Karma Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita

Verses across the Gita that speak to karma yoga, drawn from all chapters and ordered by where they appear.

• 2.39Clear understanding frees action from bondage.
• 2.40Even a tiny start on the right path protects you from fear.
• 2.47Action belongs to you; the result does not.
• 2.48Equanimity turns action into yoga.
• 2.50Clear action frees you from the weight of both success and failure.
• 2.71Peace begins when wanting, owning, and self-importance fall away.
• 3.3Different natures are steadied by different disciplines.
• 3.5Inaction is an illusion; nature is already moving you.
• 3.6Outer restraint means nothing if the mind still feeds desire.
• 3.7Self-mastery makes action noble, not the outer task alone.
• 3.8Right action is unavoidable; even survival depends on it.
• 3.9Work becomes bondage when it is done for yourself.
• 3.11Your duty nourishes the whole, and the whole nourishes you back.
• 3.12What is received must be offered back, or it becomes theft.
• 3.15Right action is not random; it rests in a deeper, sustaining order.
• 3.16A life detached from duty empties itself from within.
• 3.17Fulfillment in the true self ends the need for striving.
• 3.18Freedom ends the need to profit from action.
• 3.19Freedom comes when action is done without grasping at its reward.
• 3.20Perfection comes through action that serves more than the self.
• 3.22Even the fulfilled keep working, because action need not come from lack.
• 3.23Careless withdrawal by the highest would unravel everyone below.
• 3.24Even the highest must act to prevent disorder.
• 3.27The doer is imagined; action belongs to nature's forces.
• 3.28Seeing action as nature's movement ends attachment.
• 3.29Clarity should guide confusion, not crush it.
• 3.30Action becomes free when you stop claiming its results.
• 3.32Rejecting clear guidance leaves the mind stranded.
• 3.33Nature drives behavior; force alone cannot overrule it.
• 3.34Freedom begins when attraction and aversion stop steering action.
• 3.41Sense-control comes before clear action.
• 3.43Desire loses power when the higher mind takes command.
• 4.15Right action is the path even for those seeking freedom.
• 4.21Freedom from clinging keeps action untouched.
• 4.22Equal-minded action leaves no hook for bondage.
• 4.25Sacrifice changes shape, but its aim remains surrender into the absolute.
• 4.26Restraint can consume desire before desire consumes you.
• 4.27Knowledge turns self-control into a fire that consumes every impulse.
• 4.28Sacrifice can be wealth, effort, austerity, or study.
• 4.30Discipline itself becomes offering, and offering burns away inner stain.
• 4.31A life without offering cannot even support itself.
• 5.2Renunciation matures when action continues without grasping.
• 5.4Different methods can reach the same fulfillment when practiced wholeheartedly.
• 5.5Different paths can lead to the same freedom.
• 5.10Action without attachment leaves no stain.
• 5.11Action becomes cleansing when attachment is removed.
• 5.12Peace comes when action is no longer chained to reward.
• 11.33Act fully, but let the larger order carry the result.
• 17.11Right action becomes pure when reward stops being the reason.
• 18.5What purifies you should be done, not dropped.