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All chapters · Kurukshetra Companion, the Bhagavad Gita four verses at a time

Chapter 3: Karma Yoga

The Yoga of Action, 43 verses

4 of 43 verses so far. New readings each morning.

Chapter 3 is Karma Yoga, “The Yoga of Action”, 43 verses. Chapter 2 praised clear understanding and the steady mind, and Arjuna heard that as a reason to stop. This chapter answers the most practical question in the Gita: if wisdom matters most, why act at all? Ahead lie action as an offering, leading by example, and the desire that pulls people off course.

The story so far

  1. 3.1–4Then why push me into this?

    Arjuna asks why, if understanding beats action, he is pushed into a terrible deed, and begs for one clear answer; Krishna names two paths, knowledge and action, and says no one is freed by not starting or by renouncing alone. Lesson: stepping back is not the same as being free.

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