3.8
Chapter 3, Verse 8
नियतं कुरु कर्म त्वं कर्म ज्यायो ह्यकर्मणः। शरीरयात्रापि च ते न प्रसिद्ध्येदकर्मणः৷৷
niyataṅ kuru karma tvaṅ karma jyāyō hyakarmaṇaḥ. śarīrayātrāpi ca tē na prasiddhyēdakarmaṇaḥ৷৷
Translation
Do thy duty as prescribed, for action for duty's sake is superior to inaction. Even the maintenance of the body would be impossible if man remained inactive.
Translation — Purohit Swami
Commentary
नियतम् bounden (prescribed or obligatory), कुरु perform, कर्म action, त्वम् thou, कर्म action, ज्यायः superior, हि for, अकर्मणः than inaction, शरीरयात्रा maintenance of the body, अपि even, च and, ते thy, न not, प्रसिद्ध्येत् would be possible, अकर्मणः by inaction. Commentary: Niyatam Karma is an obligatory duty which one is bound to perform. The nonperformance of the bounden duties causes demerit. The performance of the obligatory duties is not a means for the attainment of a specific result. The performance does not cause any merit.Living itself involves several natural and unavoidable actions which have to be performed by all. It is ignorance to say, I can live doing nothing.
Commentary — Swami Sivananda
Sanskrit and transliteration of the Bhagavad Gita. Corpus compiled from the vedabase and the IIT Kanpur Gita Supersite.