Bhagavad Gita 3.5 · Krishna
No one is ever still
न हि कश्चित्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत्।
कार्यते ह्यवशः कर्म सर्वः प्रकृतिजैर्गुणैः॥
na hi kaścitkṣaṇamapi jātu tiṣṭhatyakarmakṛtkāryate hyavaśaḥ karma sarvaḥ prakṛtijairguṇaiḥ
No one can stay without acting, not even for a moment. Everyone is driven to act by the qualities of nature.
Words
- guṇa
- prakṛti
What it means
The Gita speaks of prakriti, nature, woven from three gunas, three qualities: clarity, restlessness and heaviness. They keep body and mind moving. Breathing, thinking, wanting are all action. So the real choice is never whether to act. It is how.
The story
Arjuna imagines that putting down his bow would make him a man who does not act. Krishna points out the obvious. Even standing still, Arjuna is thinking, fearing, deciding. Refusing to fight would also be a deed.
In your life
Priya downloads a meditation app and sits for ten quiet minutes. Within seconds she is planning dinner and replaying an email. That is not failure. It is nature moving. She smiles, and returns to her breath.
We will act. The question is how.