Loading...
Current layer: Translation
Chapter 3 • Verse 19
The Yoga of Action
MEANING & CONTEXT
After condemning those who live in vain and explaining that the truly enlightened need no duty, Krishna gives the path for everyone else: perform your duty (kāryaṁ karma) constantly (satatam), but without attachment (asaktaḥ) to outcomes. This is nishkama karma—maximum engagement, zero grasping. You stay in action, fully present, but release all need for specific results. The promise: param āpnoti—you reach the Supreme not through withdrawal but through engaged, detached action. This works. King Janaka proved it.
Explore Human Experiences
How this ancient wisdom applies to your daily life
Key Takeaway
Modern culture offers a false choice: either care deeply and suffer (attachment) or don't care and be free (disengagement). Krishna reveals the third way—asaktaḥ satatam, engaged detachment. Give your absolute best while releasing all attachment to outcomes. This paradox is the secret: attachment doesn't make you try harder, it makes you anxious. Detachment doesn't make you care less, it frees you to act more purely. Maximum engagement plus zero grasping equals excellence without suffering.
Personal Reflection
Where are you swinging between anxious attachment and checked-out disengagement? What would it look like to give your absolute best while releasing all need for specific results?
Shortcuts
←/→ Verses
↑/↓ Layers