The Bhagavad Gita · A reading companion
Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3Karma Yoga
Action, responsibility and attachment
Vedika editorial guide · 43 verses in the chapter · Selected passages below
Chapter 3 summary
Chapter 3 asks why action is necessary if knowledge is so important. Krishna explains the discipline of acting without possessive attachment, connects conduct with the welfare of others, and returns Arjuna to the question of his own responsibility.
Reading the chapter
Follow these passages in order. The notes are Vedika’s synthesis; they are not a word-for-word translation or a substitute for a commentary.
Bhagavad Gita 3.1–9
Why not simply stop acting?
Arjuna asks for clarity about knowledge and action. Krishna challenges the idea that merely avoiding activity brings freedom. The distinction is between forms of engagement and their motives, rather than between a busy life and an empty schedule.
Bhagavad Gita 3.19–26
What an example makes possible
The discussion of lokasangraha connects action with the maintenance or welfare of the world. The conduct of influential people has consequences for others. This gives the chapter a social dimension alongside its teaching about personal attachment.
Bhagavad Gita 3.35–43
One’s own work and inner obstacles
The chapter discusses one’s own dharma and then turns to desire and anger as obstacles. Its language about duty belongs to the text’s social and philosophical setting. Applying it today requires interpretation, not an automatic instruction to accept any role or authority without reflection.
Selected Sanskrit verses & English meaning
Selections from Vedika’s published chapter collection. This page does not reproduce all the chapter’s verses. English renderings are those stored in that collection; a named translator is not recorded there.
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात् । स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः ॥
śreyān svadharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣṭhitāt / svadharme nidhanaṃ śreyaḥ para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ
Better is one's own dharma, though imperfectly performed, than the dharma of another well-performed. Better is death in one's own dharma — the dharma of another brings fear.
काम एष क्रोध एष रजोगुणसमुद्भवः । महाशनो महापाप्मा विद्ध्येनमिह वैरिणम् ॥
kāma eṣa krodha eṣa rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ / mahāśano mahā-pāpmā viddhy enam iha vairiṇam
It is desire, it is anger, born of the quality of rajas — all-devouring, greatly sinful. Know this to be the enemy here.
How does Chapter 3 relate to Chapter 2?
Chapter 2 introduces action without attachment to its fruits. Chapter 3 develops why action remains necessary and how its motives, effects on others and relation to dharma should be examined.
Sources & reading across traditions
The primary text is Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, within the Mahabharata. Verse ranges above identify the passages behind the reading notes. Philosophical interpretations differ among traditions.
Read Chapter 3 with Swami Mukundananda’s commentary ↗An attributed devotional commentary for comparison; not the credited source of Vedika’s English renderings.