Suppose someone has found real contentment within and wants nothing more from the world. Why would that person go on working? The Gita seems to say two things. It says that for such a person no duty remains (Gita 3.17). And it says, only two verses later, that Arjuna should always do his duty well (Gita 3.19).
The two fit together. Such a person works because work is no longer a way of getting something. It has become a way of caring for the world, and others learn how to live by watching what the respected do. The Lord Himself acts in this way, with nothing to gain. Here we take the ten verses in order (Gita 3.17–26).
Where these verses come in the Gita
Just before, in Work as Sacrifice, the Lord has taught that life is a wheel of giving and receiving, and that the person who takes from it and gives nothing back lives in vain (Gita 3.16). A listener might ask: what of the one who needs nothing from the wheel? May such a person step off? Arjuna is asking this for himself, since he would like to put down his bow and withdraw. These ten verses answer for the person at the highest point, and then say what everyone else should learn from that person. They sit on The Path of Karma Yoga, and the next stop on that path is Karma and Akarma: Acting Without Being Bound.
The person who needs nothing (3.17–18)
आत्मन्येव च सन्तुष्टस्तस्य कार्यं न विद्यते ॥ ३.१७ ॥
ātmanyeva cha santuṣhṭas tasya kāryaṁ na vidyate || 3.17 ||
But those human beings who take delight in the Self, who are satisfied in the Self, and who are fully content in the Self alone, for them there is no duty to perform.
न चास्य सर्वभूतेषु कश्चिदर्थव्यपाश्रयः ॥ ३.१८ ॥
na chāsya sarva-bhūteṣhu kaśhchid artha-vyapāśhrayaḥ || 3.18 ||
Such a person has nothing to gain by action and nothing to lose by inaction in this world. Nor does such a person depend on any being for any personal purpose.
The Lord describes a person who finds delight in the self, is satisfied in the self, and is content in the self alone. The three words deepen one another. Joy comes first, then the end of searching, and then rest. This is contentment in the self, the same steadiness that chapter 2 describes in the person of steady wisdom, who is satisfied in the self by the self (Gita 2.55). There is no pride or weariness in it. It is a full mind that does not go outside to be filled. For such a person, the verse says, no duty remains.
The next verse (Gita 3.18) says what this means. Such a person gains nothing by action and loses nothing by inaction, and does not lean on any being for a personal aim. "No duty remains" does not mean that duty has become wrong. Duty, in this sense, is what a person owes because something is lacking. Where nothing is lacking, nothing is owed, and the person is free.
We earn because we need something, and we keep on good terms with people because we need them. Someone who needs nothing carries none of that pressure. His happiness is in no one's hands. Whether people praise him or not, stay with him or leave, nothing in him rises or falls.
Two things should be clear. The verse describes the freedom of such a person, who is not driven. It is not an order to stop working. And it is no permission for us, since we are not yet in that state, and for us duty remains. The next verses show what the person who needs nothing does now.
Why Arjuna must still act (3.19–20)
असक्तो ह्याचरन्कर्म परमाप्नोति पूरुषः ॥ ३.१९ ॥
asakto hyācharan karma param āpnoti pūruṣhaḥ || 3.19 ||
Therefore, always perform your duty well, without attachment. By performing action without attachment, a person attains the Supreme.
The verse begins with "therefore". Because the freedom of the content person comes from not needing the result, Arjuna is told to do his duty always and well, and without clinging. By acting this way a person reaches the Supreme. The freedom shown in the last two verses now becomes the ideal in front of Arjuna. He has not reached it. For him the way is not to drop work but to do it without clinging. The Lord has already said that no one is freed by merely refusing to act, and that no one can remain without action even for a moment (Gita 3.4–5). Later He says that the true renunciate and yogi is the one who does the work that is to be done without leaning on its fruit, and not the one who does no work (Gita 6.1).
लोकसङ्ग्रहमेवापि सम्पश्यन्कर्तुमर्हसि ॥ ३.२० ॥
loka-saṅgraham evāpi sampaśhyan kartum arhasi || 3.20 ||
Indeed, Janaka and others attained perfection through action alone. Even considering the welfare of the world, you should act.
Janaka and others, the Lord says, reached perfection through action. Tradition remembers Janaka as a king who ruled while knowing the self, which shows that high knowledge and the work of a kingdom can live together.
Then a second reason is given. "Even" with the welfare of the world in view, Arjuna ought to act. The word for this, acting for the welfare of the world, joins "the world" with "holding together". It means keeping people steady on the right way and looking after their good. The first reason concerns the doer, who is helped by acting without clinging. The second concerns others, who are held together by those who act well.
This second reason is not pasted on from outside. A mind that is full can look at others first. A person absorbed in worry about himself has little room left to look at anyone else.
Why the conduct of the respected matters (3.21)
स यत्प्रमाणं कुरुते लोकस्तदनुवर्तते ॥ ३.२१ ॥
sa yat pramāṇaṁ kurute lokas tad anuvartate || 3.21 ||
Whatever a great person does, ordinary people follow. Whatever standard such a person sets, the world follows.
Whatever a respected person does, others do. Whatever standard that person accepts, the world follows. People learn more from what they see than from what they are told. Children learn what their elders do and not what they say. New colleagues take up the habits that their seniors show. What we see in our elders settles deep in us.
"Respected" is not a rank. It is anyone whom others look to: a parent, an older sibling, a teacher, a senior colleague. This is why the welfare of the world is not left to rulers and saints. Everyone is, to someone, the example. The verse also says that the world follows the standard the person accepts, so what one takes as right and wrong matters as much as what one happens to do on a given day. A person who tolerates laziness teaches laziness. A person who works honestly teaches, without a word, that honest work gets things done.
The Lord's own example (3.22–24)
नानवाप्तमवाप्तव्यं वर्त एव च कर्मणि ॥ ३.२२ ॥
nānavāptam avāptavyaṁ varta eva cha karmaṇi || 3.22 ||
O Parth, there is no duty for Me to perform in all the three worlds, nor is there anything unobtained that I need to obtain. Yet I engage in action.
मम वर्त्मानुवर्तन्ते मनुष्याः पार्थ सर्वशः ॥ ३.२३ ॥
mama vartmānuvartante manuṣhyāḥ pārtha sarvaśhaḥ || 3.23 ||
If I did not ever engage in action vigilantly, O Parth, human beings would follow My path in every way.
सङ्करस्य च कर्ता स्यामुपहन्यामिमाः प्रजाः ॥ ३.२४ ॥
saṅkarasya cha kartā syām upahanyām imāḥ prajāḥ || 3.24 ||
If I did not perform action, these worlds would perish. I would be the cause of confusion in society, and I would destroy these beings.
Now the Lord points to Himself. In all three worlds He has no duty and nothing left to obtain, and still He is engaged in action (Gita 3.22). This is the strongest case in the Gita for work that comes from fullness and not from lack.
He gives two reasons. If He did not act, always alert, people would follow His path in every way (Gita 3.23). And if He did not act, the worlds would fall into ruin, and He would be the cause of disorder among beings (Gita 3.24). The order of the world rests on action carried on with care. If even the Lord gave up work, people would conclude that giving up is right.
The Lord's reason, then, is not need but care. For a person who lacks nothing, compassion for beings is the purest reason to act. In the same spirit He comes in every age to protect the good and to re-establish what is right (Gita 4.8).
The same teaching comes in chapter 4 and chapter 9. Actions do not bind the Lord, because He has no wish for their results, and the one who knows Him this way is not bound either (Gita 4.14). Earlier seekers acted knowing this, and Arjuna is asked to follow them (Gita 4.15). He is seated like one unconcerned, with His acts not tying Him (Gita 9.9). Those two verses belong to a topic of their own, The Lord and Action, and are used here only to show what the Lord's example means.
The wise act like the ignorant, without clinging (3.25–26)
कुर्याद्विद्वांस्तथासक्तश्चिकीर्षुर्लोकसङ्ग्रहम् ॥ ३.२५ ॥
kuryād vidvāṁs tathāsaktaśh chikīrṣhur loka-saṅgraham || 3.25 ||
As the ignorant act with attachment to action, O descendant of Bharata, so should the wise act without attachment, desiring the welfare of the world.
The ignorant act with clinging to what they do. The wise should act with the same energy, but without clinging, wishing the world's good. Two people may do exactly the same work, and the difference between them is inside.
The wise person's work is not thinner or slacker. He gives it the same effort, because effort is his habit and hunger for the fruit is not. The Lord describes this elsewhere: one who has given up clinging to the fruit, is always content and leans on no outside support, is not bound even while fully engaged in action (Gita 4.20).
जोषयेत्सर्वकर्माणि विद्वान्युक्तः समाचरन् ॥ ३.२६ ॥
joṣhayet sarva-karmāṇi vidvān yuktaḥ samācharan || 3.26 ||
The wise should not create confusion in the minds of the ignorant who are attached to action. Rather, being established in the right spirit and performing all actions well, they should inspire others to do the same.
The next verse tells the wise how to treat those still attached. They should not unsettle the minds of those who are attached to action. They should do all their own work well, in the right spirit, and so draw others into it. Two things are ruled out: preaching from above, and looking down on people who work. A person who works hard for a reward is still working honestly. To tell him "you only work out of greed" does him no good. The way to teach is by example and not by argument. The wise person does his own work so well that the one who watches learns by himself.
The Lord says the same again later: the wise should not unsettle the dull who are attached (Gita 3.29). Taking away a person's support is not knowledge.
The ten verses in one view
| Verse | What it teaches | What it asks of us |
|---|---|---|
| 3.17–18 | The content person is free of need | Aim at work that does not depend on the result |
| 3.19 | Act always, well, without clinging | Do the duty in front of you |
| 3.20 | The world's welfare is a second reason | Keep others in view while you work |
| 3.21 | Others follow the conduct of the respected | Ask what your conduct teaches |
| 3.22–24 | The Lord acts with nothing to gain | Take work as care and not as need |
| 3.25 | The wise act like the ignorant, minus the clinging | Work with full energy, hold the result lightly |
| 3.26 | Guide by example | Work well and leave others their footing |
Why the teaching is built this way
The Gita gives reasons for this order elsewhere. Once a person lacks nothing, what moves that person to act is care for others, and the Gita says that those who rejoice in the good of all beings reach the Lord (Gita 5.25, Gita 12.4). The best yogi feels the joy and pain of others as his own (Gita 6.32), so help comes naturally. The wise person sees inaction in action and action in inaction (Gita 4.18): outside, the work goes on, and inside nothing grips. At the end of the Gita the Lord says that a person whose mind is unattached everywhere and free of desire reaches the freedom beyond action (Gita 18.49). That goal is reached by doing action in the right way, not by leaving it. The offering of work completes the picture: the Lord asks Arjuna to place all actions in Him and fight without anxiety (Gita 3.30). And a person worships the source of all beings through his own duty (Gita 18.46). Together these verses say that work done in one's own place, for the good of others and as an offering, is a form of worship.
Common misreadings
"A wise person may stop working." The verses describe the freedom of the content person (Gita 3.17), but the very next ones tell even such a person to act (Gita 3.19, Gita 3.25), and the Lord Himself acts (Gita 3.22).
"Acting for the world means working for approval." The aim is the welfare of the world and its holding together, with the work done free of clinging (Gita 3.25). Work done to be admired is done from clinging to admiration, and so it falls outside what the verses describe.
"Acting like the ignorant means pretending to be attached." The wise are not pretending. They are fully engaged, with the same energy. The only difference is that they do not cling (Gita 3.25).
Each misreading comes from stopping early. The first reads one verse and forgets the next ones. The second forgets that people soon recognise a person who sets an example only to be seen. The third forgets that the wise are fully absorbed in their work.
An example
Take Anand, a senior teacher in a school who is a few years from retirement. He has nothing left to prove. No promotion is coming and no one will praise him for it. Every morning he still opens the science lab early and sweeps it himself. Nobody told him to. Within a term, the younger teachers begin to arrive early and tidy their own rooms. One of them starts wiping the tables too. Then the students begin to say, "Sir, we will help." Nobody gave a talk and nobody was scolded. Only the work was visible.
Set this beside the verses. Anand has nothing left to gain, which is the state of the first two verses (Gita 3.18). His work comes from care that the lab be in order and the children learn well, and not from need. The effect came from his conduct and not from his words (Gita 3.21), and he drew others into the work by doing it well himself (Gita 3.26).
A practice for today
The Gita gives the steps itself:
- Do the duty that is in front of you, fully (Gita 3.19). Putting it off or doing it by halves is not part of this way.
- Keep the result light. Let go of the wish for praise or return (Gita 3.25). Ask yourself whether you would do this work in the same way if nobody praised it.
- Ask whom your work reaches and what it teaches them (Gita 3.21). Everyone around us is watching someone, and someone is watching us.
- If you want others to do better, show it in your own work and leave them their footing (Gita 3.26). Respect the effort of the one who works for a reward, and show him a better way in your own manner.
- Offer the work (Gita 3.30). When the work is done, let it go, and do not carry the weight of its result on your shoulders.
Pick one thing that you often ask others to do. Do it yourself today, quietly, without saying so. In the evening, notice whether anything changed, and let go of whether anyone saw.
- Which of my habits would I be glad to see in a child or a junior colleague?
- When I help someone, do I need to be thanked?
- Do I look down on people who work for rewards?
- Where do I use "I am beyond this" as a way to avoid a duty?
Questions readers ask
How do I know whether I have reached the state in 3.17?
Not by a feeling of peace at one moment. The state described in these verses holds in every circumstance. A check: when a duty comes up after your moment of peace, do you take it up easily, or do you step round it? The verse describes a person who is satisfied in the self and leans on no one for a personal aim (Gita 3.18). If you still need the result, the praise or the approval, you are on the way, and for the person on the way the Gita says that action is the means (Gita 6.3). So keep acting. At the start no one reaches perfection by avoiding action (Gita 3.4).
Why does the Lord say He acts if He needs nothing?
Because the beings need His care. He acts attentively so that they are not left without a path, and the worlds are not thrown into disorder (Gita 3.23, Gita 3.24). His action is care, not need. The same care shows where He comes in every age to protect the good and to re-establish what is right (Gita 4.8).
Is "whatever the great do, others follow" a rule only for leaders?
No. The verse speaks of whoever is respected (Gita 3.21). Parents, teachers, elder brothers and sisters, the elders of a house and the seniors in an office all come under it. In whatever circle you stand, you are an example to someone, whether you know it or not. The question the verse asks is what each of us teaches by how we live.
May I never tell others they are wrong?
You may speak when you are asked. The Lord Himself teaches Arjuna after Arjuna asks to be taught (Gita 2.7). What the verse rules out is shaking a person's footing before offering a better one (Gita 3.26). The Lord repeats the warning (Gita 3.29), but it is not a call to stay silent. To pull away a person's support when he has not asked is not to teach him; it leaves him without a footing. A calm example opens the way for speech.
How is this different from social work done for a name?
By the same test: clinging. Work done for a name is done from clinging to the name. The wise do the same work without that clinging (Gita 3.25). A simple test: if nobody saw and no credit came, would the work still be done with the same care? Work done without clinging to the result is complete in itself. The Gita goes further and asks us to take our work as worship (Gita 18.46). Then the work is neither for showing nor for getting.
Conclusion
The question "why should someone who needs nothing work?" is put in the wrong place, according to the Gita. It assumes that need is the only root of work, and that when need goes, work goes with it. The Gita shows another root. When the lack inside is filled, work stops being a burden and becomes an open hand to the world.
The Lord's answer is direct: go on acting, free of clinging, and so truly that those who watch you learn the same (Gita 3.19). The person who has no hunger for the fruit is not tired by his work and is not bound by it. Every act of such a person shows others a way.
For the same verses in simpler words, see the simple reading. For the close reading, the commentators and the objections, see the deeper reading.