Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 3, Verse 20: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Yoga

Bhāṣyakāra purports

• Śaṅkaraadvaita

  Śaṅkara reads this verse on two tracks: if Janaka and the royal sages had already attained samyag-darśana (right vision), they continued acting because prārabdha-karma (begun karma) compelled outward engagement, not because karma itself produced liberation. If they had not yet attained it, then karma purified the sattva (lucidity) of the antaḥkaraṇa (inner instrument) and thereby prepared the ground for jñāna — karma as sādhanā (means), not as sādhya (end). Either way, Arjuna as kṛtārtha (one for whom the goal is done) or as mumukṣu (liberation-seeker) must continue acting for loka-saṃgraha (world-coherence), preventing people from straying into adharmic paths.

• Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita

  Rāmānuja makes a pointed claim: even those eligible for jñāna-yoga (knowledge-path) find karma-yoga superior as a means of ātma-darśana (self-vision). Janaka and the royal sages were jñānīnām agreserāḥ (foremost among the wise), and they too attained saṃsiddhi — the fruit of reaching the ātman — through karma-yoga alone, not through renunciation. This is not merely a concession to the unfit; it is a doctrinal assertion that karma offered as kainkarya (loving service) to Bhagavān is itself the higher śreyaḥ (good), and Arjuna must act in that spirit to uphold loka-saṃgraha.

• Madhvadvaita

  Madhva insists that karma here means karma performed alongside — or as a vehicle toward — jñāna, never karma as an independent soteric path. Janaka's fame as a jñānī is attested in the Bhārata and the śrutis ("tamevaṃ vidvān amṛta iha bhavati"); he attained jñāna, then mokṣa, with karma serving as its sādhanā (instrument). The Dvaita position is absolute: aparokṣa-jñāna (direct vision of Hari as distinct Lord) is the sole cause of mukti — karma, tīrtha, and other auxiliaries liberate only in the sense of removing obstacles and directing the jīva (eternally distinct self) toward that vision.

• Vallabhaśuddhādvaita

  Vallabha invokes saṃyoga-pṛthaktva-nyāya — the logical principle that a single act can serve two ends simultaneously — to show that Janaka's karma accomplished both jīvan-mukti-daśā (the state of liberation-while-living) and jñāna-saṃsiddhi (perfection of knowledge) at once. This is Puṣṭi-mārga's distinctive move: action in Kṛṣṇa's sphere is never merely preparatory; it is itself the ripening of prasāda (grace). Even one who considers himself already siddha (accomplished) must continue performing karma, and Arjuna should do the same, seeing loka-saṃgraha as one more expression of that dual fruit.

• Śrīdharabhakti

  Śrīdhara focuses the verse tightly on loka-saṃgraha as a self-standing reason for action: when the wise act, the unwise follow their example ("mayā karmaṇi kṛte janaḥ sarvo'pi kariṣyati"), and when they do not, the ignorant may abandon svadharma entirely. The practical argument is social and soteriological together — protecting people from adhārmic conduct is itself a sacred obligation. Śrīdhara offers no elaborate metaphysics about whether Janaka's saṃsiddhi came via karma or jñāna; for him the verse's operative point is the exemplar-function of the śiṣṭa (the accomplished man of character), which is reason enough to act.

• Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti

  Madhusūdana answers an anticipated objection head-on: Arjuna might think that even a jijñāsu (knowledge-seeker) should renounce karma to pursue śravaṇa-manana-nididhyāsana (hearing, reflection, deep meditation). Madhusūdana's counter is constitutional — the Smṛti and Purāṇa restrict formal saṃnyāsa to brāhmaṇas; a kṣatriya has no such adhikāra (qualification). Janaka was a kṣatriya jñānī who reached jñāna-niṣṭhā (established wisdom) while continuing in karma; Arjuna, also a kṣatriya, must do the same, and the dual motive of prārabdha-karma and loka-saṃgraha makes this not a concession but the precise yoga suited to his janman (birth) and guṇa (constitution).