10 Life-Changing Bhagavad Gita Quotes or Shlokas on Karma

Shrimad Bhagavad Gita is the most significant sacred texts in the Hindu religion. It is also a part of the Indian epic battle Mahabharata. It is written in Sanskrit originally and was composed around the 5th and 2nd century BCE. Famously known as Gita, the book is the first step used to introduce western audiences to Hinduism. 

The Gita has been told in a narrative style, a conversation between Arjuna, a warrior prince, and his charioteer, Lord Krishna. During the battle, Arjuna was hesitant about whether he should fight the battle, Krishna explains that he must fulfill his dharma (duty) as a warrior. While talking to Arjuna, Krishna tells about 4 classical schools of yoga i.e Bhakti (the path of devotion), Jnana (the path of knowledge), Raja (the path of meditation), and Karma (the path of action). 

As per Bhagavad Gita, yoga is the way one can connect with the higher absolute thus achieving self-realization. 

During the battle between the brothers of the same family branch, Arjun all of sudden felt overwhelmed by the idea of killing innocent lives on the ground, some of them were his friends and relatives, and expresses his discomfort to Krishna his court historian and a bodyguard. Krishna replies to his problems and highlights the main themes of the Bhagavad Gita. He convinces Arjuna to do the duties he was destined to. A man from a family of warriors is born to fight the battles. During his conversation, he used a lot of his teachings from the Upanishads, ancient texts made between 1000 and 600 BCE, along with the philosophy of Samkhya Yoga. 

It teaches us the connection between matter i.e body and soul. Krishna tells Arjuna that one can kill the body but the soul remains immortal and moves from one body to another at the time of death. People who understood the true teaching of this will be able to achieve release (moksha) or extinction (nirvana), freedom from the wheel of rebirth. 

Krishna also sort outs the tension between amassing knowledge (jnana), the late Upanishadic injunction to meditate, amassing a record of good actions (karma), and the Vedic injunction to sacrifice. Krishna provides a solution to Arjuna which is the path to devotion (bhakti). 

If one truly understands with inner self then no one can renounce the actions but can only desire (kama) for the fruits of their own actions, acting without desire (nishkama karma).

One of the most unusual parts of the Bhagavad Gita is its battlefield ground called ‘Kurukshetra’, which a lot of scholars believed was unsuitable as compared to the spiritual text. Many believed that the battleground is used as a metaphor to explain “the war within,” showing one’s inner struggles in the form of ignorance and ego.

Here we bring you the 10 best Bhagavad Gita quotes or shlokas about Karma, that will help you understand the value of our actions.

Bhagavad Gita Quotes or Shlokas on Karma

न कर्मणामनारम्भान्नैष्कर्म्यं पुरुषोऽश्नुते |
न च संन्यसनादेव सिद्धिं समधिगच्छति || 4|| 

One cannot achieve freedom from karmic reactions by merely abstaining from work, nor can one attain perfection of knowledge by mere physical renunciation.

– Lord Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita

नियतं कुरु कर्म त्वं कर्म ज्यायो ह्यकर्मण: |
शरीरयात्रापि च ते न प्रसिद्ध्येदकर्मण: || 8||

You should thus perform your prescribed Vedic duties, since action is superior to inaction. By ceasing activity, even your bodily maintenance will not be possible.

– Lord Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita

देवान्भावयतानेन ते देवा भावयन्तु व: |
परस्परं भावयन्त: श्रेय: परमवाप्स्यथ || 11||

By your sacrifices, the celestial gods will be pleased, and by cooperation between humans and the celestial gods, great prosperity will reign for all.

– Lord Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita

अन्नाद्भवन्ति भूतानि पर्जन्यादन्नसम्भव: |
यज्ञाद्भवति पर्जन्यो यज्ञ: कर्मसमुद्भव: || 14||

All living beings subsist on food, and food is produced by rains. Rains come from the performance of sacrifice, and sacrifice is produced by the performance of prescribed duties.

– Lord Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita

एवं प्रवर्तितं चक्रं नानुवर्तयतीह य: |
अघायुरिन्द्रियारामो मोघं पार्थ स जीवति || 16||

O Parth, those who do not accept their responsibility in the cycle of sacrifice established by the Vedas are sinful. They live only for the delight of their senses; indeed their lives are in vain.

– Lord Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita

कर्मणैव हि संसिद्धिमास्थिता जनकादय: |
लोकसंग्रहमेवापि सम्पश्यन्कर्तुमर्हसि || 20||
यद्यदाचरति श्रेष्ठस्तत्तदेवेतरो जन: |
स यत्प्रमाणं कुरुते लोकस्तदनुवर्तते || 21||

By performing their prescribed duties, King Janak and others attained perfection. You should also perform your duties to set an example for the good of the world. Whatever actions great persons perform, common people follow. Whatever standards they set, all the world pursues.

– Lord Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita

न मे पार्थास्ति कर्तव्यं त्रिषु लोकेषु किञ्चन |
नानवाप्तमवाप्तव्यं वर्त एव च कर्मणि || 22||

There is no duty for Me to do in all the three worlds, O Parth, nor do I have anything to gain or attain. Yet, I am engaged in prescribed duties.

– Lord Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita

सक्ता: कर्मण्यविद्वांसो यथा कुर्वन्ति भारत |
कुर्याद्विद्वांस्तथासक्तश्चिकीर्षुर्लोकसंग्रहम् || 25||

As ignorant people perform their duties with attachment to the results, O scion of Bharat, so should the wise act without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path.

– Lord Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita

ये मे मतमिदं नित्यमनुतिष्ठन्ति मानवा: |
श्रद्धावन्तोऽनसूयन्तो मुच्यन्ते तेऽपि कर्मभि: || 31||

Those who abide by these teachings of Mine, with profound faith and free from envy, are released from the bondage of karma.

आवृतं ज्ञानमेतेन ज्ञानिनो नित्यवैरिणा |
कामरूपेण कौन्तेय दुष्पूरेणानलेन च || 39||

The knowledge of even the most discerning gets covered by this perpetual enemy in the form of insatiable desire, which is never satisfied and burns like fire.

– Lord Krishna to Arjuna, Bhagavad Gita

All these verses are part of “Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3: Karma Yoga”, where Lord Krishna tells Arjuna that without Karma nothing can live, even for a second. According to Sri Hari, all living beings are an essential part of God’s creation and have roles and duties.