Gita 3.5
Karma Yoga
न हि कश्चित्क्षणमपि जातु तिष्ठत्यकर्मकृत् | कार्यते ह्यवशः कर्म सर्वः प्रकृतिजैर्गुणैः ||५||
na hi kaścit kṣaṇam api jātu tiṣṭhaty akarma-kṛt | kāryate hy avaśaḥ karma sarvaḥ prakṛti-jair guṇaiḥ ||5||
In essence: You cannot opt out of action—even your stillness is an action. The only choice is whether you act consciously or are acted upon blindly by your nature.
A conversation between a seeker and guide to help you feel this verse deeply
Sadhak-Guru Dialogue
Sadhak: "This sounds deterministic. If the gunas are doing everything and I'm helpless, where is free will? What's the point of spiritual effort?"
Guru: "Ah, the perennial question! Notice that Krishna is describing the unenlightened state. 'Avaśaḥ'—helplessly—applies to those who don't understand the mechanism. Once you understand that gunas are operating, you gain a degree of freedom. You can't stop them, but you can stop identifying with them. That shift changes everything."
Sadhak: "But I feel like I make choices. I chose to come here, to study the Gita..."
Guru: "Did you? Or did sattva—the quality that inclines toward knowledge—compel you? Did you choose to be born with the samskaras that make you interested in spirituality? Trace any 'choice' back far enough and you'll find causes you didn't choose. This isn't cause for despair—it's cause for humility and surrender."
Sadhak: "Then who or what is the witness if not me?"
Guru: "Now you're asking the right question. The witness—pure awareness—is not the gunas and is not affected by them. You ARE that witness, but you've identified with the gunas, with prakriti, with the body-mind. The Gita's entire purpose is to shift your identification from actor to witness, from the dance to the dancer, from the waves to the ocean. When that shift happens, action continues—the gunas still play—but you are no longer 'helplessly' bound."
Sadhak: "So the goal is to watch the gunas act without identifying with them?"
Guru: "That's one way to put it. But don't make it into a dry witnessing that avoids life. You also have to purify the gunas—increase sattva, harmonize rajas, minimize tamas—so that your instrument becomes clearer. It's like cleaning a window so more light comes through. The light isn't affected either way, but the room is brighter with a clean window."
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🌅 Daily Practice
Upon waking, before doing anything else, observe: which guna is dominant right now? Is there tamasic heaviness making it hard to rise? Rajasic restlessness already planning the day? Sattvic calm and clarity? Don't judge—just observe. This simple act of awareness begins the separation between witness and witnessed. Then consciously invoke sattva: a few deep breaths, a moment of gratitude, perhaps some stretching. Notice how easily the guna-balance can shift with small conscious interventions.
Several times today, pause and ask: 'What guna is driving this action?' When you reach for your phone compulsively—rajas. When you avoid a difficult task—tamas. When you listen patiently to someone—sattva. You don't need to change anything immediately; awareness itself begins the transformation. Notice especially the 'helpless' quality Krishna mentions—how often you find yourself doing things you didn't consciously decide to do. That's the gunas at work.
Before sleep, review the day through the lens of the gunas. What proportion of your actions were sattvic, rajasic, tamasic? No blame—just honest assessment. Then consider: what one small change could increase sattva tomorrow? Perhaps sleeping 30 minutes earlier (reducing tamas), eating lighter dinner (reducing rajas), reading something inspiring before bed (cultivating sattva). Make one concrete commitment. Let this become a daily practice of guna-awareness.