Karma in the Bhagavad Gita

What you do, you become. Karma is the Gita's word for action — and its central question is whether action enslaves you or sets you free. These are the verses where Krishna answers.

• 3.14Action sustains the cycle that makes life possible.
• 4.13The source of order stands outside the order it creates.
• 4.33Knowledge is the point where every action finally comes to rest.
• 6.46Inner mastery outranks every outer path.
• 7.29Refuge in the divine opens total understanding of reality, inner life, and action.
• 16.19Repeated hatred drives a person into worse and worse forms of existence.
• 18.8Fearful withdrawal is not freedom; it is avoidance wearing a noble name.
• 18.13Action has many causes; the ego is not the whole story.
• 18.14Action has many causes, and no one factor owns the result.
• 18.15Every deed comes from five causes, not one isolated doer.
• 18.19Every action, knower, and deed carries the mark of a quality.