Bhagwad Gita (English) | Chapter 3 | Verse 20

Chapter 3, Verse 20

Karma-yoga

Even kings like Janaka and others attained the perfectional stage by performance of prescribed duties. Therefore, just for the sake of educating the people in general, you should perform your work.

Verse

कर्मणैव हि संसिद्धिमास्थिता जनकादयः।
लोकसंग्रहमेवापि संपश्यन्कर्तुमर्हसि।।3.20।।

karmaṇaiva hi sansiddhim āsthitā janakādayaḥ
loka-saṅgraham evāpi sampaśhyan kartum arhasi

Meaning of each word

karmaṇā — by the performance of prescribed duties;
eva — only;
hi — certainly;
sansiddhim — perfection;
āsthitāḥ — attained;
janaka-ādayaḥ — King Janak and other kings;
loka-saṅgraham — for the welfare of the masses;
eva api — only;
sampaśhyan — considering;
kartum — to perform;
arhasi — you should;

Interpretation

This verse tells us about King Janaka and other leaders who reached a very high level of understanding and wisdom by doing their responsibilities. Even though they were already very advanced spiritually and didn't have to follow the usual rules laid out in the holy texts, they chose to do their duties anyway as a way to set a good example for everyone else.

King Janaka, for instance, was not just any king; he was the father of Sita and was known for his piety and devotion. He ruled the kingdom of Mithila and had a duty to guide his people. He showed them that sometimes, fighting is necessary, especially when peaceful talks do not work out and there is no other way to protect justice and righteousness.

Before the great battle of Kurukshetra, many attempts were made to avoid conflict, even by Lord Krishna himself who tried to negotiate peace. But when the opposing party refused to listen, fighting became necessary to uphold the right path. This illustrates that sometimes, in difficult situations, doing what seems hard or even wrong on the surface (like fighting) can be justified if it protects truth and justice.

People who are spiritually aware, themselves, might not be interested in mundane challenges. However, they still engage in their work to guide others on how to live righteous lives. Their actions serve as a model for others to follow. The takeaway here is that even if you feel above certain responsibilities, doing them can be beneficial, not only for you but for the community as well. It’s about showing others how to act properly in society, especially during tough times.

Other Verses of Chapter 3

Verse 1
Arjuna said: O Janardana, O Kesava, why do You urge me to engage in this ghastly warfare, if You think that intelligence is better than fruitive work?

Verse 2
My intelligence is bewildered by Your equivocal instructions. Therefore, please tell me decisively what is most beneficial for me.

Verse 3
The Blessed Lord said: O sinless Arjuna, I have already explained that there are two classes of men who realize the Self. Some are inclined to understand Him by empirical, philosophical speculation, and others are inclined to know Him by devotional work.

Verse 4
Not by merely abstaining from work can one achieve freedom from reaction, nor by renunciation alone can one attain perfection.

Verse 5
All men are forced to act helplessly according to the impulses born of the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain from doing something, not even for a moment.

Verse 6
One who restrains the senses and organs of action, but whose mind dwells on sense objects, certainly deludes himself and is called a pretender.

Verse 7
On the other hand, he who controls the senses by the mind and engages his active organs in works of devotion, without attachment, is by far superior.

Verse 8
Perform your prescribed duty, for action is better than inaction. A man cannot even maintain his physical body without work.

Verse 9
Work done as a sacrifice for Visnu has to be performed, otherwise work binds one to this material world. Therefore, O son of Kunti, perform your prescribed duties for His satisfaction, and in that way you will always remain unattached and free from bondage.

Verse 10
In the beginning of creation, the Lord of all creatures sent forth generations of men and demigods, along with sacrifices for Visnu, and blessed them by saying, "Be thou happy by this yajna [sacrifice] because its performance will bestow upon you all desirable things."

Verse 11
The demigods, being pleased by sacrifices, will also please you; thus nourishing one another, there will reign general prosperity for all.

Verse 12
In charge of the various necessities of life, the demigods, being satisfied by the performance of yajna [sacrifice], supply all necessities to man. But he who enjoys these gifts, without offering them to the demigods in return, is certainly a thief.

Verse 13
The devotees of the Lord are released from all kinds of sins because they eat food which is offered first for sacrifice. Others, who prepare food for personal sense enjoyment, verily eat only sin.

Verse 14
All living beings need food to survive, and this food comes from grains that grow when it rains. Rains happen because of sacrifices made to the divine, and these sacrifices come from doing one's duties properly.

Verse 15
Regulated activities are prescribed in the Vedas, and the Vedas are directly manifested from the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Consequently the all-pervading Transcendence is eternally situated in acts of sacrifice.

Verse 16
My dear Arjuna, a man who does not follow this prescribed Vedic system of sacrifice certainly leads a life of sin, for a person delighting only in the senses lives in vain.

Verse 17
One who is, however, taking pleasure in the self, who is illumined in the self, who rejoices in and is satisfied with the self only, fully satiated - for him there is no duty.

Verse 18
A self-realized man has no purpose to fulfill in the discharge of his prescribed duties, nor has he any reason not to perform such work. Nor has he any need to depend on any other living being.

Verse 19
Therefore, without being attached to the fruits of activities, one should act as a matter of duty; for by working without attachment, one attains the Supreme.

Verse 21
Whatever action is performed by a great man, common men follow in his footsteps. And whatever standards he sets by exemplary acts, all the world pursues.

Verse 22
O son of Prtha, there is no work prescribed for Me within all the three planetary systems. Nor am I in want of anything, nor have I need to obtain anything, and yet I am engaged in work.

Verse 23
For, if I did not engage in work, O Partha, certainly all men would follow My path.

Verse 24
If I stopped working, then all these worlds would be destroyed. I would also be responsible for creating unwanted people, and I would harm the peace of all living beings.

Verse 25
As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, similarly the learned may also act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path.

Verse 26
Let not the wise disrupt the minds of the ignorant who are attached to fruitive action. They should not be encouraged to refrain from work, but to engage in work in the spirit of devotion.

Verse 27
The bewildered spirit soul, under the influence of the three modes of material nature, thinks himself to be the doer of activities, which are in actuality carried out by nature.

Verse 28
One who is in knowledge of the Absolute Truth, O mighty-armed, does not engage himself in the senses and sense gratification, knowing well the differences between work in devotion and work for fruitive results.

Verse 29
Bewildered by the modes of material nature, the ignorant fully engage themselves in material activities and become attached. But the wise should not unsettle them, although these duties are inferior due to the performers' lack of knowledge.

Verse 30
Therefore, O Arjuna, surrendering all your works unto Me, with mind intent on Me, and without desire for gain and free from egoism and lethargy, fight.

Verse 31
One who executes his duties according to My injunctions and who follows this teaching faithfully, without envy, becomes free from the bondage of fruitive actions.

Verse 32
But those who, out of envy, disregard these teachings and do not practice them regularly, are to be considered bereft of all knowledge, befooled, and doomed to ignorance and bondage.

Verse 33
Even a man of knowledge acts according to his own nature, for everyone follows his nature. What can repression accomplish?

Verse 34
Attraction and repulsion for sense objects are felt by embodied beings, but one should not fall under the control of senses and sense objects because they are stumbling blocks on the path of self-realization.

Verse 35
It is far better to discharge one's prescribed duties, even though they may be faulty, than another's duties. Destruction in the course of performing one's own duty is better than engaging in another's duties, for to follow another's path is dangerous.

Verse 36
Arjuna said: O descendant of Vrsni, by what is one impelled to sinful acts, even unwillingly, as if engaged by force?

Verse 37
The Blessed Lord said: It is lust only, Arjuna, which is born of contact with the material modes of passion and later transformed into wrath, and which is the all-devouring, sinful enemy of this world.

Verse 38
As fire is covered by smoke, as a mirror is covered by dust, or as the embryo is covered by the womb, similarly, the living entity is covered by different degrees of this lust.

Verse 39
Thus, a man's pure consciousness is covered by his eternal enemy in the form of lust, which is never satisfied and which burns like fire.

Verse 40
The senses, the mind and the intelligence are the sitting places of this lust, which veils the real knowledge of the living entity and bewilders him.

Verse 41
Therefore, O Arjuna, best of the Bharatas, in the very beginning curb this great symbol of sin [lust] by regulating the senses, and slay this destroyer of knowledge and self-realization.

Verse 42
The working senses are superior to dull matter; mind is higher than the senses; intelligence is still higher than the mind; and he [the soul] is even higher than the intelligence.

Verse 43
Thus knowing oneself to be transcendental to material senses, mind and intelligence, one should control the lower self by the higher self and thus - by spiritual strength - conquer this insatiable enemy known as lust.

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