, this is better, that one doHis own task as he may, even though he fail,Than take tasks not his own, though they seem good.To die performing duty is no ill;But who seeks other roads shall wander still.
Arjuna
Yet tell me, Teacher! by what force doth manGo to his ill, unwilling; as if onePushed him that evil path?
Krishna
Kama it is!Passion it is! born of the Darknesses,Which pusheth him. Mighty of appetite,Sinful, and strong is this!--man's enemy!As smoke blots the white fire, as clinging rustMars the bright mirror, as the womb surroundsThe babe unborn, so is the world of thingsFoiled, soiled, enclosed in this desire of flesh.The wise fall, caught in it; the unresting foeIt is of wisdom, wearing countless forms,Fair but deceitful, subtle as a flame.Sense, mind, and reason--these, O Kunti's Son!Are booty for it; in its play with theseIt maddens man, beguiling, blinding him.Therefore, thou noblest child of Bharata!Govern thy heart! Constrain th' entangled sense!Resist the false, soft sinfulness which sapsKnowledge and judgment! Yea, the world is strong,But what discerns it stronger, and the mindStrongest; and high o'er all the ruling Soul.Wherefore, perceiving Him who reigns supreme,Put forth full force of Soul in thy own soul!Fight! vanquish foes and doubts, dear Hero! slayWhat haunts thee in fond shapes, and would betray!
“HERE ENDETH CHAPTER III. OF THE BHAGAVAD-GITA, Entitled "Karma-Yog," Or "The Book of Virtue in Work."”
— Bhagavad Gita