This summary is about verses 3.1 to 3.8 of the third chapter of the Gita. It is the third stop on the road of karma yoga. Before it is Action Without Claiming the Fruit, and after it comes One's Own Duty. The third chapter is the first chapter of the Gita built wholly on action.

The answer in one line

Giving up action does not bring freedom, and nobody can give up action anyway. What binds is not the movement of work but the claim made on it and the clinging. So the road is this: let the mind keep the senses in hand, and let the hands do their set work without attachment. The question is not "act or not" but "how to act".

What problem this answers

A tired mind says: "Let me give everything up and sit quietly." And in the Gita it is written that action binds and knowledge is higher. So why not give up action?

Arjuna had heard in the second chapter that action done for the fruit is far lower than action done with understanding (Gita 2.49). He took it that understanding is above action, and asked: if knowledge is greater, why do You engage me in this terrible action (Gita 3.1)? Please tell me one sure thing (Gita 3.2).

The verses in order

Verses 3.1 and 3.2 hold Arjuna's confusion. His hidden belief is that knowing and doing are two separate doors, and one has to be chosen.

In verse 3.3 the Lord says that two paths of devotion were stated earlier: the path of knowledge, for those inclined to know, and the path of action, for those inclined to work. The division is of nature, not of high and low.

Verse 3.4 holds two refusals. Freedom from action is not reached by not beginning action. And perfection of renunciation is not reached merely by outward giving up. Notice the word "merely": renunciation is not useless, but it is not enough.

Verse 3.5 says that nobody remains even for a moment without action. The qualities of nature make everyone act, helpless. Breath, food, sleep and thought are all action.

Verse 3.6 says that one who holds back hands and feet but turns objects over in his mind is a hypocrite. That is, he shows one thing and is another inside.

Verse 3.7 says that one who controls the senses by the mind and, without attachment, practises karma yoga with the organs of action is the better.

Verse 3.8 says to do your set action. Action is better than inaction, and without action even the upkeep of the body will not go on.

The main points to remember

Bondage comes from the claim, not the movement

The claim is: "This is mine, I did it, I want the result." This claim stays even when work is stopped. That is why the right is to action and not to the fruit (Gita 2.47), and the true relinquisher is the one who gives up the fruit, not the action (Gita 18.11). The difference is not of place but of grip.

The question "act or not" is itself wrong

We will all act (Gita 3.5). What is left is how. One who says "I have given up" is also deluded by ego (Gita 3.27). And the resolve "I will not fight" does not stand before one's nature (Gita 18.59–60).

Calm outside, restless inside

This is being on the first step. Dwelling on objects, then attachment, then desire, then anger, then delusion (Gita 2.62–63). Verse 3.6 is not condemnation but a test: are the outside and the inside one or not (Gita 3.6)? One who sits in meditation is not a hypocrite. He brings the mind back (Gita 6.26).

Both parts are needed

In verse 3.7 both parts are needed (Gita 3.7). "Hold the mind, give up work" alone is the same show. "Do the work, no grip on the mind" alone is drifting. The better one is he in whom both are joined.

The order of steadying the mind

Desire sits in the senses, mind and intellect and covers understanding (Gita 3.40). The order is: the senses are higher than the body, the mind higher than they, the intellect higher still, and higher still the knower within. The lower is held by the higher (Gita 3.42–43). So "the mind holds the senses" succeeds when the intellect is steady. Here is the link with buddhi yoga.

What "set action" means

Set action is what has come to your share by your place and nature: the earner earns, the student studies, the mother cares for her child (Gita 18.47). It is not any kind of busyness, nor a burden pressed on you by another. The verse compares action with doing nothing, not with "more work".

Two paths, one goal

One who is well established even in one gets the fruit of both (Gita 5.4). Renunciation and karma yoga both bring the good, but karma yoga is better (Gita 5.2), and renunciation without karma yoga is hard (Gita 5.6).

The root reason

The self is not the doer. Actions are done by the qualities (Gita 3.27). So the claim is given up, and the work is kept. The Gita does not set action and knowledge face to face. In place of "either this or that" it says, "both, but in the right way."

Four ways of stopping, only one frees

The first way is giving up work from laziness, sleep or delusion. Here work that ought to be done is left undone. The Gita calls this renunciation of darkness (Gita 18.7, Gita 14.8).

The second way is giving up from fear of discomfort. Here the work is left undone and the discomfort stays where it was. The Gita calls it renunciation from restlessness, which has no fruit (Gita 18.8).

The third way is holding the hands still while the mind goes on running. Here a busy mind is left behind. The Gita calls it show (Gita 3.6).

And the fourth way is going on with the work and giving up the claim on the fruit. Here the work remains and the bond goes. The Gita calls it true renunciation (Gita 18.2, Gita 18.11).

The first three look like stopping and do not free. The fourth looks like going on, and it alone frees.

Common misunderstandings

The first misunderstanding is that the Gita tells us to work without stopping. That is not so. Verse 3.5 is a statement of fact, not a command (Gita 3.5). Rest is care. There is a call for the right measure in food, recreation, work and sleep (Gita 6.17).

The second is that the Gita thinks little of renunciants. That is not so. Both paths are open (Gita 3.3) and both are true (Gita 5.2).

The third is that karma yoga is for the weak. That is not so. In verse 3.7 it is the one called "better".

The fourth is that "without attachment" means carelessness. It is the opposite. One is to do the set action (Gita 3.8), and skill in action is itself yoga (Gita 2.50).

The fifth is that praising knowledge and then praising action is a contradiction. That is not so. What was called lower was action done from desire for the fruit, not action itself (Gita 2.49).

The sixth is that nature makes everyone act, so we are puppets. That is not so. The choice is in the manner of acting: whether the mind drives the senses or the senses drive the mind (Gita 3.7, Gita 3.34). And at the end the Lord says, "Reflect, then do as you wish" (Gita 18.63).

How to take it up

There is a plain order for taking this up. First accept that action cannot be avoided (Gita 3.5). Take up today the work that is truly your share, not everything at once (Gita 3.8). In the time of empty hands, see where the mind goes and bring it back gently, many times in a day (Gita 3.6, Gita 6.26). Take the claim on the result off the work (Gita 2.47, Gita 18.11). Rest in measure (Gita 6.17). And at the end of the day offer the work and sleep without the burden of the result (Gita 3.30), like a lotus leaf that stays untouched while in water (Gita 5.10).

There is also a test. Finish today one task you have been putting off, and do not think afterwards about what people will say. See how light the mind stays.

If you have to explain it in thirty seconds

It is natural to say "let me give it all up" when tired. But the Gita says nobody stays even a moment without action, and one who holds back his hands while turning objects in his mind deceives himself. Tiredness comes less from work and more from the weight of the claim "this is mine, I want its fruit." So let the mind hold the senses, let the hands do their work without clinging, and let the claim on the fruit go. To put the burden down, it is not necessary to empty the hands.

Related hubs: Action Without Claiming the Fruit (before) · One's Own Duty (next) · Renunciation or Karma Yoga? · Karma and Akarma: Acting Without Being Bound · Who Is the Doer? · Relinquishment and Renunciation of Action