This summary is about verses 3.9 to 3.16 of the third chapter of the Gita. There are eight verses. On The Path of Karma Yoga it comes after One's Own Duty, and further on is "Acting for the World", in verses 3.17 to 3.26. Those who think that giving up work is the answer should first look at Can We Simply Stop Acting?.

The answer in one line

What binds is not the work but the purpose of the work. Work done only for oneself shuts a person in the circle of wanting and getting. Work done as a contribution to the whole by which we live, and done without grip, keeps turning the great cycle of giving and taking. One who does so stays free though acting.

Sacrifice does not mean only an offering in fire. It means a contribution to something greater than oneself.

What problem this answers

Why does work often feel like a burden? Verse 3.9 stings: apart from action done for sacrifice, all other action is bondage (Gita 3.9). But verses 3.4 and 3.5 say that nobody remains even a moment without action (Gita 3.4–5). So does every work bind? And which is the work that does not?

The setting and the order

Verses 3.1 and 3.2 held Arjuna's question (Gita 3.1–2). Then verses 3.4 and 3.5 said that nobody can remain without action. From there the question changes: when work cannot be avoided, what kind of work binds and what kind keeps one free? These eight verses are the first answer.

The links of the argument are these: the principle, then the order of creation, then the state of one who breaks it, then the whole picture of the cycle.

The many forms of sacrifice in the fourth chapter, such as through goods, austerity, knowledge and restraint (Gita 4.25–33), are left out. Here is only the one spirit under all the forms.

The verses in order

Verse 3.9: the principle, action for sacrifice does not bind

There are three things. Apart from action done for sacrifice, other action binds. Therefore do action for that. And do it giving up attachment (Gita 3.9).

The work is the same, and the direction changes. Work that stops at one's own gain is closed at one end. Work that reaches someone else is open.

Take an image. One teacher teaches for praise and promotion. Another teaches so that the children learn, and also takes his pay. The lesson is the same. The first teacher's happiness rests on what others say. The second's rests on the child's understanding. That inner difference is the difference between bondage and freedom.

Two wrong conclusions can follow. One, that the Lord is telling us to leave work. It is the opposite, He says "do action". The other, that we are told to work for free. There is not even a mention of earnings in the verse. Freedom is asked from attachment, not from wages.

The verse does not deny the need for action. It corrects the direction. When action that stopped at oneself turns outward, its weight changes.

Verses 3.10 and 3.11: giving is there with creation from the start

Verse 3.10 says that at the beginning of creation the Creator made beings together with sacrifice and said, "By this may you prosper, may this fulfil your wishes" (Gita 3.10). Giving was not joined to life later. It is woven in from the start.

Verse 3.11 says: nourish the gods, and may they nourish you. Advancing one another, may you gain the highest good (Gita 3.11). The "gods" are the powers that hold life up, such as rain, wind and sunlight. We nourish them and they nourish us. Its daily form is planting a tree, saving water, letting the soil rest, and getting shade, fruit and grain in return. One who breaks this relation cuts his own root. It fits today's concern for the environment too.

Take the image of a home. In a home that runs on everyone's giving, nobody can say "I only earn for myself." The earner too goes out to earn in a world that someone has cooked for, washed for and looked after.

There is a finer point. The fulfilment of wishes through sacrifice is the fruit of action, not its cause. Verse 2.47 says the right is to action, not to the fruit (Gita 2.47). The desired fruit comes behind. It does not become the aim.

Verse 3.12: one who takes and does not return

Gods pleased by sacrifice will give the desired enjoyments. One who enjoys what they have given without offering it to them is surely a thief (Gita 3.12).

The word is harsh so that the point is seen. Enjoying is not the fault. The previous verse itself speaks of enjoyments being given. The fault is that everything flows in one direction only. One who gets the whole stock of comfort from other people's labour, from fields, water and air, and returns nothing, does not see the debt on which he lives. A thief is one who takes another's thing as his own. The verse makes us feel the debt. It is not there to pronounce guilt.

The remedy is near at hand. To avoid being a thief nothing has to be given up. One just has to return a share.

Verse 3.13: two ways of eating the same meal

The good who eat what is left after sacrifice are freed from all sins. Those who cook only for themselves eat sin itself (Gita 3.13).

The grain in both plates is the same. The difference is that in one a share for someone else was set aside before eating. In homes it comes naturally: the first roti for the cow, the first morsel for the Lord, a share for whoever comes to the door. What is left is like prasad.

One who eats after sharing knows the plate was not filled by his labour alone. There is more gratitude and less grip. For one who cooks "only for himself" every morsel is his own, and there is always the fear of losing what is mine. The verse calls this fear and grip sin.

Verses 3.14 and 3.15: how many hands behind your plate

Verse 3.14 says that beings are sustained by food, food comes from rain, rain from sacrifice, and sacrifice is born of action (Gita 3.14).

Verse 3.15 says: know action to be born of the Veda, and the Veda to come from the imperishable Supreme. Therefore the all-pervading Supreme is ever present in sacrifice (Gita 3.15).

Take the image of the plate. The farmer, the clouds, the carrier, the grinder, the one who rolls the bread: you know none of them by name. In each link someone did his work. The last link is always human action. Rain is not in our hands, but ploughing the field is. The link of the cycle that belongs to the human being, the human being has to turn.

Why is the Veda named? In tradition the Veda is the knowledge that tells which action to do in what spirit. The chain is that the knowledge of action comes from the Veda and the Veda from the Supreme. So action done in the right spirit is joined to the source of creation. The last end of the cycle is where the first is: in the Supreme.

If we do not turn our link, the cycle stops at us. This is no threat. It is a plain fact. Imagine a settlement where all take and nobody works.

Work done in the spirit of offering is different from ordinary labour. What is present in it is the very One we worship on great occasions. If the vision is whole, one Being is in everything offered (Gita 4.24), and He is the enjoyer and master of all sacrifices (Gita 9.24).

Verse 3.16: the life of one who only takes is in vain

One who does not follow the cycle so turned lives a life of sin, delighting only in the senses, and lives in vain (Gita 3.16).

It is not against pleasure. The "vain" one is the one who delights only in his own senses. His world is small: my hunger, my liking, my comfort. He sends nothing outward, so nothing comes back. The fruit of his life stays shut in a closed room. For one who has everything and is of use to nobody, pleasure is dull and the mind has an emptiness. "Vain" points to that, not to a curse.

Against him stands the person of verses 3.17 to 3.26, who has nothing to gain for himself and yet acts (Gita 3.17–26). The first sits outside the cycle. The second stays inside it and turns it. The Gita calls the second free.

There is relief too. When we see that our work is one link of the great cycle, the whole weight of success and failure does not rest on us alone. The link's work is to run its own place well. The rest is the cycle's.

The eight verses at a glance

Verse 3.9 teaches that action for sacrifice does not bind and other action does, so change the purpose and give up the grip. Verses 3.10 and 3.11 teach that giving is there with life from the start and goes both ways, so see what you get as joined with what others give. Verse 3.12 says one who gets and does not return is a thief, so recognise the debt and return something. Verse 3.13 says one who eats after sharing is free and one who cooks only for himself is bound, so set a share aside before eating. Verses 3.14 and 3.15 show the cycle of food, rain, sacrifice and action, so run your own link. And verse 3.16 says one who does not turn the cycle lives in vain, so come out of the closed circle.

The same thing later in the Gita

Verse 9.27 says: whatever you do, eat, offer, give or practise, offer it to Me. Every daily act can become an offering (Gita 9.27).

Verse 3.30 says: offer all actions to Me, without hope and the sense of mine (Gita 3.30). Offering means putting down "this is mine" and "may I get this" along with the action.

Verse 4.31 says that those who eat what is left of sacrifice reach the Supreme, and for one who offers no sacrifice even this world is not happy (Gita 4.31). From mere taking there is no happiness either.

Verses 18.5 and 17.11 say that sacrifice, giving and austerity are not to be given up, and that sacrifice is done as duty, without wish for fruit (Gita 18.5, Gita 17.11). This is the tone of the whole Gita.

Verse 4.24 says that the offering is Brahman, the oblation is Brahman, the offerer is Brahman (Gita 4.24). The divide between giving and receiving dissolves. Verses 3.9 to 3.16 are the first step toward that height.

And verse 5.29 says that the Lord is the enjoyer of sacrifice and austerity and the friend of all beings (Gita 5.29). The One to whom the offering is given is no distant master but a friend. And in what is given to a friend there is no burden.

Three common misunderstandings

The first misunderstanding is that sacrifice means only dropping an offering in fire. That is not so. The verses say it is born of action (Gita 3.14), so that spirit can be in every action. Verse 9.27 calls daily eating, giving and doing an offering. The form belongs to a tradition. The spirit is for everyone.

The second is that offering means working without pay or being used. That is not so. Freedom is asked from attachment, not from earning (Gita 3.9). Some part of what comes is to be returned, not all given. And duty does not mean putting up with exploitation.

The third is that this is a bargain with the gods: we give, they give in return. That is not so. This is not the language of bargaining. The two nourish one another (Gita 3.11), and the cycle goes on by giving without keeping accounts of getting (Gita 3.9). A bargain has grip. Here freedom comes from letting go of the grip.

Five steps for bringing it into your work

First, look at what you are using today and trace it back to the hands behind it (Gita 3.14). Before starting work, decide whom it will serve (Gita 3.9, Gita 3.10–11). While working, do not sit gripping praise or fruit (Gita 3.9). Return something without announcing it: time, help, money or a good word (Gita 3.12–13). And at the end of the day, offer the work to the Lord (Gita 9.27, Gita 3.30).

An image gives the sum of it. A sweet-maker's work and earnings stayed the same. What changed was that the first kachori was set aside for someone who could not pay, that is, a share was set apart. And the clutch on the work loosened.

Questions people ask

Does the Gita ask us to perform Vedic rites? Sacrifice is born of action, work done in the spirit of offering (Gita 3.14). Sacrifice, giving and austerity are not to be given up (Gita 18.5). And verse 9.27 opens offering to daily acts. The form is of one's own tradition. The spirit is for all.

What does "the gods nourish us" mean? The powers by which life goes on are called gods in the verses. We and they nourish each other (Gita 3.11–12). Standing in the midst of this flow is the Lord Himself, the enjoyer of sacrifice and the friend of all (Gita 5.29).

Why is one who enjoys without returning called a thief? Because he takes as his own what belongs to the whole world that gave it (Gita 3.12). The word is harsh so that the debt is seen. The remedy is not blame but returning. One who eats after sharing is free of sins (Gita 3.13).

Is the debt cleared for good by returning something? No. The cycle goes on, so offering is a way of living, not a single act (Gita 3.16). "Whatever you do, offer it" (Gita 9.27) is every day anew.

We were told to give up attachment, so why the promise of desired fruit? Action is done giving up attachment (Gita 3.9). The desired fruit is something that comes along with action (Gita 3.10), not the reason for it. The root is in verse 2.47.

If you have to explain it in thirty seconds

It is not work that binds. It is the purpose of work. Work only for oneself shuts a person in a circle. Work done as a contribution to something larger, giving up attachment, is sacrifice, and it does not bind (Gita 3.9). Giving is there with creation from the start. We and the powers of life nourish one another (Gita 3.10–11). One who gets and returns nothing is a thief (Gita 3.12), and one who eats after sharing is free (Gita 3.13). Behind the plate is a whole cycle of food, rain and action, and the human link is for the human being to turn (Gita 3.14–15). The life of one who delights only in his senses is in vain (Gita 3.16). The work stays the same. The way of seeing it changes.

Related hubs: The Path of Karma Yoga (path) · One's Own Duty (before) · Can We Simply Stop Acting? · Acting for the World