Karma-yoga
karma-yoga
The path of action—one of the three great paths of the *Bhagavad-Gītā*, alongside knowledge and devotion. Krishna contrasts it with the *"Science of Reason"* (Sāṅkhya): not renouncing works, but performing them while detaching from their fruit. To act without being bound by action—this is the Union (*yoga*) the *Gītā* teaches the warrior who would flee battle.
Je t’ai exposé la Science selon la Raison (Sânkhyâ) ; entends-la aussi selon la doctrine de l’Union (Yôga). En t’y attachant, tu rejetteras le fruit des œuvres, qui n’est rien qu’une chaîne.
Everything begins with a dead end. Arjuna refuses to fight, paralyzed by the horror of killing his own. Krishna’s response is not to spare him the act, but to teach him another way of acting. The word yoga here means “junction,” “union”: to join action with steadfastness of soul, so that the deed is accomplished without its doer becoming attached to it. Burnouf translates the term sometimes as “Union,” sometimes as “mystic Union.”
The decisive formula comes two verses later: “Be intent on the performance of works, never on their fruits.” Karma-yoga preaches neither idleness nor polite indifference to outcomes. It separates two gestures we assume are fused—acting, and awaiting reward—to keep only the first. The act remains whole; only the grip of desire on its outcome falls away.
This is distinct from the two other paths the Gītā holds equally high. The path of knowledge (jñāna) liberates through understanding of the Essence; the path of devotion (bhakti) liberates through surrender to Krishna. Karma-yoga, by contrast, liberates through action itself, without suspending it. In the text’s own terms, it is the path of those who cannot not act—and Arjuna’s battle is its image. It must also be distinguished from nishkama-karma, which is not another path but the precise attitude that makes disinterested action possible.