Chapter 3: Karma Yoga – Transforming All Activities into Yoga / Verse 9

Chapter 3: Karma Yoga – Transforming All Activities into Yoga: Verse 9

यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धन: ।
तदर्थं कर्म कौन्तेय मुक्तसङ्ग: समाचर ।।

yajñārthāt-karmaṇo’nyatra loko’yaṃ karma-bandhana:
tad-arthaṃ karma kaunteya mukta-saṅga: samācara – 3.9

This world is firmly bound by actions done as other than Yajña. Therefore, (to make everything Yajña), O son of Kunti (Arjuna), act for the sake of the Supreme, without delusional clinging.

Chapter 3: Karma Yoga – Transforming All Activities into Yoga - Verse 9

Swami Nirviseshananda Tirtha
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Do not feel and say that any activity is bad, unwelcome. All acts are, in a way, external, physical, bodily. Senses and body, by themselves, are inert, insentient and cannot have any assessment about what they do.

Mind and intelligence are the source of all feelings and responses. They alone employ the limbs and senses in activities. Here Krishna pronounces a golden rule, a law: Any activity will cause bondage to the mind if not done as yajña, a dedicated offering. Yajña is vital to ensure universal welfare. It dissolves selfishness.

Yajña is the outcome the mind produces by virtue of its own attitude and aim. Dedication to the Supreme makes an act a Yajña. For this, you have to avoid saṅga, delusional clinging, making everything you do equally benevolent and divine, a full-fold yajña. Do not doubt whether this is possible; with discretion and effort, it is!

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