📿 Shloka Collection

Saktah Karmanyavidvamsah

Gita 3.25 Bhagavad Gita
📖 Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3 — Karma Yoga
सक्ताः कर्मण्यविद्वांसो यथा कुर्वन्ति भारत ।
कुर्याद्विद्वांस्तथासक्तश्चिकीर्षुर्लोकसंग्रहम् ॥
Saktah karmanyavidvamso yatha kurvanti Bharata
Kuryad vidvams tathasaktash chikirshurloka sangraham
सक्ताः
attached
कर्मणि
in action
अविद्वांसः
the ignorant
यथा कुर्वन्ति
just as they act
भारत
O Bharata (Arjuna)
कुर्यात् विद्वान्
so should the wise person act
तथा असक्तः
similarly but without attachment
चिकीर्षुः
desiring to bring about
लोकसंग्रहम्
the welfare of the world

From the outside, the wise and the ignorant may look like they are doing the same thing. Both go to work. Both raise families. Both fulfill their obligations. The difference is invisible. It lives in the heart.

The ignorant person works driven by attachment: I want this result, I need that reward. The wise person does the same work, but without clinging. And the reason the wise person continues to act is not personal need. It is lokasangraha — the desire to hold the world together, to keep the social fabric intact, to serve as a steady example.

This clarifies 3.19. The command to act without attachment is fleshed out here: outwardly the action looks the same, but the inner motivation is entirely different.

Gita 4.18 takes this further: one who sees action in inaction and inaction in action is truly wise.

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