Chapter 3 · The yoga of action
Bhagavad Gita 3.19
Acting without attachment, a person reaches the Supreme.
Shri Bhagavan
तस्मादसक्तः सततं कार्यं कर्म समाचर ।
असक्तो ह्याचरन्कर्म परमाप्नोति पूरुषः ॥
tasmādasaktaḥ satataṁ kāryaṁ karma samācara / asakto hyācarankarma paramāpnoti pūruṣaḥ
So do the work that must be done, always, without attachment. Acting without attachment, a person reaches what is highest.
हिंदी · इसलिए आसक्ति छोड़कर सदा वही कर्म करो जो करना चाहिए। आसक्ति के बिना कर्म करता हुआ मनुष्य परम पद को प्राप्त कर लेता है।
What it means
Acting without attachment, a person reaches the Supreme.
Therefore always do what should be done, without attachment. It is not by leaving work but by working without clinging that one reaches the highest.
This is the Trust’s own reading, written for this site. The verse above it is the text.
Where this verse stands
Action without private dependence
Chapter 33.17–26
The wise act without selfish dependence, including for loka-sangraha and example.
This verse belongs to the middle development of the movement.
The Trust’s themeLeadership
What does my conduct teach people who take their cue from me?
Read it along its thread: 3.21–26 · 10.34–38 · 16.1–3 · 18.63
Verses that share its vocabulary
Near it in the text’s own words.
- 2.47Your right is to the action alone, never to its fruits. Do not let the fruit be your reason for acting, and do not be attached to inaction either.
- 2.48Do your work standing in yoga, Dhananjaya, letting attachment go, the same whether it succeeds or fails. That evenness is what yoga means.
- 3.7But the one who controls the senses with the mind, Arjuna, and begins karma yoga with the organs of action, unattached, stands far above him.
- 3.9Work done for the sake of yajna does not bind; all other work keeps this world in bondage. So do your work for that purpose, Kaunteya, free of attachment.
- 3.25As the ignorant act with attachment to their work, Bharata, so should the wise act without attachment, wanting only lokasangraha, the holding together of the world.
- 3.26The wise man should not unsettle the minds of the ignorant who are attached to their work. Acting with steadiness himself, he should let them enjoy all their duties.
Chosen by shared uncommon vocabulary, weighted so that a rare word counts for far more than a common one. A reading aid, not a claim that these verses mean the same thing.
Common questions
What does Bhagavad Gita 3.19 mean?
Acting without attachment, a person reaches the Supreme. Therefore always do what should be done, without attachment. It is not by leaving work but by working without clinging that one reaches the highest.
Who speaks Bhagavad Gita 3.19?
Shri Bhagavan. The speaker is taken from the text’s own उवाच line as transcribed, not inferred from the verse number.