Bhagavad Gītā Chapter 3, Verse 7: Krishna to Arjuna — Karma-Yoga
The one who reins in the senses with the mind and then acts through the organs of action, without clinging to results, is better than the one who merely sits still.
Bhāṣyakāra purports
- Śaṅkaraadvaita
He who is qualified for action but not yet established in knowledge — this Arjuna — restrains the sense-organs (jñānendriyāṇi, the instruments of perception) through the mind (manas, the inner coordinator) and then undertakes karma-yoga through the organs of action (karmendriyāṇi, hands, speech, and the rest), remaining unattached (asakta, free of desire for fruit). Such a one is superior (viśiṣyate) to the hypocrite (mithyācāra) who merely sits still in body while the mind churns with desire. Niṣkāma-karma (desireless action) here is not the goal but the purifying preparation that unfolds into jñāna.
- Rāmānujaviśiṣṭādvaita
One who, with the mind turned inward toward the self (ātmāvalokanapravṛttena manasā), restrains the sense-organs that are naturally prone to their objects — and then, through those very karmendriyāṇi that are inherently action-bent, undertakes karma-yoga without clinging (asaṅgapūrvakam) — is superior even to a person established in jñāna-niṣṭhā. Because his engagement with action carries no possibility of inadvertent error (asambhāvyamānapramādatva), his path is more secure than the jñāna-mārga when the aspirant is not yet fully ripe.
- Madhvadvaita
Even when full renunciation is not possible, one must renounce to the extent of one's capacity (śaktitaḥ tyāga). The mind (manas) is the proximate cause of both bondage and liberation — the anvaya (positive) case is 'he who, remembering through the mind, restrains through the mind'; the vyatireka (negative) case is its converse. Karma-yoga here means action fit to one's own varṇa and āśrama (svavaṛṇāśramocita), and the verse does not restrict this to the householder — the general formulation covers sannyāsa and all other stations equally.
- Vallabhaśuddhādvaita
He who, through a mind purified by yoga (yogaśuddhena manasā), restrains the corrupt (duṣṭāni) sense-organs and thereupon undertakes karma-yoga through the organs of action — remaining unattached (asakta) — is the uttermost practitioner (sa uttamaḥ). The purification of the mind is not a mere moral prerequisite but the direct vehicle of Kṛṣṇa's grace (puṣṭi); without that yogaśuddhi, even outward action remains entangled in the prākṛta (the natural, self-powered realm).
- Śrīdharabhakti
The one who is the opposite of the hypocrite just condemned (etadviparīta) is here extolled: he restrains the jñānendriyāṇi (sense-organs of knowing) through the mind, turning them toward Īśvara (īśvarapravāṇāni kṛtvā), and then engages the karmendriyāṇi in action as a means (upāya) — remaining desirelessly free of craving for fruit (phalābhilāṣarahita). Such a practitioner becomes distinguished (viśiṣṭo bhavati) because through purification of the antaḥkaraṇa (inner organ) he becomes one who truly possesses knowledge (cittaśuddhyā jñānavān bhavati).
- Madhusūdanaadvaita-bhakti
A man with an impure antaḥkaraṇa (inner organ) who hastily renounces all action out of mere eagerness (autsukyamātreṇa) fails; instead one should, for citta-śuddhi (purification of mind), perform only desireless action (niṣkāmakarmāṇi) as prescribed by śāstra. Restraining both the jñānendriyāṇi (hearing, etc.) from clinging to sound and other objects that are causes of sin, and also the manas itself through viveka (discriminative reason) — and then employing the karmendriyāṇi in karma-yoga prescribed as a means of purification — such a discerning person (vivekī) is superior to the hypocritical renunciant. The wonder, O Arjuna, is this: one restrains the sense-organs of action yet remains purposeless; the other restrains the sense-organs of knowledge and through the action-organs reaches the highest puruṣārtha (human end).