Speaker: Śrī Kṛṣṇa
सक्ताः कर्मण्यविद्वांसो यथा कुर्वन्ति भारत ।
कुर्याद्विद्वांस्तथासक्तश्चिकीर्षुर्लोकसंग्रहम् ॥२५॥
saktāḥ karmaṇy avidvāṁso
yathā kurvanti bhārata
kuryād vidvāṁs tathāsaktaś
cikīrṣur loka-saṅgraham
Word for word (synonyms)
- saktāḥ
- being attached
- karmaṇi
- prescribed duties
- avidvāṁsaḥ
- the ignorant
- yathā
- as much as
- kurvanti
- do it
- bhārata
- O descendant of Bharata
- kuryāt
- must do
- vidvān
- the learned
- tathā
- thus
- asaktaḥ
- without attachment
- cikīrṣuḥ
- desiring to
- loka-saṅgraham
- leading the people in general
Translation
As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, similarly the learned may also act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path.
Defined in the Gītā
The learned
Who is truly learned?
One is understood to be in full knowledge whose every act is devoid of desire for sense gratification. He is said by sages to be a worker whose fruitive action is burned up by the fire of perfect knowledge.
Purport
A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and a person not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are differentiated by different desires. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not do anything which is not conducive to development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He may even act exactly like the ignorant person, who is too much attached to material activities, but one is engaged in such activities for the satisfaction of his sense gratification, whereas the other is engaged for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, the Kṛṣṇa conscious person is required to show the people how to act and how to engage the results of action for the purpose of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
What this verse teaches
Act without attachment, to set example
Śrīla Prabhupāda lectures 3
- Bhagavad-gītā 3.21–25 1966-05-30 · New York
- Bhagavad-gītā 3.18-30 1968-12-30 · Los Angeles
- Bhagavad-gītā 3.25 1976-12-17
Bhagavad-gītā As It Is by His Divine Grace A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda © The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International.