Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 3, Verse 22: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Yoga
There is nothing I must do in any of the three worlds, Pārtha, and nothing unattained that I need to attain, yet I remain engaged in action.
Bhāṣyakāra purports
- Śaṅkaraadvaita
For Me, O Pārtha, there is nothing whatsoever that must be done in any of the three worlds (tri-loka), nor is there anything unattained that remains to be attained — and yet I remain active in action (karman). Śaṅkara reads this as Kṛṣṇa establishing the foundational distinction between the knower (jñānin) who acts without kartṛtva-abhimāna (the conceit of agency) and the ajñānin bound by kartā-bhāva. The paradox is deliberately instructive: perfect jñāna does not terminate action; it terminates the sense of ownership over action.
- Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita
I, the Lord of all (sarveśvara), whose every wish is already fulfilled (avāpta-samasta-kāma), all-knowing, of true resolve, present freely in all three worlds as deva, manuṣya, and more — I have no kartavya whatsoever; yet for the protection of the world (loka-rakṣā) I remain in action. Rāmānuja's expansion 'avāpta-samasta-kāma' locates Kṛṣṇa's action not in niṣkāmatā (desirelessness born of discipline) but in pūrṇatā (ontological fullness), making every divine act an overflow of grace rather than an obligation discharged.
- Madhvadvaita
*Hari* (the independently real, self-sufficient Lord) asks: if you doubt the obligatory character of *loka-saṃgraha* (the holding-together of the world's order), then look to Me — *na me pārthāsti kartavyaṃ triṣu lokeṣu kiṃcana*, 'there is nothing whatsoever that I must do in the three worlds,' *nānavāptam avāptavyaṃ*, nothing unattained that remains to be attained. As *svatantra* (the independently real, self-sufficient) Brahman, Kṛṣṇa stands in no lack; no action can increase or complete what is already self-complete. Yet *varta eva ca karmaṇi* — He persists in action. This is not paradox but the expression of *pañca-bheda* (the five-fold real distinction): the *jīva* (the individual self) is *paratantra* (eternally dependent), utterly unable to sustain itself or the cosmic order without Hari's sovereign activity. The dependent order of *jīvas* and matter holds only because *svatantra* Hari wills it into continuance. His action is therefore not necessity but pure sovereignty — the living demonstration to *paratantra* beings that *karma* done without self-interest preserves *bheda* (real distinction) intact and expresses the *taratamya* (graded ontological hierarchy) in which Hari's supremacy is never diminished by His engagement with the world.
divergence: No Madhva or Jayatīrtha bhāṣya extant on this verse; reading reconstructed from dvaita siddhānta primitives applied directly to the mūla.
- Vallabhaśuddhādvaita
Vallabha's bhāṣya is a single compact sūtra — 'atra cāham eva nidarśanam' (here I myself am the exemplar) — pointing to Kṛṣṇa as self-referential model. In Śuddhādvaita, 3.22 is the locus classicus of līlā: Kṛṣṇa's action (karman) is not duty-bound niṣkāma-karma but spontaneous self-expression (svecchā-pravṛtti) of the ānanda-ghana (bliss-dense) Brahman. Because His essence is already pūrṇānanda, every act is play without privation — the devotee participates in this playfield through puṣṭi-prasāda (grace of nourishment), not through personal striving.
- Śrīdharabhakti
Śrīdhara presents the verse cleanly as Kṛṣṇa's own exemplar declaration (dṛṣṭānta): 'O Pārtha, I have no kartavya — because in all three worlds there is nothing unattained (anavāptam) that remains to be attained (avāptavyam), and yet I engage in action.' The bhāṣya anchors the 'so-what' pedagogically: if even Bhagavān, who needs nothing, continues to act, the pravṛtti-dharma (duty of engagement) of the human who does need things is a fortiori binding. Inaction for the aspirant is not freedom; it is evasion.
- Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti
Madhusūdana reads 3.22 as a double instruction: the metaphysical point (I have nothing to gain — nāsti avāptavyam phalam) establishes the jñāna-foundation; the address 'Pārtha' (son of Pṛthā, heir of a pure kṣatriya lineage) localizes the application — you, of all people, are fit to mirror my action. In the Advaita-Bhakti synthesis, Kṛṣṇa's acting-without-kartṛtva is the template for bhakta-karma: the devotee acts not for personal acquisition but as kainkarya, mirroring the Lord whose action is already liberated from phalāpekṣā (expectation of fruit).