Bhagavad Gita Chapter 3, Verse 27 (BG 3.27) — Meaning, Translation & Commentary

# BG 3.27 — Commentary Translation The Blessed Lord Sri Krishna continually emphasizes that detached action—action performed without desire for its fruits—is the ideal. This is simple to speak of, yet difficult to practice. Even when the intellect grasps this truth, its implementation remains challenging. The difficulty we all face is this: we do not know how to relinquish attachment to action while continuing to act. Here, the Lord reveals the method of discrimination by which we may attain this detachment. Ignorance of the Self expresses itself progressively at the level of intellect as desire, and at the level of mind as thought. These thoughts, conforming to the sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic tendencies of the mind, manifest at the level of the body as action. Whichever of these three qualities predominates in one's thoughts, one's actions too shall be of that very nature. Thus, from sattva arise virtuous deeds; from rajas and tamas arise actions born of passion and anger—cruel and bestial acts. In this way, we see that the gross expression of these vasanas (latent desires) in the world is what is called action. Where mind is, there action is also. Actions arise from the mind, derive their power from the mind, and are performed through the mind's agency. Yet because of the false identification born of ignorance, the human being regards himself as the doer. When the sense of doership arises, concern for results, anxiety, and attachment naturally follow. In a dream, a person creates a world from his own impressions and identifies with it—he becomes the dream-perceiver. The sufferings of the dream belong only to the dream-perceiver, to no one else. When the perceiver relinquishes identification with the dream-world, all his suffering ceases. Similarly, vasanas, desires, actions, and fruits do not themselves generate any attachment whatsoever. But when our identification becomes merged with the mind, then both doership and attachment arise. The very moment this discrimination dawns, attachment loses its existence there. Life becomes peaceful. Yet the wise are not attached, for...