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Chapter 3 · Verse 5 · Karma Yoga

Bhagavad Gita 3.5

empowering Karma & Action Dharma & Duty Attachment & Letting Go

Sanskrit

न हि कश्िचत्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत्। कार्यते ह्यवशः कर्म सर्वः प्रकृतिजैर्गुणैः।।3.5।।

Transliteration

na hi kaśhchit kṣhaṇam api jātu tiṣhṭhatyakarma-kṛit kāryate hyavaśhaḥ karma sarvaḥ prakṛiti-jair guṇaiḥ

Word by Word

na not
hi certainly
kaśhchit anyone
kṣhaṇam a moment
api even
jātu ever
tiṣhṭhati can remain
akarma-kṛit without action
kāryate are performed
hi certainly
avaśhaḥ helpless
karma work
sarvaḥ all
prakṛiti-jaiḥ born of material nature
guṇaiḥ by the qualities
Simplified Perspective

Krishna reveals the fundamental truth that inaction is impossible—every being is propelled by the gunas, the three qualities of nature, into ceaseless action whether conscious or not. This is not a curse but an invitation: you cannot escape action, so the question becomes not whether to act, but how to act with wisdom and surrender.

When you stop resisting your nature and instead offer your actions as service to something greater than yourself, you transform from a slave of compulsion into an instrument of grace.

Listen

Bhagavad Gita 3.5 — BG 3.5

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Sanskrit text from the Bhagavad Gita (public domain). Commentary © Mahakatha.

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