Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 3, Verse 10: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  In the beginning of creation (sarga), Prajāpati fashioned the three varṇas together with sacrifice (yajña) as their prescribed activity, commanding: 'Thrive and multiply through this yajña.' The yajña is not optional embellishment — it is the very mechanism of cosmic increase (prasava, 'sprouting forth'). Śaṅkara reads iṣṭa-kāma-dhuk ('milch-cow of desired ends') as an accommodative concession to the adhikārin still bound by fruit: nityakarma performed without fruit-desire is what purifies the antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument) and prepares the ground for jñāna.

  divergence: Śaṅkara's bhāṣya explicitly: 'prasava = vṛddhi = utpatti' — increase, flourishing; and 'iṣṭān abhipretān kāmān phalavīśeṣān dogdhi iti iṣṭakāmadhuk' — the yajña yields specific desired fruit-varieties, but the deeper teaching is niṣkāma-karma as prerequisite to liberation.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Prajāpati here is no secondary deity but the supreme Nārāyaṇa himself — 'patiṃ viśvasya ātmeśvaram' (Taittirīya Nārāyaṇa 11.3). Out of supreme compassion (parama-kāruṇika), seeing beings dissolved into him at pralaya without name, form, or capacity for puruṣārtha, he re-creates them together with yajña as the means of his own ārādhana (worship). 'Thrive through this sacrifice' means: achieve ātma-vṛddhi — growth of the self — through worshipping Bhagavān, which alone culminates in mokṣa, the iṣṭa-kāma of all kāmas.

  divergence: Rāmānuja's bhāṣya: 'paramapuruṣārthalakṣaṇamokṣākhyasya kāmasya tadanuguṇānāṃ ca kāmānāṃ prapūrayitā bhavatu' — this yajña fulfils mokṣa, the supreme puruṣārtha, and all subordinate desires aligned with it.

• Madhvadvaita

  Madhva treats verses 3.10–11 together as an arthavāda — a laudatory passage reinforcing the obligatory nature of action. The jīva is eternally and categorically distinct from Hari (bheda is never dissolved); therefore the jīva's proper station is dependent action as worship of Hari. Prajāpati's primordial command to sacrifice establishes that karma is not man's invention but Hari's sovereign ordinance — to perform it is to act within one's constitutionally subordinate nature; to abandon it is ontological rebellion.

  divergence: Madhva's bhāṣya is extremely terse here: 'atrārthavādam āha saha-yajñā iti' — he flags the verses as arthavāda (eulogistic injunction), signaling that their function is motivational reinforcement of an already-established duty, not doctrinal exposition.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Brahman (the creator identified here with Kṛṣṇa's own power) created yajña-qualified beings — brāhmaṇas and others — together with their sacrificial duty, and declared: 'This yajña is your iṣṭa-kāma-dhuk.' This is not praise of kāmya-karma (desire-driven rites); the 'milch-cow' image signals that yajña as niyata-karma (prescribed duty) is the single vehicle for all puruṣārthas, culminating in mokṣa. Vallabha adds: 'worship Viṣṇu through this yajña — then you will attain the highest and ultimate good (paraṃ śreyas).'

  divergence: Vallabha's bhāṣya: 'na ceiyaṃ kāmyakarmapraśaṃsā... sarvapuruṣārthahetutvamuktaṃ bhavati' — it is not praise of desire-motivated action but declaration of the universal puruṣārtha-producing power of niyata-karma; 'tad evāha devān iti — anena yajñena viṣṇvādīn devān bhāvayat.'

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Prajāpati's primordial command establishes that the karma-kartā (the one who acts) is superior — even by Prajāpati's own testimony — to the karma-saṃnyāsī (renouncer of action) who has not yet attained the level of jñāna that makes renunciation legitimate. Yajña here is a marker (upalakṣaṇa) for all āvaśyaka-karma (obligatory duty); the 'desired fruits' are an incidental accompaniment, not the purpose — just as shade and fragrance arise under a mango tree planted for fruit but are not the goal.

  divergence: Śrīdhara: 'yajñagrahaṇam āvaśyakakarmopaloakṣaṇārtham' — the word yajña stands for all obligatory action; and 'akāraṇe pratyavāyasya agre kathana' — the penalty for non-performance will be stated later, confirming obligatory rather than optional force.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Like Śrīdhara, Madhusūdana reads yajña as upalakṣaṇa for all āvaśyaka-karma, but he adds a precise doctrinal clarification: even nityakarma (perpetual obligatory rites) yields incidental (ānuṣaṅgika) fruit by the nature of the action itself, though the agent need not intend that fruit. He cites Āpastamba: 'just as a mango tree planted for fruit also gives shade and fragrance, so dharma practised rightly yields wealth as a by-product — but its non-arising is no failure of dharma.' This distinguishes kāmya (fruit-intended) from nitya (perpetual) karma by intentionality alone, not by presence or absence of fruit.

  divergence: Madhusūdana: 'nityakarmaṇām apy ānuṣaṅgikaphala-sadbhāvāt... eṣa vo'stv iṣṭakāmadhuk ity upapadyate' — the iṣṭa-kāma-dhuk characterization is valid for nityakarma precisely because incidental fruit arises naturally; and Āpastamba citation on ānuṣaṅgika-phala (incidental fruit).