Examine with reference to the text, the theme of Karma Yoga in the Bhagavad Gita

The Bhagavad Gita is a series of Ancient Indian texts that are composed as a poem; the name means ‘the song of the Lord’. It forms part of ‘The Mahabharata’, a large Indian epic that teaches topics relating to spiritual traditions even though the Gita itself is only around 700 verses.

Traditionally, it is claimed that author is a man named Vyasa who is more legend than real. The Gita was written at a time when new religions, such as Jainism and Buddhism, posed a threat to Brahminical Hinduism. The Gita teaches through the story of Arjuna, an archer and leader of the Pandava family, who is faced with the choice of fighting his cousins, the Kurus, in an attempt to regain his kingdom or do nothing and get killed by them. Throughout the Gita, Krishna is there to guide Arjuna, thus exploring monotheism and promoting the avatar of Vishnu in an attempt to unite a collection of different religious practices. The theme of Karma Yoga in the Gita is developed from those of yoga and meditation in the Upanishads. The theme is shown through Arjuna’s dilemma and Krishna telling him to do his varnadharma as a Kshatriya.

Krishna teaches Arjuna that actions should be done as a sacrifice to him, free from desire and hope of gaining good karma. This is shown through chapter 3 verse nine, “Let thy actions then be pure, free from the bonds of desire.” This shows how Karma Yoga is the performing of all unselfish actions. Krishna says that it is important to detach yourself from the consequences of your action so your action can become consecrated thus fulfilling your duty to worship him; “The world is in the bonds of action, unless the action is consecrated”. Through honouring Krishna, you are acting without selfish intent and you’ll achieve moksha, the primary aim of Karma Yoga.

The Bhagavad Gita is also an attempt to try and curb people’s intentions of following the religious paths of Jainism and Buddhism. In order to achieve this, there are often quotes that refer to the beliefs of Jains and Buddhists that are marked as the wrong way to moksha. Through doing this, it teaches that Hinduism is the only way to achieve liberation from the cycle of samsara and have your atman be at one with Brahman. The Jains believed that refraining from action is the best thing to do. However, this is rejected by Krishna when Arjuna drops his bow and momentarily refuses to fight. Krishna says to him, “Not by refraining from action does man attain freedom from action”. This means that even if one chooses to not act, the decision to not act is an action in itself. Krishna shows that the Jains idea of inaction is impossible. This idea also enables the Gita to reject the Buddhist idea of detaching yourself from the world.

A common etic view of karma is that it is a point system where you gain punya (merit) if you perform good deeds and you lose marks if you do something wrong. The scholar Muesse wrote, “Krishna tells Arjuna that it is impossible not to act, but it is possible to act without creating karma. The secret lies in acting with equanimity, without desire or hatred.” This shows how Karma Yoga is not the performing of an action in order to gain good karma but to selflessly act with inner detachment from the results, free from desire.  This point is emphasised further in chapter 2 verses 56-57, “Neither agitated by grief nor hankering after pleasure, they live free from lust and fear and anger. Established in meditation, they are truly wise.”

In conclusion, the theme of Karma Yoga is very prominent in the Bhagavad Gita. It is used to teach people the right way to live and deter people away from the growing popularity of Jainism and Buddhism. The use of a story allows people to relate to the text and submerge themselves in the context of the epic while learning about varnadharma and other key religious practices. It highlights that “in this world there are two roads of perfection: Jñana Yoga…and Karma Yoga”.