The Chapter 3, entitled " Karma Yoga" is an elaboration of the Hindu ideal of "Selfless Action" first introduced by the famous verse 47 in Chapter 2--Karmanyevaadhikaarasthe-----. After hearing the exposition of various ways of attaining liberation in Chapter 2, Arjuna is really confused. Still deluded, he wanted a confirmation of his desire to quit the war & take-up Sannyasa. So he raises the question : If Krishna feels that the path of knowledge is better than the path of action, why is he being goaded to fight this war? He wanted a clear cut answer to his quest for a righteous life. In reply to this question, the Lord elaborates on the principle of Karma Yoga, the Yoga of selfless action in this chapter 3.

1. THE HOLY GEETA
COMMENTARY by
swami Chinmayananda
T K G NAMBOODHIRI
THIRUVALLA, KERALA, INDIA
Presentation adapted from
THE HOLY GEETA, Central Chinmaya Mission Trust, July 2013
Mumbai

2. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
CHAPTER 3
KARMA YOGA
YOGA OF ACTION

3. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
INTRODUCTION
In Chapter 2, Lord Krishna advised Arjuna against his decision not to fight
but to renounce the glory of success & to retire to the jungle to live as a
monk. He told him that his duty is to work without getting himself
preoccupied with its result. Later on, Krishna advocated the path-of-
knowledge. Arjuna felt confused as to which of the paths he was to follow
for his self-development.
In Chapter 3, Krishna elaborates on the idea of Karma-Yoga, which he
introduced in Chapter 2, along with other paths like Jnana Yoga, & Bhakti
Yoga, concluding with an inspired advocacy for the path-of-knowledge. This
led to Arjuna’s confusion, which he expresses in the first two verses of this
chapter. Similarly, Bhagawan elaborates on the other paths to perfection in
the coming chapters. In this chapter, in reply to Arjuna’s questions, Sri
Krishna defines Karma yoga, the path-of-action, how it should be followed &
the benefits that will accrue to the follower.

4. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
ARJUNA’S DOUBT
Arjuna said:
3.1.If it be thought by you that ‘ Knowledge’ is superior to ‘Action’, O Janardana, why
then, do you, O Keshava, engage me in this terrible action?
3.2.With this apparently perplexing speech you confuse, as it were, my understanding;
therefore, tell me the ONE way by which, I, for certain, may attain the Highest.
Arjuna still believes that to fight against his cousins, teachers & grandfathers is a terrible
action. He seems to have not understood at all, Krishna’s words in the last Chapter,
explaining that the Mahabharata-war was not just Arjuna’s attempt to murder his
kinsmen. Arjuna could not sink his egoism, & see himself totally identified with the
Pandava army. He felt that in spite of Krishna’s support for the path-of-renunciation, he
was being asked to fight the war.
Suffering from his own delusions, Arjuna had not that amount of philosophical acumen to
discriminate between the subtle arguments Of Sri Krishna, & grasp for himself whether
the path-of-action or the way-of-knowledge was the path to perfection for him. So he
requests the Lord to tell him the ONE path by which, he can certainly attain the Highest.
His doubt, as a true Hindu, was on how best he could make use of his environments so
that he could attain greater cultural growth & fuller spiritual realization.

5. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
THE TWO-FOLD PATH
In reply to Arjuna’s questions, the Blessed Lord said:
3.3.In this world, there is a two-fold path, as I said before, O sinless one; the ‘
Path-of-Knowledge’ of the Sankhyans & the ‘ Path-of-Action’ of the Yogins.
The Geeta is not merely a textbook of Hinduism but a Bible of humanity. As
such, in its universal application, it has to show methods of self-development to
suit the mental & intellectual temperaments of different categories. Hence, the
Lord told Arjuna that there are the two paths, that of Action & that of
Knowledge. These are not competitive, but are complimentary, to be practised
serially one after the other. Selfless activity exhausts many of mind’s Vasanas.
Thus purified, it can soar into the subtlest realms of meditation, & finally come
to gain the experience of the transcendental Absolute. These two paths suite
the two types of people, the Active & the Contemplative. The active uses the
path-of-action, while the contemplative can adopt the path-of-knowledge.
As a man-of-Realization, Sri Krishna declares here that “ at the beginning of
creation, these two paths were given out by Me as the two possible methods of
Self-Realization.

6. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
ACTIONLESSNESS & PERFECTION
3.4. Not by non-performance of actions does man reach
‘actionlessness’; nor by mere renunciation does he attain
‘Perfection’.
Spiritually, as the Self, each of us is all-full & perfect. Our ignorance of this fact
leads to unending desires, & from desires thoughts arise & thoughts expressed
outside becomes actions. If the Supreme can be defined as experience ‘beyond
ignorance’, then the Self is a state of Desirelessness, or the condition of
Thoughtlessness, or the Life of Actionlessness. So mere Actionlessness, without
Desirelessness & Thoughtlessness, will not lead us to Self-Realisation.
By mere renunciation-of-action, no one attains Perfection. Running away from
life is not the way to reach the highest goal of evolution. Through action, to a
purification of the inner instrument, applying which the seeker walks the path-
of-knowledge to reach ultimately the spiritual destination of self-development.

7. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
INACTION IS IMPOSSIBLE
3.5. Verily, none can ever remain, even for a moment, without
performing action; for, everyone is made to act helplessly, indeed,
by the qualities born of Prakriti.
Man is ever under the control of the triple tendencies of Unactivity
(Sattva), Activity (Rajas) & Inactivity (Tamas) inherent in him. Even
for a moment he cannot remain totally inactive. Even if we are
physically at rest, mentally & intellectually we are active all the
time. These three mental tendencies (Gunas) prompt us to act
always. Therefore, not to act at all is to disobey the laws of nature
& will lead to our deterioration & death. Hence mere renunciation
of action, unaccompanied by knowledge, will not lead to
perfection. So the Geeta advises us to act vigorously with the right
attitude.

8. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
HYPOCRICY
3.6. He who, restraining the organs-of-action, sits thinking in his
mind of the sense-objects, he, of deluded understanding, is called a
hypocrite.
To sit back physically retired is not the way to reach the state-of-
Perfection. Only a misinformed person will sit idle without doing
anything, but mentally & intellectually engaged in worldly affairs, & hope
to attain perfection. To dissipate ourselves with immoral & criminal
thoughts is more harmful than to physically indulge in them. To give
physically a show of morality & ethics, while mentally living a life of low
motives & foul sentiments, is the occupation of a man who is not a
seeker of spiritual upliftment, but of a self-deluded hypocrite. Even if we
can physically discipline ourselves, it is not easy to control the sensuous
tendencies at our mental level.

9. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
RIGHT ACTION & RIGHT LIVING
3.7. But, whosoever, controlling the senses by mind, O Arjuna, engages his
organs-of-action in KARMA YOGA, without attachment, he excels.
In this verse we have the entire science of Right-Action & the complete technique of right
living. The prescription given here asks a seeker to control the sense-organs by the mind.
This can be achieved only when the mind is engaged in a higher & diviner field. Later on,
Sri Krishna will explain how to control the mind. When the sense-organs are controlled, a
large quantity of energy is conserved which must be spent in directing the seeker’s
organs-of-action to the appropriate fields of activity.-Karma yoga. This must be done with
perfect detachment, so that, instead of gathering new impressions, the activities are used
to exhaust the existing impressions (Vasanas) in the seeker’s mind.
Thus Krishna gives here a highly scientific method of mental purification. By withdrawing
the organs-of-perception from their wasteful activity, we save on the inner energy, which
is then spent through organs-of-activity for detached work. By this method, our mental
Vasanas are wiped out. Thus the very field of activity, which ordinarily binds us by more
Vasanas, itself becomes the exact art of self-liberation, when it is rightly employed by
following the way-of-life advised in the Geeta.

10. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
BOUNDEN DUTY
3.8. You perform (your) bounden duty; for, action is superior to inaction. Even the
maintenance of the body would not be possible for you by inaction.
3.9.The world is bound by actions other than those performed ‘ for the sake of sacrifice’;
do thou, therefore, O son of Kunti, perform actions for that sake ( for Yajna) alone, free
from all attachments.
Bounden duty includes all ‘obligatory actions’ of an individual in his home, in his office, &
in the society. Thus, not performing all our duties would be inaction. Even a healthy
bodily existence is not possible if we were to live completely inactive. Inactivity brings
about the destruction of the nation, of the society, of the home & the very individual
himself.
Every action does not bring about bondage upon the doer. Only unintelligent activities
that thicken the impressions in the mind. All activities other than the Yajna-activities will
bring about Vasana-bondages. Yajna here means all self-sacrificing work, undertaken in a
spirit of self-dedication, for the blessing of all. Such an action is self-liberating. Only when
people come forward to act in a spirit of cooperation & self-dedication, can the
community get itself freed from its shackles of poverty & sorrow. Such activities can be
undertaken in a spirit of Divine Loyalty only when the worker has no attachment.

11. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
THE YAJNA-SPIRIT
In the next 4 verses, Lord Krishna explains the spirit of Yajna.
3.10. The Prajapati (the Creator), having in the beginning (of creation) created
mankind together with sacrifice, said, “ by this shall you prosper; let this be the
milch-cow of your desire- Kamadhuk” (the mythological cow which yields all
desired objects).
When the Creator, the Total-mind brought forth the living organisms along with
man, he created also Yajna-the spirit of self-dedicated activities. The Yajna-spirit
is seen everywhere; the Sun shines, the Moon appears, the Earth bears- all in a
spirit of sacrifice & self-dedicated motherly love with never even a trace of
attachment or self-arrogating motive. The whole world of cosmic powers &
nature’s phenomena function instinctively in the service of all. When life
developed & multiplied at all levels, we can recognise different degrees of Yajna-
activities, which keep up the harmonious growth of existence.
This idea is expressed here in beautiful verse. It means that no achievement is
impossible for man, if he acts co-operatively & with non-attachment & spirit of
sacrifice.

12. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
THE YAJNA SPIRIT-2
3.11.With this, you do nourish the gods & may those DEVAS nourish you; thus
nourishing one another, you shall, attain the Highest Good.
The Vedic concept of Devas is that of one Universal power, ever active in the
world of phenomena, receiving appropriate names because of Its multiple
functions. We may interpret the term Deva as the very ‘ presiding deity’ in any
field of activity, who blesses the worker in that field with his profit. Thus the
Deity is nothing other than The Productive Potential in the field. When we apply
our true & sincere work, the efforts & sacrifices so made, invoke the Productive
Potential of that field, which comes to manifest & bless the worker. It is obvious
that the productivity that is dormant in any situation can be invoked only by
man’s sincere efforts. This dormant potential is the Deva to be cherished by the
worker through the Yajna activities, & certainly the Deva will manifest itself to
cherish, or to bless the worker. Thus cherishing one another, man shall gain the
Highest Good, is the Divine intention of the Creator, according to Krishna. The
Law-of-Seva is faithfully followed by every member of the cosmos instinctively.
Man alone is given the freedom to act as he likes & suffer the consequences.

13. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
THE YAJNA SPIRIT-3
3.12. The Devas, nourished by the sacrifice, will give you the
desired objects. Indeed, he who enjoys objects given by the Devas,
without offering (in return) to them, is verily a thief.
Sri Krishna repeats the unalterable ritualistic law ‘ that the Devas, cherished by
Yajna, will provide us with the desired objects’. The productive potential when
cherished through ‘ self-dedicated work performed in a spirit of sacrifice’ will
provide the worker with the desired objects. This is the law of life. The profit
due to our sacrifices should be enjoyed sharing among ourselves. None should
enjoy benefits of others’ actions without contributing his own share to the total
effort. A member of a society who consumes without producing is a liability to
the nation. The productive potential tapped, without offering his own Yajna-
efforts into it, is termed here by Krishna as a ‘ social thief’. The word thief fully
imply the low depravity & disrespectful nature of such a social criminal who eats
without producing.

14. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
THE YAJNA SPIRIT-4
3.13. The righteous, who eat the ‘remnants of the sacrifices’ are
freed from all sins; but those sinful ones, who cook food (only) for
their own sake, verily eat but sin.
The righteous & good people receive for themselves their ‘share’, after sweating
hard in sincere Yajna-activities. Such people ‘go beyond all sins’. In contrast,
there are the social criminals, feeding themselves upon the social wealth, in
producing which they have not brought in any self-effort. The good & socially-
conscious members of a community feel satisfied in enjoying the ‘remnants’ of
their cooperative work performed in the Yajna-spirit. It is declared here that
those who cook food for themselves alone ‘eat but sin’. Krishna seems to be
against the principle of arrogation of wealth, & of hoarding the same, motivated
by lust of lucre, meant mainly for selfish enjoyment, utterly regardless of the
privations & poverty of the unfortunate in the community. Such hoarders of
wealth ‘eat but sin’.

15. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
THE COSMIC WHEEL OF CO-OPERATIVE ACTION
3.14. From food come forth beings; from rain food is produced; from sacrifice
arises rain, & sacrifice is born of action.
3.15. Know you that action comes from Brahmaji (the Creator) & Brahmaji
comes from the Imperishable. Therefore, the all-pervading Brahman (God-
principle) ever rests in sacrifice.
In the Cosmic wheel of co-operative action, the living creatures are born out of food &
they are nourished by food. The mineral wealth of the world becomes assimilable food
only by the action of rain upon it. Rain comes as a result of Yajna, & Yajnas are
performed through human action. Self-dedicated activities (Yajnas), when performed in
any given field of endeavour, create therein conditions necessary for the field to smile
forth (rain) in a luxurious ‘crop of profit’ (Annam), enjoyable by the society.
This wheel-of-action is connected with & includes the Supreme. The principle of right
action, even the power to act, has come out of the Creator himself, & the Creator is none
other than the Imperishable Supreme. Action is thus a gift from the Creator. Therefore,
the all-pervading Supreme is ever centred in all undertakings pursued, by one or many
people, in an honest spirit of Self-dedication, for the good of all.

16. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
DISOBEYANCE OF THE UNIVERSAL WHEEL OF ACTION
3.16. He who does not follow here the wheel thus set revolving, is of a sinful life,
rejoicing in the senses. He lives in vain, O Son of Pritha.
Among living creatures, man alone has been allowed the Freedom of Action to contribute
to the harmony, or to not to contribute. So long as the majority manage to live abiding by
the law of harmony they shall grow from strength to strength. But this faithful obedience
is not always possible, for all of them, at all times. Man as a social being, comes to revolt
against this Eternal Law, & then life starts slipping away from its peaceful domain of
constructive growth, & shatters itself in tearful ruin. Such are the dark ages of despair &
restlessness, war & pestilence, flood & famine. If the individuals are perfect, the
community works smoothly. But if the units are wrongly composed, then the entire
healthy growth & strength of structure in the total collapses. The individual’s negative
existence starts with their preoccupation with their senses. As a body, they cannot
perceive the ‘Higher way of life’; nor can they entertain any goal other than seeking
satisfactions for their mere animal passions. In such an era, nobody work in the noble
spirit of Yajna, without which, no ‘favourable circumstances’, could be created for the
‘productive potentials’ to manifest themselves. The seekers of sense compete among
themselves, each seeking with lustful greed, his own selfish happiness, & they bring
about a discordant rhythm in the Wheel-of-Action. Such people live in sin, & they live in
vain.

17. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
NO WHEEL OF ACTION FOR THE MAN OF PERFECTION
3.17. But the man who rejoices only in the Self, who is satisfied with the Self,
who is content in the Self alone, for Him verily there is nothing (more) to be
done.
The wheel of action is generally applicable to all common people, & actions in
the world undertaken in a spirit of Yajna integrate their personality. Through
selfless work, one gains an increasing amount of inner poise, & when such a
single-pointed mind meditates, he transcends his limited ego. To such a perfect
one, work is not needed to purify himself.
Satisfaction & contentment are the two wheels of the life-chariot, to gain which
man is goaded to act in the outer world. But a man-of-perfection feels so
satisfied with the state of Self-hood, that he experience complete contentment
in the very Divine Nature. Where satisfaction & contentment have arrived,
desires cannot arise at all, & hence there cannot be any action. In such an
individual there cannot be any ‘obligatory duty’, & he is free to act or not act, &
lives as a God-man upon the earth.

18. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
SELF-REALISED MAN
3.18. For him (A man-of-Perfection) there is no interest whatsoever
in what is done or what is not done; nor does he depend upon any
being for any object.
An ordinary man is whipped up to action either because of his
anxiety to gain a profit or because of his fear that by not doing
work he will be incurring a loss. But a Self-Realised man, who is
eternally satisfied in his Self, & who is perfectly contented in the
Self, will have no more action to perform. He has nothing more to
gain through activity, nor can he have any fear of losing anything
in the world due to non-performance of any action. Such a person,
rooted in the experience of the Self, & depending upon nothing-any
being or object- for his joy & bliss, has discovered the ‘Subject’.

19. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
PERFORM ACTIONS WITHOUT ATTACHMENT
3.19 Therefore, always perform actions which should be done,
without attachment; for, by performing action without
attachment, man attains the Supreme.
Proselytization is not the technique of Vedanta. Every strong statement
of fact is preceded by a line of logical thoughts explained at length.
Krishna explained the wheel-of-action, & after exposition of the entire
theory, He, in this verse crystallises his conclusions encouraging Arjuna to
act.
Always perform actions, which are obligatory in your present social
status, as a member of your community & the Nation. One must be
careful in all his activities, to keep his mind away from all dangerous
attachments. Attachments help to form tendencies in the mind & deepen
fresh Vasana impressions within.

20. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
JANAKA & OTHER KARMA-YOGIS
3.20 Janaka & others attained Perfection verily through action
alone; even with a view to protecting the masses you should
perform action.
The wise kings of yore, such as Janaka & Ashwapati, had tried to attain
Perfection, by the path-of-Action. They were men of right understanding as they
tried to liberate themselves through right actions performed in a spirit of
detachment & self-dedication. They had set an example to the world by their
achievement through an immaculate life of service.
Arjuna too, a prince by birth, should respect his Prarabdha & act diligently
without running away from the battlefield. This is the only method by which he
can gain a complete Vasana-exhaustion in himself. Moreover, as a king, he had a
greater responsibility towards the community than others.. So it was his duty
that he should keep to his post & work diligently.

21. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
GREAT MEN SET EXAMPLES
3.21 Whatever a great man does, that other men also do (imitate);
whatever he sets up as the standard, that the world (people)
follows.
The moral rejuvenation of a society in any period of history can take
place only because of the example set up by the leaders of that nation.
Students can be disciplined only when teachers are well behaved.
Children follow their parents. Hence, Krishna raises the argument on why
Arjuna should act in the world. Unless he diligently acts, the entire
community may follow the low standard of retreat from action. In the
next verse, Krishna indicates himself as an example of incessant action to
establish his creed of Active Resistance to Evil. There could not have
been any doubt now left in Arjuna regarding the efficacy of the Path-of-
Action advised to him.

22. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
THE BEST EXAMPLE OF A KAMA YOGI- LORD KRISHNA
In the next 3 verses, Lord Krishna presents Himself as an
example of a selfless worker.
3.22 There is nothing in the three worlds, O Partha, that has to
be done by Me, nor is there anything unattained that should be
attained by Me; yet I engage myself in action.
Being a Perfect-Man, a true Yogi, Krishna had no more desire for
achieving or gaining anything in the world. He was in the
battlefield only with a sense of duty towards the noble & the
righteous cause the Pandavas stood for. Even though there was
nothing Krishna had not gained, nor had He anything further to
gain, He was spending Himself constantly in activity, for the
welfare of the world.

23. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
WHY SHOULD THE LORD WORK?
3.23 For, Should I not ever engage myself in action, without
relaxation, men would in every way follow My Path, O son of
Pritha.
What happens if Lord Krishna were not to work at all? The masses always
imitate their leaders & heroes in their dress, behaviour, moral values, & in their
actions. If the Lord did not continue to work without relaxation, men also would
follow in His wake & sink themselves into inactivity & unproductive existence.
The entire Universe survives & sustains itself by activity.
Throughout the Geeta, Krishna uses the first person singular (I) as the Atman, or
the Self-Realized man-of-Perfection. If this God-principle, though inactive in
Itself, does not consistently serve the pluralistic phenomenal world as its
permanent substratum, the world, as it is, cannot exist. If the Lord were not to
keep on actively serving the world, the cultural life of the generation would
stagnate.

24. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
MY INACTION CAUSES DESTRUCTION OF THE WORLD
3.24 These worlds would perish if I did not perform action; I would be the
author of confusion of ‘castes’, & would destroy these beings.
If I do not perform action, the harmonious progress of the Universe will
stop & the entire superstructure of our scientific laws & calculations will
tumble down. Lawlessness is not ever noticed in the working of the
cosmic forces. The Mighty Power of Nature, or God, is obeyed by the
movement of the planets, the rhythmic dance of the seasons, the music
of creation & other natural phenomena. If the Lord doesn’t function
through all these, the world will perish.
The Lord is also the Law governing the inner world of thoughts &
emotions. The whole human society is divided into for castes on the
basis of the individual’s mental temperament. If the law governing the
inner psychological temperaments is not functioning properly, there will
be confusion in behaviour & instability in character.

25. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
WISE MEN WORK FOR WELFARE OF THE WORLD
3.25 As the ‘ignorant’ men act from attachment to action, O Bharata, so should
the ‘wise’ men act without attachment, wishing the welfare of the world.
All of us act in our own field of activities, with enthusiasm & interest, every day
of the year & throughout our life, in order to earn & to hoard, to gain & to enjoy.
Here Lord Krishna says that a Man-of-Realization also should work, with as
much diligence & sincerity, as any ordinary man. The only difference between
the two is that while the ignorant acts & is motivated in his actions by his
‘attachments & anxieties for the fruits’, a man of Godly intentions or complete
Perfection will work in the world, without attachment, only for the purpose of
the redemption of the world. It is the desire for the fruits that dissipates the
finer & nobler energies in the worker, & condemns his activity to utter failure.
The mind can function only when it is attached to something. It cannot b e
detached from everything. So detachment refers to ‘ detachment from the False
irresistible fascination for objects’ & this is achieved by the process of ‘attaching
itself to the Nobler’. Lord Krishna advises us to work without attachment,
desirous of guiding the world.

26. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
DO NOT CONFUSE THE IGNORANT
3.26 Let no wise man unsettle the minds of ignorant people, who
are attached to action; he should engage them all in actions,
himself fulfilling them with devotion.
A man of equipoise & self-discovery is advised not to confuse common people
with abstract ideologies of self-less work & renunciation of results etc., for they
may come to wrong conclusions & lose enthusiasm for action. Lord Krishna
advises the teachers to not to go against the spirit of the times. Here is the art of
guiding mankind: A society functioning in a particular way should not be
suddenly stopped in its activity. The leader should fall in line with the
generation, & slowly guide it to act in the right direction, by his own example.
Men should act, even in the wrong way, for only through action they can come
to the right path. No wise man should unsettle his generations firm faith in
action. He must himself diligently perform actions in a diviner & better fashion,
making himself an example to follow. Common people will then imitate him &
learn to follow his unfailing footsteps.

27. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
ALL ACTIONS DONE BY GUNAS
3.27 All actions are performed, in all cases, merely by the Qualities-
in-Nature (GUNAS). He whose mind is deluded by egoism, thinks “ I
am the doer”.
All nobler actions are actions without attachment. The difficulty is that we know
not how to get ourselves detached from our activities & still act. The Lord gives
here a method of discrimination by which we can easily develop detachment.
The tendencies of our mind (Vasanas) express in the outer world as actions.
Noble thoughts lead to noble actions. These actions are generated by the mind,
strengthened in the mind & ultimately, performed with the mind. Individuals
due to wrong identification with their minds, get the false notion that they
themselves are the “doers”. This creates the attachment. The moment one
understands that identification with ones own mental conditions leads to
attachment, all attachments end & one lives in perfect peace.

28. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
THE WISE IS NOT ATTACHED
3.28 But he- who knows the Truth, O mighty-armed, about the divisions of
the qualities & (their) functions, & he who knows that GUNAS-as-senses
move amidst GUNAS-as-objects, is not attached.
Krishna explains the attitude of the ‘wise’ man when he enters the field of
activity. He is not attached because of his constant discriminating
understanding that in all activities, it is his mind that projects out to form
the action. Knowing this, he is no more anxious for the fruits of his actions.
Success & failure belong to the mind & not to him. Thus, in complete inner
freedom the God-man functions. By addressing Arjuna as the mighty-armed,
Krishna reminds him his valour & heroism as an archer. A true hero is not
one who can face an army & kill a few, but one who can save himself,
tirelessly fighting in the inner world & gain a victory over his own mind &
attachments. That Master-Hero is called Tattwavit- one who knows the
Reality-the Self.

29. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
THE WISE SHOULD NOT UNSETTLE THE FOOLISH
3.29 Those deluded by the qualities of nature (GUNAS), are
attached to the functions of the qualities. The man-of-Perfect-
Knowledge should not unsettle the ‘foolish’ , who are of imperfect
knowledge.
The Perfect one realises the Truth that all actions are the attempts of the mental
impressions to fulfil themselves in the outer world. He then becomes quiet &
unattached in all his activities. The majority of us are in a state of complete
delusion. The flood of life, surging out through the existing Vasana-channels,
should not be blockaded in the activity. Krishna re- emphasises his earlier
warning that the ignorant should not be suddenly stopped in his tracks. The dull-
witted one, unconsciously victimised by his own mental impressions, acts in the
world outside shackled by attachments. A sage should not decry such a man’s
activities all of a sudden. He should carefully guide the ignorant & direct the flow
of life into right channels so as to lead to the cultural development in the
individual as well as in the community.

30. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
HOW SHOULD ONE ACT TO GET LIBERATION
3.30 Renouncing all actions in Me, with the mind centered on the
Self, free from hope & egoism (ownership), free from (mental)
fever, (you) do fight.
In order to avoid creation of new Vasanas even while acting for Vasana-
exhaustion, act without egocentric desires. The Lord advises Arjuna to act
renouncing all activities to the Supreme Self, i.e., without attachment & desires.
When the limited ego is replaced by the constant feeling of the Lord, all actions
become expressions of the Supreme Will. The terms ‘without hope’ & ‘without
ego’ indicates that one should discard thinking of the future & the past, & act in
the present. Again a feverish anxiety about our work may mar the best
performance. So the Lord says that Arjuna should fight with no mental fever.
The advice in this verse is thus a complete psychological treatment to the Arjuna
disease. The term ‘fight’ here means any fight with circumstances an individual
may face in his life.

31. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
PRACTISE THIS TEACHING OF THE LORD
3.31 Those men who constantly practise this teaching of Mine, full
of faith & without cavilling, they too are freed from actions.
Here Sri Krishna urges people to follow his teaching sincerely in order to
be successful & righteous. This is Sri Krishna’s MATAM or opinion. The
Lord asks us to pursue the Karma Yoga with full faith & without cavilling.
Faith involves full intellectual appreciation of things mentally digested.
One should live the teachings & not merely understand & criticise them.
Krishna tells here that such people are freed of work. Is he advising
inaction? Far from it. It is our ignorance that causes desires which end up
as selfish activities. Here the Lord alludes to a state of Desirelessness or
end of ignorance. Karma yoga is extolled here as the path that takes one
ultimately to the Supreme, because through desireless activity one
achieves Vasana-purgation, making the mind subtler & purer, fit for
meditation.

32. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
WARNING TO NON-PRACTITIONERS
3.32 But those who carp at My teaching & do not practise it,
deluded in all knowledge, & devoid of discrimination, know them
to be doomed to destruction.
Sri Krishna warns: Those who decry this great teaching of Mine & do not
practise it will become more & more deluded & will lose their discrimination.
Decrying a philosophy means its intellectual rejection. Then there is no chance
of that individual ever trying to live that philosophy. Karma Yoga is a way-of-life
& we have to live it. The path-of-work lies through a process of elimination of
desires. When the ego & egocentric desires are eliminated, the work becomes
true Divine action. To the extent man is not practising this efficient way of work,
he would grow unintelligent, & to that extent, his discriminative capacity will
deteriorate & ultimately get destroyed. Discrimination is the Divine faculty
which makes man superior to animals. When discrimination is destroyed, he
becomes worse than an animal, & finally gets destroyed.

33. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
MAN IS SLAVE TO HIS NATURE
3.33 Even a wise man acts in accordance with his own nature;
beings will follow their own nature, what can restraint do?
Even a man-of-knowledge acts in conformity with his own nature, which is
determined by the pattern of thoughts that arise in him. The thoughts in us
always get patterned by the channels of thinking, designed by the thoughts we
had entertained in the past. Our nature is decided by our style of thinking. Even
when a person is well-versed in the technique-of-action described in this
chapter, it is not easy for him to follow it, because his mind is designed to carry
his thoughts through egocentric & selfish channels. Because of these past
impressions (Vasanas), even an honest person finds it hard to practise Karma
Yoga in his life. Beings follow their own nature & restraint cannot always
succeed.
The honest all-seeing vision of the philosopher in Krishna, recognises that the
higher ways of living are not meant for all. It is only a slightly evolved entity, full
of enthusiasm, activity & passion for progress, who can follow this sacred ‘path’
& benefit himself.

34. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
DO NOT COME UNDER ATTACHMENT & AVERSION
3.34 Attachment & aversion for the objects of the senses abide in
the senses; let none come under their sway; for they are his foes.
Sri Krishna indicates here the great robber inside of man, which loots away the true joy of
‘right living’. Attachments & aversions of the sense-organs for their respective sense-
objects are instinctive & natural in everyone. We get agitated & disturbed not at our
sense-organs, but in our mind, which receive certain stimuli as Good, & their opposites as
Bad. Then it gets attached the Good stimuli & develops aversion for the Bad. Thereafter,
all objects are painted with the notion of good or bad & we react to them accordingly.
This is its tragedy. Krishna advises all seekers to not to come under their sway. Geeta does
not advise anybody to run away from life but to live amid the myriads of sense-objects.
The only insistence is that on all occasions, a wise man should be a master of his body-
mind-intellect equipment, & not a helpless victim of environment. The secret of this
mastery in life is to live free from the tyrannies of attachments & aversions. In order to
detach ourselves from both our likes & dislikes, we have to get rid of our false egocentric
vanities. Likes & dislikes belong to the ego. So, all egoless acts eliminate Vasanas, & the
mind gets purified of ego.

35. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
STICK TO SWADHARMA
3.35 Better is one’s own ‘duty’, though devoid of merit, than the
‘duty’ of another well discharged. Better is death in one’s own
‘duty’; the ‘duty’ of another is fraught with fear( is productive of
positive danger).
Dharma essentially means the Law-of-Being of anything in the world. That which
determines one man’s personality, distinctly different from another’s, is the texture of the
thoughts entertained by him. This texture again is dependent on the Vasanas which his
mind has gained from its own past. The word ‘duty’ used in this verse should be
understood as Vasanas. Swadharma, then means the type of Vasanas that one discovers
in one’s own mind. To act according to one’s own taste, inborn & natural, is the only way
of living in peace & joy, in success & satisfaction. To act against one’s own Vasanas would
be acting out Para dharma & that is fraught with danger. Here, Krishna reminds Arjuna
that to act according to his own Vasanas, that of a Kshatriya, even imperfectly, is the right
path for his development. It is dangerous to suppress his own personality & copy the
activities of someone else, a Brahmana, here, even if nobler.

36. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
ARJUNA’S DOUBT ABOUT SIN
Arjuna said:
3.36 But, impelled by what does man commit sin, though against
his wishes, O Varshneya, constrained, as it were, by force?
After listening to Krishna, Arjuna has become introspective, & conscious of
certain forces working within himself that were obstructing the play of his own
high impulses. Everyone understands what is Right, but it is only when it comes
to action that one gets tempted to do the Wrong. This paradoxical confusion,
between one’s ideology & one’s own actions, is a big problem to all those who
introspect. The Divine in us wants to fulfil Itself with Its higher impulses, but the
animal instinct in us tempts us away to baser joys of the flesh. This happens
even against our own wishes. Arjuna wants to know from the Lord: “What is the
nature of this Satan in our bosom which thus systematically loots away the good
in us?”

37. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
DESIRE - ANGER THE ENEMY OF MAN
The Blesses Lord said:
3.37 It is desire, it is anger born of the ‘active’, all-devouring, all-
sinful; know this as the foe here (in this world).
Desire is the inner Satan in man. Desire itself, under certain
circumstances, gains expression as anger. Desire is an expression of our
spiritual ignorance. It is a constant agitation of the mind due to an
uncontrollable impatience to gain something other than ourselves.
Beings & circumstances coming in between ourselves & the object of our
desire, produce anger. This desire-anger-emotion, born of rajoguna, is
the very Satan in us that compels us to compromise with our own Higher
values, & tempt us to perpetrate sins. Greater the desire, greater the pull
towards sinful actions. Desire enshrouds the wisdom in us. To come
under its sway is ‘ignorance’.

38. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
HOW DESIRE VEILS DISCRIMINATION
3.38 As fire is enveloped by smoke, as a mirror by dust, as an embryo by the
womb, so this (wisdom) is enveloped by that (desire or anger).
The Lord here gives three different examples to illustrate how desire & anger delude our
rational thinking & choke our discrimination. There are subtle implications in the three
examples. Discrimination in man is obstructed by attachment to worldly objects. Our
desires can fall under three headings according to the quality of attachment: inert
(tamasic), active (rajasic) or noble & divine (sattvic). The veiling of discrimination by these
3 types of attachments are indicated by the 3 examples. Smoke can partially or fully veil
the light coming from the fire, but it can be removed with least effort, as by a blowing
wind. Here the attachment is sattvic. Veiling caused by agitations that cover the purer
intellect due to our desire for glory & power (rajasic) is illustrated by the dust covering a
mirror. This is more complete & its removal is more difficult. We need to clean the mirror
by our own efforts. The foetus in the womb is completely covered & can be removed
only after a specific period. Similarly, the desires for sense-enjoyment build, as it were, a
womb around the discriminative power in us. Such low mental preoccupations (tamasic)
can drop off only after a longer period of evolutionary growth. In short, Desire is that
which hides the Divine in us.

39. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
DESIRE, THE CONSTANT ENEMY OF THE WISE
3.39 Enveloped, O son of Kunti, is ‘wisdom’ by this constant enemy of the wise in
the form of ‘desire’; which is difficult to appease.
3.40 The senses, the mind, & the intellect are said to be its seat; through these, it
deludes the embodied, by veiling his wisdom.
Discrimination, the capacity to distinguish the Real from the unreal, which gives man his
higher status in the scale of evolution, is the divine faculty that gets screened off from us
due to our own greedy & insatiable desires.
The Lord says, “ The senses, the mind, & the intellect are said to be its seats of action”.
The sense-organs, unrestrained in the world of sense-objects, are a very convenient place
for ‘desire’ to function in. When the external stimuli enter the mind through the sense-
organs, the mind also becomes a breeding centre of sorrow created by desire. The
intellect, working with the memories of sense-enjoyments it had lived, becomes yet
another safe den for ‘desire’ to function from. The delude ego, foolishly identifying with
the body, desires sense-enjoyments, identifying with the mind, it thirsts to experience
more emotional satisfactions, & identifying with the intellect, it plans to re-live the
remembered experiences of sense-enjoyments.

40. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
CONTROL THE SENSES TO KILL DESIRE
3.41 Therefore, O best of Bharatas, controlling first the senses, kill
this sinful thing, the destroyer of knowledge & wisdom.
After giving all the arguments regarding desire & anger, Lord
Krishna summarises here: “ Therefore, restrain the senses first,
so that you may finally throw overboard the inner enemy
‘desire’. Desire is called sinful, because it persuades us to live a
lower devolutionary life. Even at its best (the smoke that covers
the fire) desire does not allow the full dawn of the Infinite.
Desire in all its textures, contributes to the sins of man. But how
to control the senses? Lord Krishna tells us in the next two
verses.

41. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
ATMAN, THE MOST SUPERIOR
3.42 They say that the senses are superior (to the body); superior
to the senses is the mind; superior to the mind is the intellect; one
who is ever superior to the intellect is He, (the Atman).
In this & the next (concluding) verse, Lord Krishna gives a perfect technique by which the
inner ‘enemy’, desire, can be captured & eliminated. In these verses Krishna has etched
out a complete outline of the scheme for Self-discovery. Compared with the objects of
the world, the sense-organs are more sacred & divine. The sense-organs are subtler than
the organs of action. Our mind controls & orders our sense-organs, &, therefore, the mind
is subtler than the sense-organs. The mind has its own limitations & fixed frontiers. It is
the intellect that first crosses the existing frontiers of the mind & acquires fresh
knowledge. The intellect, thus, has a greater pervasiveness than the mind, & so is subtler
than mind. That which is beyond the intellect is called the Supreme, the Atman. The
Consciousness in man, which lights up the very intellectual ideas in him, must necessarily
be subtler than the intellect itself. Upanishads declare that there is nothing subtler than
the Self, the Atman. The technique of meditation lies in the conscious withdrawal of all
our identifications with our body, mind & intellect. Our efforts end when we have
gathered our entire awareness from its delusory preoccupations & made it live in Itself as
Itself- as Objectless Awareness.

42. THE HOLI GEETA
T K G Namboodhiri
RESTRAIN SELF BY SELF & SLAY DESIRE
3.43 Thus knowing Him, who is superior to intellect, & restraining the self by
the Self, slay you, O mighty-armed, the enemy in the form of ‘desire’, no
doubt, hard indeed to conquer.
With this last verse of the chapter, Lord Krishna advises Arjuna to end
‘ignorance’ by ‘knowledge’. Through a lived experience of the Self alone can we
end our ignorance of the Self. It is the spiritual ‘ignorance’ that creates ‘desire’
which functions through the sense-organs, mind & the intellect. Through the
process of meditation, when we withdraw from the false identifications with the
objects, the body & the mind, the ‘desire’ is gathered from the outer fields &
established in the intellect. After the rediscovery of our own diviner existence,
we will be able to live ‘ restraining the self by the Self’. Then our ego functions
completely under the control of the diviner in us, & ‘desire’ impulses lose their
capacity to disturb us. Thus the philosophy of the Geeta preaches a constructive
reorganisation of life, so that the painful malady of ‘desire’ is gently cured, & to
live thereafter as a master of circumstances & a lord of our own emotions.
END OF CHAPTER 3