BG 3.4 — Karma-Yoga — Sūtrakṛt-Gītā

Bhagavad Gītā 3.4Chapter 3 · Karma-Yoga · Krishna → Arjuna · anuṣṭubh

न कर्मणामनारम्भान् नैष्कर्म्यं पुरुषो ऽश्नुते ।

न च संन्यसनादेव सिद्धिं समधिगच्छति ॥

na karmaṇām anārambhān naiṣkarmyaṃ puruṣo 'śnute

na ca saṃnyasanād eva siddhiṃ samadhigacchati

spokensingle-voice recital; rendered via IndicF5 conditioned on a Sanskrit reference clip

meaning

A person does not reach the actionless state by simply refusing to act, nor does mere renunciation bring fulfillment, because the inner purification that makes knowledge possible comes only through right action first.

ekras · bhāṣya

Krishna names two errors that look like ways out. "Not by non-initiation of actions does the purusha attain naishkarmya. And not from samnyasa alone does one reach siddhi." Two negations, each closing off a tempting escape. The first: simply not starting the prescribed actions does not produce the action-less state. The man who fails to perform yajna, dana, tapas does not thereby arrive at naishkarmya — the state of being beyond karma's grip. The non-action is itself a kind of karma; it accumulates its own pratyavaya, its own sin-from-omission. Just sitting still does not work. The second: even formal samnyasa — taking the orange robe, walking away from the household — does not produce siddhi if the inner work has not been done. The form of renunciation is not the substance; without the antahkarana-shuddhi that comes from karma-yoga first, the renunciate carries his unrenounced mind into the renounced life.

Madhusudana cites the Brihadaranyaka — tam evam vedanuvacana-yajna-dana-tapasa brahmana vividishanti — establishing that shruti itself ordains karma as the instrument for atma-jnana. Karma is not optional preparation; it is the appointed means. The bhakti reading sharpens it: chitta-shuddhi is the governing purpose behind karma. Varnashramocitani karmani kartavyani — actions appropriate to one's station and stage must be performed until jnana arises. The verse closes Arjuna's other escape — the one where he might think laying down the bow IS the spiritual move. Not initiating the war is not naishkarmya. The work has to be done.

Context

where

Chapter 3 · Karma-Yoga · meter anuṣṭubh

who speaks

Krishna → Arjuna

preceded by — BG 3.3

Long ago I declared two paths in this world: knowledge-yoga for those who have renounced, and action-yoga for those still engaged in work.

What's going on

Sūtras through this verse · hub (73)

JayatīrthaclassicalC

Refuting Śaṅkara-style readings, named or unnamedbetween

2.72Old-age renunciation is off topic here.───→here3.4───→3.15He refutes by saying na ca.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalC

Knowledge plus action will not save youbetween

3.3Two paths for two kinds — never combined.───→here3.4───→5.2Each path bears fruit by its own working.

RamsukhdasclassicalB

This human birth — your one chance to actbetween

2.47Only a human body can do new action.───→here3.4───→3.5No one can stop acting even for a moment.

show all 73

ŚaṅkaraclassicalJ

Scripture stands behind every claimstation · anchor

───→here3.4───→

MadhvaclassicalT7

Action and knowledge — never rivalsstation · anchor

───→here3.4───→

Śaṅkaraclassicalshankara_jnana_nishtha

Naishkarmya is not just non-doingstation · other · station 2/6

───→here3.4───→

ŚaṅkaraclassicalB

Knowledge alone, with all action laid downstation

───→here3.4───→

JayatīrthaclassicalG

Citation as proof — śruti, smṛti, MB, Aṣṭādhyāyī, Pañcarātrastation

───→here3.4───→

Madhusūdanaclassicalmadhusudan_bhagavad_arpana

Madhusudan Bhagavad Arpanabetween · other

2.47Fruit-free action cannot bind───→here3.4───→3.30Offer all your acts

Gauravmoderncivilizational_air_conditioning

Civilizational Air Conditioningbetween

2.63'Krodhad bhavati sammohah, sammohat smriti-vibhramah, smriti-bhramshad buddhi-na───→here3.4───→3.5'Na hi kashchit kshanam api jatu tishthaty akarma-krit.' No one stays inactive e

Gauravmodernkarma_yoga_hand

Karma Yoga Handbetween

2.50Thumb. Kausalam. 'Yogah karmasu kausalam' is the line Gaurav opens the whole mne───→here3.4───→3.27Palm, kartala. Akartritva, non-doership. 'Prakriteh kriyamanani gunaih karmani s

Gauravmodernsanatana_dharma_101

Sanatana Dharma 101between

2.22'Vasamsi jirnani yatha vihaya' — body as worn-out clothes. Sister verse to 2.13,───→here3.4───→3.27Karma pillar. The 'ahankara-vimudhatma kartaham iti manyate' line is where Gaura

Gauravmodernthree_yogas_braid

Three Yogas Braidbetween

3.3'Loke'smin dvi-vidha nishtha pura prokta mayanagha, jnana-yogena samkhyanam karm───→here3.4───→5.4'Sankhya-yogau prithag balah pravadanti na panditah.' Only the immature say sank

ŚaṅkaraclassicalD

The fit student vs the unfit studentbetween

3.3Two populations, two distinct paths.───→here3.4───→5.6Renunciation is hard without yoga first.

JayatīrthaclassicalD

Saṅgati declared at the head of every adhyāyabetween

3.1Self in chapter two; sādhana opens here.───→here3.4───→4.1Three blocks named at the chapter head.

JayatīrthaclassicalH

Pūrva-pakṣa explicit — nanu / iti cet / ity ata āhabetween

2.50Nanu opens, smṛti runs nine deep.───→here3.4───→3.17No-kartavya rival staged then answered.

JayatīrthaclassicalI

Lakṣaṇā-control — literal preferred when availablebetween

2.39Sāṅkhya-yoga literal, not external schools.───→here3.4───→3.15If literal works, figurative is idle.

JayatīrthaclassicalJ

Reading the silence — iti śeṣaḥ and iti bhāvaḥbetween

2.68Supply marks the chapter-seal gap.───→here3.4───→3.15Iti viṣṇoḥ iti śeṣaḥ supplies referent.

MadhusūdanaclassicalA

Three groups of six: you, the Lord, the joiningbetween

3.1The whole map laid out at chapter three's door.───→here3.4───→5.1Two chapters settled action and knowing.

MadhusūdanaclassicalB

Different students need different teachingsbetween

3.3Arjuna's mixed question gets a sorted answer.───→here3.4───→5.1Not combined, not optional; distributed by fitness.

MadhusūdanaclassicalC

Action purifies before knowing can landbetween

2.47The unready can only act, not yet know.───→here3.4───→3.30Even a seeker not-yet-pure offers, drops fruit-claim.

MadhusūdanaclassicalD

Offer the act to the Lord and it stops bindingbetween

2.47Action offered, fruit-free, cannot bear bondage.───→here3.4───→3.30Offer all your acts; fight without fruit-claim.

MadhusūdanaclassicalG

Knowing and acting cannot run togetherbetween

3.1The grand architecture cannot mix the two.───→here3.4───→4.34Approach a knower; knowing is not earned by action.

MadhusūdanaclassicalI

Liberation while alive — the body finishes its runbetween

3.1The architecture ends in living-liberation, then bodily.───→here3.4───→6.46The yogi with mind-stilled stands above mere knowing.

Gauravmodernchaplaincy_kit_of_tools

Chaplaincy Kit Of Toolsapproach

───→here3.4───→4.34Paramparā / direct transmission. 'Tad viddhi pranipatena pariprashnena sevaya, u

Gauravmoderninterfaith_cosmology

Interfaith Cosmologyapproach

───→here3.4───→4.11'Ye yatha mam prapadyante tams tathaiva bhajamy aham.' As they approach me, so I

ŚaṅkaraclassicalF

The Lord is born only as it wereapproach

───→here3.4───→4.6I appear as if born, never really, by māyā.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalG

After knowing, act only to hold the worldapproach

───→here3.4───→3.20Janaka acted only to hold the world together.

ŚaṅkaraclassicalH

The Lord is friend of every beingapproach

───→here3.4───→5.29Friend of all beings, the witness of every act.

JayatīrthaclassicalE

Vishnu-sarvottamatva read into apparently neutral wordsapproach

───→here3.4───→3.15Brahmodbhavam — born of parabrahman.

JayatīrthaclassicalF

Bhakti-tāratamya: gradation among devotees, gradation in fruitapproach

───→here3.4───→4.11Fruit proportional to the service offered.

Gauravmoderneminem_dsm_arjuna

Eminem Dsm Arjunaexit

2.11'Ashochyan anvashochas tvam prajna-vadamsh cha bhashase.' You grieve those not t───→here3.4───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalH

Phala-saṃkalpa is the only upādhistation

───→here3.4───→

ĀnandagiriclassicalA

The two-niṣṭhā axisbetween

3.3Three classes, one niṣṭhā each.───→here3.4───→5.1Every clause tagged jñāna or karma.

ĀnandagiriclassicalC

Adhikāra: seeker vs. fulfilledbetween

3.3Three classes, each its own niṣṭhā.───→here3.4───→5.1Two saṃnyāsas: fruit and means.

ĀnandagiriclassicalD

Praśna-bīja chapter openingsbetween

3.1Buddhi-vyākulatva named the seed.───→here3.4───→5.1Recap-then-question becomes the rule.

ĀnandagiriclassicalF

Which karma? — fourfold typologybetween

3.3Vaidika action sorted by life-stage rule.───→here3.4───→4.18Action-in-inaction needs the typology.

ĀnandagiriclassicalL

Akṣarayojanā — word-fit firstbetween

3.1Chapter-1 verse opens with word-fit, then bīja.───→here3.4───→7.1Word-fit holds at the architectural seam.

ŚrīdharaclassicalE

Inner cleansing reconciles work and knowingbetween

3.3One path, two grades: impure, then pure mind.───→here3.4───→4.39Faith earns knowing; work readies that faith.

RamsukhdasclassicalC

Desire is the root — not actionbetween

2.71The steady seer walks with no want, no mine.───→here3.4───→3.37One enemy alone: desire, only desire.

RamsukhdasclassicalD

The three modes (sattva, rajas, tamas) at workbetween

2.47Even renouncing has three flavors.───→here3.4───→3.27The modes act, ego claims to do.

RamsukhdasclassicalE

Your own work as worshipbetween

2.33Refusal is not safe; it costs everything.───→here3.4───→3.35Your own flawed work beats another's perfect.

Ramsukhdasclassical

Sādhaka Sañjīvanī commentary at this versebetween

───→here3.4───→

ŚrīdharaclassicalD

The path that turns no one awayapproach

───→here3.4───→4.11However they come, I meet them so.

ŚrīdharaclassicalF

The Lord inside as inner rulerapproach

───→here3.4───→3.30Lay every act in Me; I move within.

ŚrīdharaclassicalI

His evenness as ground for refugeapproach

───→here3.4───→4.11I meet each one as that one approaches.

ŚrīdharaclassicalJ

Insight given as a gift, not earned aloneapproach

───→here3.4───→4.34Knowers will pass it to you by teaching.

ŚrīdharaclassicalL

Chapter prefaces as the bhāṣya's spineapproach

───→here3.4───→5.1Settling the doubt: renounce or work?

RamsukhdasclassicalJ

Divine vs demonic patternsapproach

───→here3.4───→3.37The enemy is desire turning into anger.

RamsukhdasclassicalK

The body is not yoursapproach

───→here3.4───→3.27The modes act, but ego claims the deed.

Ekrasmodernkarma_yoga

Karma yoga — the apprentice pathbetween · v2

3.3Two paths, named───→here3.4───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmodernanger_management

Anger Managementbetween · other

2.63Anger to ruin───→here3.4───→3.37Kāma is the enemy

VallabhaclassicalC

Drop the doer, not the deedbetween

3.1Drop something inside the act, not the act.───→here3.4───→3.30Drop the fruit, the mine, the doership — keep the act.

VallabhaclassicalD

Chapter-opening preludesbetween

3.1Four-verse prelude frames renunciation.───→here3.4───→4.1Four-verse prelude names avatāra-līlā.

VallabhaclassicalI

A closed three-source citation gridbetween

2.11Vallabha quotes his own Nibandha at verse two.───→here3.4───→3.30The Nibandha is cited again on threefold drop.

Ekrasmodernleadership

Leadership — svadharma in actionapproach · v2

───→here3.4───→3.20Janaka, lokasangraha

Ekrasmodernparadox_of_doership

Paradox of doership — kartṛtvaapproach · v2

───→here3.4───→3.27Modes act, ego claims

VallabhaclassicalA

Two paths — rule-bound and grace-onlyapproach

───→here3.4───→4.11Each soul takes the path Krishna assigns to it.

VallabhaclassicalG

The Lord plays — calf-affection, not contractapproach

───→here3.4───→4.7When dharma weakens, the Lord descends to play.

Ekrasmodernfamily_conflict

Family Conflictexit · other

2.8No grief-remover I see───→here3.4───→

RāmānujaclassicalD

Karma-yoga as kainkarya (worship)between

3.3Action without claim = worship.───→here3.4───→3.9Sacrifice-frame frees the act.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalF

Saṅgati — anticipation-and-resolutionbetween

3.1Arjuna's question resolves 2.49's hint.───→here3.4───→6.47Top-yogin clause — the chapter-7 hinge.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalG

Three yogas — three angles on one configurationbetween

3.3Two paths, one orientation toward Me.───→here3.4───→3.30Karma offered to the indweller becomes worship.

RāmānujaclassicalC

Three ṣaṭkas (1–6 / 7–12 / 13–18)approach

───→here3.4───→5.1A four-clause summary of all of 2 through 4.

RāmānujaclassicalG

Māyā is real causal powerapproach

───→here3.4───→4.6Self-power, not self-illusion.

RāmānujaclassicalH

Prapatti / śaraṇāgati — universal upāyaapproach

───→here3.4───→4.11As they approach Me, so do I receive them.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalC

Antaryāmin — the indweller as standing referentapproach

───→here3.4───→3.30'Mayi sarvāṇi karmāṇi': read as antaryāmin.

VedāntadeśikaclassicalD

Adhikāra — eligibility as architecture, not exceptionapproach

───→here3.4───→4.11'Yathā' is open; the verb is the gate.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalA

Knowing and acting are one powerbetween

3.1Knowing versus acting is the wrong cut.───→here3.4───→7.1Together they cover everything to be known.

MadhvaclassicalT2

Soul depends on Lord — the gap that does not closebetween

2.20The soul is conscious but only as reflection.───→here3.4───→3.27Action is the modes'; the soul only seems to act.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalB

Recognition, not additionapproach

───→here3.4───→4.14Recognize, do not learn — the verb shifts.

AbhinavaguptaclassicalD

Avatāra: appearance without departureapproach

───→here3.4───→4.1Teaching descends; the teacher does not move.

MadhvaclassicalT10

The deluder is named — three goddesses, one Lordapproach

───→here3.4───→4.6Even the unborn descends through the deluder Durgā.

Śabda · lemmas (11 unique · 12 occurrences)

समधिगच्छति saṃ-√gam · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
कर्मणाम् karman — action, deed, the law of action · genitive neuter plural noun

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न na ×2 — not (negation particle)
अनारम्भात् anārambha — (an- + ārambha: beginning) · ablative masculine singular noun
नैष्कर्म्यम् naiṣkarmya — freedom from action (from niṣkarman) · accusative neuter singular noun
पुरुषः puruṣa — person, man; the cosmic Person; the Self (Sāṅkhya/Vedānta) · nominative masculine singular noun
अश्नुते √aś — to eat / to pervade (verbal root, two homophonous roots) · present indicative 3rd person singular verb
च ca — and; (homonym: also the consonant ca)
संन्यसनात् saṃnyasana — renunciation (sam- + ni- + √as) · ablative neuter singular noun
एव eva — indeed, truly, only (emphatic particle)
सिद्धिम् siddhi — perfection, attainment, success; supernatural power (yogic) · accusative feminine singular noun

Praśna · so what (7)

01Every school anchors naiṣkarmya in citta-śuddhi rather than behavioural cessation — but they name different mechanisms (Śaṅkara: vicāra after purification; Rāmānuja: Bhagavān-ārādhana-karma; Madhva: Hari's anugraha following desireless action; Vallabha: Kṛṣṇa's prasāda; Śrīdhara: karma up to jñāna; Madhusūdana: karma + bhakti together). Are these genuinely different paths or different descriptions of a single interior movement?
02Śaṅkara invokes the upāya-upeya (means-end) principle to argue that bypassing karma bypasses the only available means to naiṣkarmya. Does this logic imply that karma-yoga is universally mandatory, or only for those who lack the rare direct adhikāra (qualification) for jñāna-niṣṭhā without it?

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03Rāmānuja specifies śāstrīya-karma (ordained action) as the purifier — not any activity, but scripture-ordained service oriented to Bhagavān. How does this specification change the practical meaning of 'do not stop acting'? Does it license withdrawing from non-ordained professional or social activity?
04Madhva's structural argument — that the jīva always inhabits some body, so past karma is always maturing — implies that inaction cannot stop the karmic process, only desireless action can metabolise it. Does this framework make mokṣa categorically impossible without Hari's direct anugraha (grace), regardless of one's effort?
05Vallabha's bhāṣya is the most compressed in the payload, yet his framework is the most radical: liberation belongs entirely to Kṛṣṇa's prasāda, not to any technique. Does the brevity of his comment signal that the verse is less central to Puṣṭi-mārga, or that its teaching is absorbed so completely into the prasāda-framework that it needs no elaboration?
06Śrīdhara protects two niṣṭhās from counterfeits: do not mimic jñāna-niṣṭhā by stopping karma, and do not mimic saṃnyāsa-siddhi by adopting outer renunciant form. Which of these counterfeits is more dangerous from the standpoint of spiritual self-deception, and why might the verse address them in this order?
07All six commentators require inner transformation before renunciation bears fruit — this is the only point of consensus. What does this cross-school consensus imply about the relationship between outer religious form (āśrama, ritual, vow) and inner readiness? Can a tradition enforce this sequence institutionally, or is it inherently a matter of individual discernment?

Vyavahāra · try it in your life

Advaita

When the temptation arises to declare your engagement finished — to stop producing, stop showing up, stop performing the demanding work that currently structures your days — Śaṅkara's reading asks a prior question: has the antaḥkaraṇa been sufficiently purified that genuine jñāna-niṣṭhā is actually available, or is the withdrawal a flight from the discomfort of continued purification? The test is not outer stillness but inner observation: if desire, anxiety, and the sense of doership are still operative below the surface, the cessation mimics naiṣkarmya without producing it, and the correct move is to return to the work until the instrument is genuinely ready.

Viśiṣṭādvaita

Rāmānuja's reading applies directly to anyone convinced that a current demanding role — a draining job, a difficult relationship, an unglamorous duty — is spiritually inferior to a cleaner, quieter field. The verse says the anādi-pāpa-saṃcaya (accumulated sin from beginningless time) cannot be bypassed by stepping outside the conditioning; it must be metabolised through action. The Viśiṣṭādvaita instruction is to reframe the current duty as Paramapuruṣa-kainkarya (service to the Lord who is present in the work) rather than abandoning it in search of a purer field — because siddhi comes through full engagement correctly oriented, not through escape.

show all 6

Dvaita

Madhva's bhāṣya is a corrective to a specific pattern: the belief that stepping out of professional or social responsibility and formally adopting a renunciant identity is sufficient for spiritual progress. His argument is that past karma continues to mature regardless of present posture — the jīva cannot outrun accumulated karma by stopping. What actually metabolises it is niṣkāma-karma (desireless action) whose antaḥkaraṇa-śuddhi eventually produces the vairāgya and jñāna that Hari confirms with anugraha; the shortcut of premature formal renunciation is not renunciation but another expression of the very aversion it claims to transcend.

Śuddhādvaita

Vallabha's reading removes the strategic mind from the equation: when you find yourself calculating whether action or non-action will more efficiently advance your liberation, the Puṣṭi-mārga response is to recognise that calculation itself as the obstacle. Neither action nor its cessation is within your productive power to convert into mokṣa — that is Kṛṣṇa's prasāda alone. The everyday instruction is to act fully within the given structure of your life as a form of receiving what Kṛṣṇa has already arranged — keeping the quality of the action bright and full — while releasing the meta-project of managing your own liberation through strategic choice between doing and not-doing.

Bhakti

Śrīdhara's dual warning maps onto a recognisable pattern: the person who, having encountered teachings on non-attachment, uses them as permission to disengage from responsibilities (calling it vairāgya while practising avoidance), and the person who adopts a formal spiritual identity — meditator, renunciant, practitioner — without the antaḥkaraṇa-śuddhi that alone gives it substance. The application from the bhāṣya is diagnostic: assess the inner instrument honestly; if agitation, attachment, and reactivity persist, the prescribed path is varṇāśrama-ucita-karma performed with as much śuddhi (purity) as one can manage — not the premature adoption of the outer forms of the next stage.

Advaita-Bhakti

Madhusūdana's synthesis identifies the single operative test: not outer activity-level but inner orientation. If you are acting with bhagavad-arpaṇa-buddhi (genuine offering of action and fruit to Bhagavān — not as a technique but as a real relinquishment of outcome), then karma is performing its citta-śuddhi function regardless of how intense the outer engagement is. If you are sitting still without that orientation, the stillness produces nothing. The everyday instruction is therefore to establish the offering-orientation first and adjust outer activity-level only secondarily — and only when karma-janita-citta-śuddhi has genuinely matured, not when mere preference for less effort suggests it has.

Adhiṣṭhāna · substrate signature

substratev2.6-frozen

parserByT5-Sanskrit-multitask (Nehrdich/Hellwig/Keutzer EMNLP 2024)

mūlaBelvalkar critical edition (BORI 1947), via Ambuda multi-witness

show all metadata

weightsa=1 · b=0.01 · e_v=0.005 · z=0.2 · h=0 · th=0.01

anchorfit on Ramsukhdas's Sādhak Sañjīvanī (1980), frozen across the eight-commentator panel; cross-validated R@4 = 71.6% on Śaṅkara

extracted2026-04-21

methodPaper 1, Section II.B (substrate architecture and feature definitions)

↓ view raw per-verse object (JSON)↗ per-verse-object schema ↗ substrate code (MIT) + data (CC-BY 4.0)

The schema generalizes to any bounded-polysemy corpus with discrete primary text units, attested witness traditions, identifiable schools, and formal substrate. Port the per-verse object; refit weights on a domain-appropriate Layer-3 anchor; ship.

Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 3, Verse 4: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Yoga