BHAGAVAD-GITA 3:19

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BHAGAVAD-GITA 3:19

 

tasmad asaktah satatam

karyam karma samacara

asakto hy acaran karma

param apnoti purusah

 

WORD FOR WORD

 

tasmat--therefore; asaktah--without attachment; satatam--constantly;

karyam--as duty; karma--work; samacara--perform; asaktah--unattached;

hi--certainly; acaran--performing; karma--work; param--the Supreme;

apnoti--achieves; purusah--a man.

 

TRANSLATION

 

Therefore, without being attached to the fruits of activities, one

should act as a matter of duty, for by working without attachment one

attains the Supreme.

 

PURPORT

 

The Supreme is the Personality of Godhead for the devotees, and

liberation for the impersonalist. A person, therefore, acting for

Krsna, or in Krsna consciousness, under proper guidance and without

attachment to the result of the work, is certainly making progress

toward the supreme goal of life. Arjuna is told that he should fight

in the Battle of Kuruksetra for the interest of Krsna because Krsna

wanted him to fight. To be a good man or a nonviolent man is a

personal attachment, but to act on behalf of the Supreme is to act

without attachment for the result. That is perfect action of the

highest degree, recommended by the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Sri

Krsna.

 

Vedic rituals, like prescribed sacrifices, are performed for

purification of impious activities that were performed in the field of

sense gratification. But action in Krsna consciousness is

transcendental to the reactions of good or evil work. A Krsna

conscious person has no attachment for the result but acts on behalf

of Krsna alone. He engages in all kinds of activities, but is

completely nonattached.

 

Copyright 1983 The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International. Used with

permission.