Chapter 4Verse 17 of 42

Bhagavad Gita 4.17

कर्मणो ह्यपि बोद्धव्यं बोद्धव्यं च विकर्मणः । अकर्मणश्च बोद्धव्यं गहना कर्मणो गतिः ॥

karmaṇo hy api boddhavyaṃ boddhavyaṃ ca vikarmaṇaḥ | akarmaṇaś ca boddhavyaṃ gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ ||

Translation

It is needful to discriminate action, to discriminate also forbidden action, and to discriminate inaction; impenetrable is the course of action.

Gahanā karmaṇo gatiḥ. Deep is the path of action. The verse names three categories to be understood. Action: the work assigned. Vikarma, forbidden action: the wrong work, even if energetic. Akarma, inaction: the absence of work, including the absence disguised as something else. Boddhavyam, to be understood, three times. The student is being given a three-axis map and told the geography is dense. The next verse will hand him the clearest single instrument for reading the map.

Reflection

Which of the three are you most often actually in, when you believe you are in another?

Read this verse in its chapter: Chapter Four

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