{
  "chapter": 3,
  "lang": "en",
  "verses": [
    {
      "id": "3.1",
      "translation": "O Janardana, if you consider understanding to be better than action, then why, O Keshava, do you urge me to take up this dreadful action?",
      "explanation": "Arjuna speaks here, puzzled by Krishna's teaching at the end of Chapter 2, where Krishna praised steady wisdom (buddhi) and also urged Arjuna to fight. Arjuna sees a conflict: if wisdom is higher than action (karma), why push him into a terrible war? Here buddhi can mean discerning understanding or the yoga of wisdom, and commentators differ on how sharply Arjuna separates knowledge from action."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.2",
      "translation": "With words that seem mixed and tangled, you seem to bewilder my mind. So tell me one thing, decided with certainty, by which I may reach the highest good.",
      "explanation": "Arjuna is puzzled. Krishna has praised both knowledge (jñāna) and action (karma), and Arjuna feels the advice is mixed and cannot tell which path to follow. He asks for one clear answer that leads to the highest good (śreyas), meaning lasting benefit rather than passing advantage."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.3",
      "translation": "In this world, O sinless one, I taught long ago a twofold path of steady commitment: for the followers of Sankhya, the yoga of knowledge; for the yogis, the yoga of action.",
      "explanation": "Arjuna has just complained that Krishna's words seem confusing and asked for one clear path to the highest good. Krishna replies that two paths (niṣṭhā, steady commitment) have long been taught: the yoga of knowledge (jñānayoga), followed by the Sankhya thinkers, and the yoga of action (karmayoga), followed by those who act. Commentators differ on whether these are two separate paths for different temperaments or two stages of one path, and this verse does not settle that."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.4",
      "translation": "A person does not reach freedom from action simply by not starting any action, nor does he attain perfection merely by renouncing.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is answering Arjuna's confusion about whether knowledge or action is better, after naming two paths in the previous verse. Here he says that simply abstaining from work does not bring freedom from action (naiṣkarmya, the state where action no longer binds), and outward renunciation (saṃnyāsa) alone does not bring perfection (siddhi). Traditions differ on this: some read it as praising selfless action as the means to knowledge, others as teaching that action and inner renunciation belong together."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.5",
      "translation": "No one ever remains even for a moment without acting, for everyone is made to act, helplessly, by the gunas born of nature.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is continuing his answer to Arjuna's confusion about action versus renunciation. He says that no living being can stop acting, because the three gunas (the qualities of nature: sattva, rajas and tamas) keep everyone in motion. The point is that giving up action is not really possible, so the real question is how to act. Here 'action' (karma) covers all activity, including thinking and breathing, not only ritual or work."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.6",
      "translation": "One who holds back the organs of action but sits there mentally dwelling on the objects of the senses, with a deluded mind, is called a hypocrite.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is explaining to Arjuna why simply giving up action is not true renunciation. Someone who stops the organs of action (karmendriya), such as hands and speech, while the mind keeps dwelling on sense objects (indriyārtha), is only outwardly restrained. Krishna calls such a person self-deluded and false in conduct (mithyācāra), because inner attachment remains."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.7",
      "translation": "But the one who masters the senses with the mind, O Arjuna, and without attachment sets the organs of action to work in the yoga of action, is the one who excels.",
      "explanation": "Krishna contrasts this person with the one in the previous verse, who holds back the body's actions while the mind keeps dwelling on sense objects. Here the senses are governed by the mind, and the person still acts, without attachment (saṅga). This is karma yoga, the discipline of action done without clinging to results."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.8",
      "translation": "Do your assigned action, for action is better than inaction. Without action, even keeping your body going would not be possible for you.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is advising Arjuna, who wants to give up action, that withdrawing from all activity is not a real option. \"Assigned action\" (niyataṃ karma) is the duty that fits one's role and situation; commentators differ on whether this means ritual duties, social duties (dharma), or duties generally. Even basic survival needs effort, so doing one's duty is better than doing nothing."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.9",
      "translation": "Apart from action done as sacrifice, this world is bound by its own actions. So, O son of Kunti, perform action for the sake of sacrifice, free from attachment.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is telling Arjuna that action cannot simply be abandoned, so the question is how to act without being bound. Sacrifice (yajña) here means action done as an offering or duty for a larger good, rather than for personal gain. Action done for self-interest binds a person (bandhana), while action done without attachment (saṅga) does not. Commentators differ on what yajña means: some take it as Vedic ritual, others as selfless duty or offering all work to God."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.10",
      "translation": "In the beginning, having created beings together with sacrifice, Prajapati said: “By this you shall multiply. Let this be the cow that yields to you all you desire.”",
      "explanation": "Krishna continues explaining why action offered as sacrifice (yajña) matters, by pointing to a story of creation: Prajapati, the creator and lord of beings, gave humans sacrifice as the way to flourish and meet their needs. The wish-yielding cow (kāmadhuk) is an image for how duty done in the spirit of offering gives people what they truly need. Traditions differ on whether yajña here means Vedic ritual or any selfless, dutiful action. Prajapati's speech continues in the next verse."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.11",
      "translation": "With this sacrifice, nourish the gods, and may those gods nourish you. By nourishing one another, you will reach the highest good.",
      "explanation": "Krishna continues explaining how the Creator (Prajapati) linked humans and the gods through sacrifice (yajña), meaning offerings and duty done as a shared exchange. Humans support the gods (devas, the divine powers behind nature and life) through ritual and right action, and the gods support humans in return. This mutual care (bhāvanā) leads to the highest good (śreyas). Some readers take the gods literally, while others see them as natural forces or as powers within us."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.12",
      "translation": "Nourished by sacrifice, the gods will give you the enjoyments you desire. Whoever enjoys those gifts without offering anything back to them is truly a thief.",
      "explanation": "Krishna continues his teaching on sacrifice (yajña), the idea that life runs on mutual giving between humans and the divine powers (devas) who sustain the world. Here he says that those who take what life provides without giving anything back are like thieves. Commentators differ on what the offering means: some read it as Vedic ritual, others as any selfless duty or service done as an offering."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.13",
      "translation": "Good people who eat what remains after the sacrifice are freed from every kind of wrong. But the wicked who cook only for themselves eat sin.",
      "explanation": "Krishna continues explaining to Arjuna the role of sacrifice (yajña) in life. Here he says that those who first offer, to the gods, to others and to the larger good, and only then eat what remains, are cleansed of their faults (kilbiṣa). Eating only for one's own sake is called sin (agha). Some readers take the sacrifice as literal Vedic ritual, others as any selfless, shared action."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.14",
      "translation": "Beings come into being from food; food comes from rain; rain comes from sacrifice; and sacrifice arises from action.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is explaining to Arjuna why selfless action offered as sacrifice (yajña) matters, continuing from the previous verse. He describes a chain of dependence: living beings rely on food, food on rain, rain on sacrifice, and sacrifice on action (karma). The point is that human work is woven into the larger order of the world. Traditions differ on whether 'sacrifice' here means Vedic ritual specifically or any duty done as an offering, and the next verse continues the chain."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.15",
      "translation": "Know that action arises from Brahman, and Brahman arises from the imperishable. Therefore the all-pervading Brahman is always established in sacrifice.",
      "explanation": "Krishna continues explaining the cycle of sacrifice (yajña), the idea that selfless, dutiful action sustains the world. Here he traces action (karma) back to Brahman and Brahman to the imperishable (akṣara), concluding that the all-pervading Brahman is present in sacrifice. Commentators differ on the terms: some take Brahman as the Vedas and the imperishable as the Supreme, while others take Brahman as primal nature (prakṛti) or the body-mind, with the imperishable as the Self."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.16",
      "translation": "O Partha, one who does not keep turning the wheel set in motion in this way, whose life is sin and whose delight is in the senses, lives in vain here in this world.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is concluding his teaching on the cycle of mutual giving: sacrifice (yajña) sustains the world, and the world sustains us in return. Someone who takes from this cycle but gives nothing back, and lives only for sense pleasure (indriyārāma), is called \"of sinful life\" (aghāyu) and is said to live in vain. Commentators differ on what the \"wheel\" asks of us. Some stress ritual duties set out in the Vedas, while others stress selfless action offered for the good of all."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.17",
      "translation": "But the person who delights only in the Self, who is content in the Self, and fully satisfied in the Self alone, has no duty left to perform.",
      "explanation": "Krishna has just said that those who don't keep the wheel of shared action turning live in vain. Here he describes an exception: someone whose joy, contentment and satisfaction rest wholly in the Self (ātman), so that no outside goal compels them to act. Traditions differ on this. Some take it to mean the knower of the Self is free of obligatory duties, while others say such a person acts naturally for the world's good, as Krishna argues in the following verses."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.18",
      "translation": "For such a person there is no purpose to be gained by action done, nor by action left undone, here in this world. Nor does he depend on any being at all for any purpose of his own.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is continuing his description of the person who delights and is content in the self (ātman), as in the previous verse. For such a person, action brings no gain and inaction brings no loss, and he needs nothing from other beings to fulfil any purpose. This is why he is free from compulsion, which leads into Krishna's advice in the next verse to act without attachment (saṅga). Commentators differ on whether this describes a renouncer who has stepped beyond all duty or a liberated person who still acts; the verse itself leaves both readings open."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.19",
      "translation": "Therefore, always act without attachment, doing the work that must be done. For a person who acts without attachment attains the Supreme.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is answering Arjuna's reluctance to act. Having said that the self-realized person has nothing to gain or lose from action, he concludes that Arjuna should do his duty (kārya karma) without attachment (saṅga), meaning without clinging to results. Such disinterested action is said to lead to the Supreme (param); some commentators take this as the Supreme Self or liberation, others as God."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.20",
      "translation": "It was through action alone that Janaka and others reached perfection. Mindful also of holding the world together, you ought to act.",
      "explanation": "Krishna answers Arjuna's wish to give up action by pointing to King Janaka and other wise rulers, who found perfection (saṃsiddhi) while still doing their duties. He adds a second reason to act: the welfare and steadiness of society (lokasaṅgraha), which depends on good example. Some commentators read 'perfection' as liberation reached through action done without attachment; others stress that the verse also affirms social duty as valuable in itself."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.21",
      "translation": "Whatever a distinguished person does, ordinary people do the same. Whatever standard that person sets, the world follows.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is continuing his argument to Arjuna that he should act for the good of the world (lokasaṅgraha, from the previous verse). Here he points out that people look to respected leaders as models, so a leader's conduct shapes how everyone else behaves. The word for \"standard\" (pramāṇa) means an authority or measure of what is right."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.22",
      "translation": "O son of Pritha, in all three worlds there is nothing at all that I am obliged to do, and nothing unattained that I still need to attain. Even so, I remain engaged in action.",
      "explanation": "Krishna has just said that people follow the example of those they admire. Here he uses himself as the example: he has no duty left to fulfil and nothing left to gain, yet he keeps acting. His point to Arjuna is that action does not have to come from need or desire."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.23",
      "translation": "For if I ever failed to engage in action tirelessly, O son of Pritha, people would follow my path in every way.",
      "explanation": "Krishna continues explaining to Arjuna why even he, who has nothing left to gain, keeps acting. He says people copy those they look up to, so if he stopped acting (karma), others would follow his example and give up their duties. The next verse spells out the consequences."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.24",
      "translation": "If I did not perform action, these worlds would collapse; I would become the author of confusion, and I would destroy these beings.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is telling Arjuna why he himself keeps acting, though he has nothing left to gain. If he stopped, people would follow his example, social and moral order would break down (the word saṅkara means mixing or confusion, often read as disorder of social duties), and the world would suffer. The point is that those who are looked up to carry a responsibility to act well."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.25",
      "translation": "Just as the unknowing act, O Bharata, attached to their actions, so should the knowing act, but free of attachment, wishing to hold the world together.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is teaching Arjuna about action (karma), and has just said he himself keeps acting so the world does not fall apart. Here he says the wise person should be as active as the unwise, who work because they are attached (saṅga) to results, but without that attachment. The aim is lokasaṅgraha, which means holding the world together or guiding people by example."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.26",
      "translation": "A wise person should not unsettle the minds of the ignorant who are attached to action. Acting with full focus and discipline, the wise one should engage them in all kinds of work.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is advising Arjuna on how a knowing person should treat those who are still strongly attached (saṅga) to the results of their actions. Instead of shaking their confidence by saying action is pointless, the wise person should set an example by doing every task well, with a steady, disciplined mind (yoga). The idea is that people not yet ready for inner detachment are better served by continuing to act than by being left confused."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.27",
      "translation": "All actions are carried out in every way by the gunas of nature; but one whose self is deluded by ego thinks, \"I am the doer.\"",
      "explanation": "Krishna is explaining to Arjuna why action does not truly belong to the ego. The gunas (guṇa) are the three strands of nature: clarity (sattva), passion (rajas) and inertia (tamas). Here, the person who identifies with the ego-sense (ahaṅkāra) takes credit for deeds that nature's forces are producing. Traditions differ on emphasis: Advaita stresses the self as a witness, while devotional schools stress that the real doer is ultimately God."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.28",
      "translation": "But one who knows the truth about the division of the gunas and of action, O mighty-armed one, sees that the gunas are operating upon the gunas, and so does not become attached.",
      "explanation": "Krishna contrasts the person deluded by ego (in the previous verse) with the one who knows the truth. The gunas (guṇa) are the three strands of nature (sattva, rajas, tamas) that make up body, mind and senses, and also the objects they meet. The knower sees that action is simply these strands interacting, so there is no clinging (saṅga) to the idea \"I am the doer.\" Commentators generally read \"the gunas operating upon the gunas\" as the senses, made of the gunas, engaging with objects that are also made of the gunas."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.29",
      "translation": "Those deluded by the gunas of nature remain attached to the actions of the gunas. One who knows the whole should not unsettle those slow-witted people who know only a part.",
      "explanation": "Krishna continues advising Arjuna. People confused by the qualities of nature (guṇa, the three strands of nature that drive all activity) become attached (saṅga) to the actions those strands produce, believing themselves to be the doers. Someone who sees the whole picture should not shake their confidence in acting, since that could leave them with neither knowledge nor the steadiness that comes from doing their duty."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.30",
      "translation": "Surrender all your actions to Me, with your mind fixed on the Self. Free from craving and from any sense of \"mine,\" and with your fever of anxiety gone, fight.",
      "explanation": "Krishna sums up his advice to Arjuna: act, but offer every action to him, with the mind turned toward the Self (adhyātma). Acting without craving for results (āśīḥ) or possessiveness (mamatā) removes the inner fever (jvara) of worry, so Arjuna can fight as his duty. Traditions differ on \"Me\": some read it as the personal God Krishna, others as the supreme Self present in all beings."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.31",
      "translation": "Those people who always follow this teaching of mine, with faith and without finding fault, are also freed from the bondage of actions.",
      "explanation": "Krishna has just told Arjuna to offer all actions to him and fight without craving or the sense of 'mine'. Here he says that anyone who follows this teaching steadily, with trust (śraddhā) and without cavilling, is released from the binding results of action (karma). The word 'even' (api) suggests that this freedom is open to ordinary people, not only to sages. Traditions differ on whether the 'teaching' means devotional surrender to Krishna or selfless action in general."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.32",
      "translation": "But those who find fault with this teaching of mine and do not follow it — know that they are confused about all knowledge, lost, and without understanding.",
      "explanation": "Krishna contrasts the people in the previous verse, who follow his teaching with faith, with those who carp at it (asūyā) and reject it. Here he says such people are confused about every kind of knowledge and have lost their way, because they lack understanding (cetas). The teaching in question is acting without attachment and offering one's actions to him, as set out in the preceding verses."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.33",
      "translation": "Even a person of knowledge acts in keeping with their own nature. Beings follow their nature, so what can restraint accomplish?",
      "explanation": "Krishna is explaining to Arjuna why people act as they do. Nature (prakṛti) here means a person's inborn tendencies, shaped by the three gunas, and even the wise act in line with them. Mere forceful suppression (nigraha) is therefore of limited use. Commentators differ: some read this as advice to guide one's nature through discipline rather than fight it head-on, others as a warning that nature is powerful and must be met by the right means, which the next verse begins to describe."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.34",
      "translation": "For each sense, attraction and aversion toward its object are firmly set in place. One should not come under the power of these two, for they are the enemies that block one's path.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is advising Arjuna, after saying that all beings follow their own nature (prakṛti). He explains that each sense naturally carries attraction (rāga) and aversion (dveṣa) toward its objects, and that these two, not the senses themselves, are what block a person's progress. The verse is usually read as teaching that one can still act without being ruled by these pulls; traditions differ on whether this means mastering them through discipline or seeing through them with knowledge."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.35",
      "translation": "One's own duty, even if done imperfectly, is better than another's duty done well. Death in one's own duty is better; another's duty brings danger.",
      "explanation": "Krishna has just warned Arjuna that attraction (rāga) and aversion (dveṣa) are obstacles on the path. Here he says that one's own dharma, meaning one's own duty or role in life, is safer than imitating someone else's, even when the imitation looks more polished. Traditional commentators often read svadharma as the duties of one's social station (varṇa), while others read it as one's own nature and situation; the verse itself leaves room for both."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.36",
      "translation": "But then, O Varshneya, what drives a person to do wrong even against his own will, as if pushed into it by force?",
      "explanation": "Arjuna has just heard Krishna say that following one's own duty (svadharma) is better than another's. Now he asks what pushes a person into wrongdoing (pāpa) against his own wishes, as if by force. He addresses Krishna as Varshneya, a descendant of the Vrishni clan. Krishna's answer in the next verse begins his teaching on this inner force."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.37",
      "translation": "It is desire, it is anger, born of the quality of rajas. It is all-consuming and greatly sinful. Know this to be the enemy here in the world.",
      "explanation": "Arjuna has just asked what drives a person to do wrong even against their will. Krishna answers that the force is desire (kāma), which also shows itself as anger (krodha), and which arises from rajas, the guna of restless energy and craving. He calls it a 'great devourer' (mahāśana), meaning it is never satisfied. Traditions differ on whether desire and anger are two forces or one force in two forms, but all agree that Krishna names it as the enemy."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.38",
      "translation": "As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror by dust, and as an embryo by its membrane, so this is covered by that.",
      "explanation": "Krishna has just named desire (kāma) as the enemy, born of rajas, the restless guna of passion. Here he gives three images of how it covers over something: smoke hides fire, dust dims a mirror, and a membrane wraps an embryo. In the next verse, 'this' is made clear as knowledge (jñāna), which desire veils, and the three images suggest different degrees of covering."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.39",
      "translation": "Knowledge is covered, O son of Kunti, by this constant enemy of the wise, which takes the form of desire and is as insatiable as fire.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is continuing his answer to Arjuna about what drives a person to act wrongly. Here he names desire (kāma) as the wise person's lasting enemy: it covers over knowledge (jñāna) and, like a fire, is never satisfied however much it is fed. Traditions differ on whether jñāna here means knowledge of the Self or general discernment, but all agree that desire clouds clear seeing."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.40",
      "translation": "The senses, the mind and the intellect are said to be its seat. Through these, it covers over knowledge and bewilders the embodied one.",
      "explanation": "Krishna is continuing his answer to Arjuna about what drives people to do wrong: desire (kāma), which he has just called an insatiable enemy of the wise. Here he says desire operates from within the senses (indriya), mind (manas) and intellect (buddhi), and uses them to cloud knowledge and confuse the embodied self (dehin). Commentators differ on whether the three are literal 'seats' of desire or stages through which it spreads, but all agree that it works from within us."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.41",
      "translation": "Therefore, O best of the Bharatas, first bring the senses under control, and then strike down this sinful thing, the destroyer of knowledge and realization.",
      "explanation": "Krishna has just said that desire (kāma) takes hold of the senses, mind and intellect and covers over knowledge. Here he gives Arjuna the practical conclusion: start by disciplining the senses, then root out desire itself, called the 'sinful one' (pāpman). 'Knowledge' (jñāna) and 'realization' (vijñāna) are read differently across traditions: some take them as scriptural knowledge and its direct experience, others as knowledge of the self and of the wider world."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.42",
      "translation": "The senses, they say, are superior; higher than the senses is the mind; higher than the mind is the intellect; and higher still than the intellect is That.",
      "explanation": "Krishna has just told Arjuna to master the senses and destroy desire (kāma), the destroyer of knowledge. Here he lays out a ladder of ever subtler levels within a person: the senses (indriya), the mind (manas), the intellect or faculty of discernment (buddhi), and beyond them all 'That' (saḥ). Most traditional commentators take 'That' to be the self (ātman), while a few read it as desire itself, lying beyond the reach of the intellect."
    },
    {
      "id": "3.43",
      "translation": "Knowing in this way what lies beyond the intellect, and steadying the self by the Self, O mighty-armed one, slay the enemy that takes the form of desire and is so hard to overcome.",
      "explanation": "Krishna closes this chapter's teaching with its practical conclusion for Arjuna. Having ranked the senses, mind and intellect, he says the Self (ātman) lies beyond them all, and knowing this, Arjuna should slay desire (kāma), the enemy that is so hard to overcome. 'Steady the self by the Self' (ātmānam ātmanā) is read differently: most commentators take it as steadying the mind with the discerning intellect, others as steadying the lower self through the higher Self."
    }
  ]
}