CHAPTER 3 : Short Answer Questions

1. What is the difference between karma yogi & jnana yogi. (3.3)

KARMA YOGI JNANA YOGI

1 One who connects with Krishna One who connects with Krishna
with prescribed activities. with knowledge
2 He performs his prescribed duties He acquires knowledge by
for purification and thus attains analysis of matter and spirit .
intelligence and knowledge (sankhya)
3 He must perform his prescribed He can renounce prescribed
duties according to his inclination duties.
4 He should not take to sanyas pre He is mature and ready for
maturely sanyas.

2. Explain "A sincere sweeper in the street is far better than

the charlatan meditator” (3.7)

🔹The prime svārtha-gati, or goal of self-interest, is to reach Viṣṇu.

🔹A householder can reach this destination by regulated service in Kṛṣṇa
🔹For self-realisation, one can live a controlled life, as prescribed in the
consciousness.

śāstras, and continue carrying out his business without attachment, and in

🔹
that way make progress.
A sincere person who follows this method is far better situated than the
false pretender who adopts show-bottle spiritualism to cheat the innocent
public.

3. Why is premature renunciation discouraged? (3.4- 9)

🔹By merely abstaining from prescribed action (karma), one cannot

🔹By renunciation of activities, one cannot attain perfection or liberation.
achieve purity or freedom from reaction (naiṣkarmya).

🔹Everyone is forced to act helplessly according to the qualities he has

acquired from the modes of material nature; therefore no one can refrain
from doing something even for a moment. Activity is natural for the soul.
🔹One who restrains the senses of action but whose mind dwells on sense
🔹In contrast to a premature renunciant (sannyāsī), a householder
objects certainly deludes himself and is called a pretender. (mithyācāraḥ)

(gṛhastha) who performs scriptural actions (karma-yoga) without longing for

🔹
results of one’s actions is better.
Therefore one must perform his prescribed duty as it is better than not

🔹
working. One cannot even maintain one’s physical body without work.
If a person with impure heart renounces prescribed activities and takes
to Vedic karma-sannyāsa, he reverts to material action. As such a person
cannot remain inactive. Hence premature renunciation is discouraged.

4. Describe the cycle of sacrifice. (3.10-16)

🔹Lord Kṛṣṇa has designed this material world to encourage yajña or

🔹He did this by making material advancement dependent upon sacrifice.
sacrifice.

🔹By worshipping the Lord for material well-being, one becomes purified.
🔹The Lord created population and Yagna so that conditioned souls get all
🔹By cooperation between men and demigods there would be prosperity.
desirable things by yajña to live happily and achieve liberation.

🔹 The demigods are in charge of various necessities of life and being

🔹But one who enjoys such gifts without offering them to the demigods in
satisfied by the performance of yajña [sacrifice], they supply the same.

return is a thief. (Stenah)

🔹 The cycle of sacrifice :

● annād bhavanti bhūtāni : All living bodies subsist on food grains.
● parjanyād anna-sambhavaḥ : Grains are produced from rains
● yajñād bhavati parjanyo : Rains are produced by performance of
yajña.
● yajñaḥ karma-samudbhavaḥ : Yajña is born of prescribed duties.
● karma brahmodbhavaṁ viddhi : Prescribed duties are mentioned
in the Vedas.
● brahmākṣara-samudbhavam : Vedas are directly manifested from
the Lord.
● tasmāt sarva-gataṁ brahma nityaṁ yajñe pratiṣṭhitam :
Consequently the all-pervading Supreme Lord is eternally situated in
acts of sacrifice. We must offer the grains to the Lord before
consuming.
5. Explain with examples, "One should not try to imitate the
powerful, but simply follow their instructions” (3.24)

▪️Following the instructions of the powerful is always more appropriate

▪️If we compare the ocean and a drop of the ocean, both are salty. Both
than trying to imitate him.

possess the same qualities but in quantity, they are different. An ocean is

▪️
capable of causing destruction but a drop of ocean cannot.
Similarly we are part and parcel of the Lord. We also possess the same

▪️ ▪️
qualities (sat cit ananda) as Lord but are quantitatively different.
Lord Kṛṣṇa lifted Govardhana Hill. Lord Śiva drank poison. Great

▪️
personalities are unaffected by their unconventional activities.

▪️
But an ordinary human being cannot do such things.
Thus, it is best, not to imitate the powerful, but simply follow their
instructions.

6. What is the difference between attached worker and

detached worker. Elaborate.(3.25-29)

ATTACHED WORKER DETACHED WORKER

1 Work with attachment to results Work without attachment for results
2 They work for sense gratification They work to set an example
3 The work with a doership They work without a doership
mentality mentality.
4 They work for fruitive results They work in devotion
The unattached worker does not try to disturb the attached worker, rather
by working with detachment , they try to engage them. ( Dovetail their
activities in Krsna consciousness )

7. Why is a fully Krishna conscious person not obliged to follow the

Vedic injunctions? (3.17)

🌹Atma-rati, one who delights in the self on the platform of the soul and is
also called atma-trupta, self-satisfied. Such a person has no duty or work

▪️
to perform in this world. He has :

▪️
no obligation to do any prescribed actions

▪️
no taste for material pleasures

▪️
no purpose or gain in performing such actions

▪️
no reason for not performing such work too

🌹
no need to depend on any other living being or demigods
This is because he has already gone beyond the range of the Vedas in

🌹
terms of Karmakanda and situated himself on pure spiritual platform.
Still such a person should continue to act to set an example for other

🌹
people in society.
Lord Krishna instructs Arjuna that even if he is atma-rati, he should still
fight this war because people of lesser stature/consciousness, cannot
understand what he is doing, if he suddenly gives up everything and retires
to the jungles.

8. Based in BG 3.20-24, identify principles of spiritual leadership and

discuss their relevance for you.

🔹A leader has to teach the public by his own practical behaviour. Eg. A
🔹His teaching should be based on the scriptures.
leader cannot teach people to stop smoking if he himself smokes.

🔹A leader who acts whimsically deriding the scriptures should be rejected.

⭐There are 4 natural leaders. The king, the executive head of a state, the
father and the school teacher. Father can also be understood as a parent .
⭐We all fit in as parents or teachers into the group of natural leaders.
Hence we need to have knowledge of scriptures, only then can we pass on
this knowledge of putting Principles before pleasure to the coming

⭐
generations.
Hence we have to be very careful about how we conduct our thoughts,

⭐
words and actions.
one should follow in the footsteps of great devotees, and that is the way
of progress on the path of spiritual realisation.

9. Explain the analogy of a cashier counting millions of dollars. (3.30)

Working for the Lord: The cashier may count millions of dollars for his
employer, but nothing belongs to him (nirmama) and thus he does not
claim a cent for himself (nirāśīr).

Similarly, one has to do his prescribed duty for the Lord, without reluctance
(vigata-jvaraḥ), knowing that nothing in the world belongs to any individual
person, but that everything belongs to the Supreme Lord (mayi). That will
lead one to the path of liberation.

10. Explain the analogy of "milk” with reference to the concept of

"lust” (3.37)

🔹Just as milk in contact with sour tamarind is transformed into yogurt, the
sense of love of God becomes transformed into lust with material mode of

🔹
passion. (3.37 P)
When a living entity comes in contact with the material creation, his
eternal love for Kṛṣṇa is transformed into lust, in association with the mode
of passion.

Long Answer Questions

1. Present a summary of Bhagavad-Gita Chapter 3, identifying the

main philosophical concepts and sections of verses, and how they
connect.

🔹 In the previous chapter, Kṛṣṇa gave a prelude to the Bhagavad-gītā, by

presenting different topics such as sāṅkhya-yoga, karma-kāṇḍa,
buddhi-yoga, karma-yoga and so on. But they were unsystematic.
🔹From this chapter, He gives a more organised outline of these paths.
🔹 In this chapter, Kṛṣṇa describes niṣkāma karma yoga or the great art of
doing prescribed actions as an offering to the Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa, without

🔹
personal desire and thus avoiding the bondage in work.
Kṛṣṇa also describes the discrimination necessary for a person desiring
to conquer over lust (material desire) and anger. The word ‘karma’ could
mean ‘action’ or ‘reaction for an action (fate or destiny)’ depending on the

🔹
context.
Sometimes it could also mean a ‘fruitive action’ which is intended to

🔹
attain a specific result.
In 2.49, Kṛṣṇa told Arjuna to keep all abominable actions (avaraṁ

🔹
karma) far away by buddhi-yoga.
He meant to establish the superiority of niṣkāma karma yoga over

🔹
karma kānda there.
However, Arjuna thought that fighting is an abominable action and that

🔹
intelligence or buddhi-yoga means to renounce it.
But Kṛṣṇa’s urging him to fight seemed contradictory to Arjuna. So he
asked Kṛṣṇa about this.

🔹Tyaga vs Karma
1-2: Arjuna’s Confusion – ‘Renunciation or Action?’
3-9: Niṣkāma Karma Yoga is better for Arjuna than Jñāna-yoga.
Renunciation (Jñāna-yoga) is difficult. So prescribed action with

🔹
detachment (Niṣkāma Karma Yoga) is better for Arjuna.

🔹
Rungs of yoga ladder : 10-16: qFrom Karma-kāṇḍa to Karma-yoga
Exemplary: 17-35: Niṣkāma-karma-yoga to Set the Right Example.
Even if Arjuna is qualified for renunciation, he should still do nishkaam

🔹
karmayog to set the right example.
Enemy of the soul : Lust 36-43: Conquering the Greatest Enemy.
Lust is a formidable enemy on the path of yoga and one should conquer
last by deliberate spiritual intelligence.

2. How does lust degrade a person? How to conquer it?

(3.37- 43)

The arch-enemy of spiritual advancement is lust. One can curb lust by

following regulations of religious life (sense control) and by cultivating
knowledge of the soul’s real nature.

BG 3.37
kāma eṣa krodha eṣa Lust, which is born of mode of
rajo-guṇa-samudbhavaḥ passion and when unsatisfied, turn
into anger (born of mode of
ignorance),
mahāśano mahā-pāpmā is the all-devouring sinful enemy of
viddhy enam iha vairiṇam this world (that instigates one to
commit sin). Please know that.

🔹As we get attracted to sexual and sensual pleasures our senses seek
🔹If our desires are not fulfilled it gets transformed into anger.
more and more of it.

🔹Wrath eliminates our power to understand what is right and wrong and
🔹Lust covers our Knowledge in varying levels.
thus we remain entangled in the material world.

🔹Lust can never be satisfied (duṣpūreṇa ), just as fire is never

🔹Lust has captured strategic positions in the body.ie. senses, mind and
extinguished by a constant supply of fuel.

intelligence. When one controls the senses, they stop feeding the mind
externally and internally the intelligence controls the mind.
🔹Lust can be transformed into love for the Lord by desiring everything for
Kṛṣṇa. Anger can be employed in the service of the Lord by fighting against
the miscreants. Therefore, lust and anger, when employed in Kṛṣṇa

🔹
consciousness, become our friends instead of our enemies.
The enemy, lust, can be conquered by conquering its shelters, the
senses, mind and intelligence, which are respectively increasingly difficult

🔹
to conquer.
The senses may be difficult to control, but they are easier to conquer

🔹
than the other items (mind and intelligence).

🔹
Therefore, first the senses should be conquered by regulation.
By restricting the senses, after some time the mind will become freed of
lust.