Sanskrit
यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धनः । तदर्थं कर्म कौन्तेय मुक्तसङ्गः समाचर ॥
yajñārthāt karmaṇo'nyatra loko'yaṃ karmabandhanaḥ tadarthaṃ karma kaunteya muktasaṅgaḥ samācara
Translation
The world is bound by action, unless performed for the sake of sacrifice; for that sake, free from attachment, O son of Kuntî, perform thou action.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The chapter’s key technical move: action binds by default, but action performed as yajna — sacrifice, offering — doesn’t. This is the concept the whole discourse is named for; verses 10-16 back it with a mythic and cosmological argument for why offering-oriented action is different in kind from self-interested action, not just in degree. Yajña here is not the fire rite specifically but its logic: an act done as an offering, with no private claim on the outcome. That structure — same deed, no grip on the fruit — is exactly BG 2.47’s discipline, now given a name drawn from ritual.
Study deeper
Word by word
- yajñārthātयज्ञार्थात्
- for the sake of sacrifice (yajña-arthāt)
- karmaṇo'nyatraकर्मणोऽन्यत्र
- other than action [done thus] (karmaṇaḥ + anyatra)
- loko'yaṃलोकोऽयं
- this world (lokaḥ + ayam)
- karmabandhanaḥकर्मबन्धनः
- is bound by action (karma-bandhanaḥ)
- tadarthaṃतदर्थं
- for that sake
- karmaकर्म
- action
- kaunteyaकौन्तेय
- O son of Kuntī
- muktasaṅgaḥमुक्तसङ्गः
- free from attachment (mukta-saṅgaḥ)
- samācaraसमाचर
- perform well
Commentary
Site Commentary
The verse’s structure quietly reverses a common intuition: action isn’t neutral until proven harmful, it’s binding by default unless performed as offering. That “unless” clause puts the burden of proof on the actor to make their action non-binding, rather than assuming ordinary action is innocent until shown otherwise.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Site Commentary — Second Reading
The same task, done twice, can be binding once and free the next time without changing in any outward way — a parent’s unpaid labor, a maintainer’s unpaid hours on a shared project, a mentor’s unbilled time all look identical whether they’re being kept score of or not. What differs is entirely internal: work performed for reciprocity accumulates a ledger, the same work offered without expecting return doesn’t, even though an observer watching from outside couldn’t tell the two apart. This verse is making a claim about that invisible ledger, not about the visible activity — which is exactly why it can’t be verified by watching someone’s hands.
Original commentary written for this site · © Amit Singh — original commentary
Concepts
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Lessons
Personal
- Don't assume your routine actions are neutral by default — treat unexamined action as binding you to outcome and craving unless you've deliberately reframed why you're doing it. The burden is on you to make an action lighter, not on the action to prove it's heavy.
Professional
- Don't assume that just doing your job is automatically free of self-interest — treat ordinary work as carrying attachment by default unless you've deliberately tied it to something beyond your own advancement. The neutral default is a myth worth checking.
Family & Social
- Don't assume that helping family members by default is automatically selfless — check whether you're quietly doing it for credit or obligation rather than genuine care. Ordinary helpful action isn't neutral until you've actually examined why you're doing it.
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