Bhagavad Gita 6.3
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 3 of 47
आरुरुक्षोर्मुनेर्योगं कर्म कारणमुच्यते। योगारूढस्य तस्यैव शमः कारणमुच्यते॥६-३॥
ārurukṣor muner yogaṃ karma kāraṇam ucyate | yogārūḍhasya tasyaiva śamaḥ kāraṇam ucyate || 6.3 ||
For the aspiring muni, action is the means to yoga; for the one ascended to yoga, stillness (śama) is the means.
Word by word (5)
- ārurukṣoḥ muneḥ
- — for the aspiring muni / for the sage who desires to ascend (ārurukṣu = one who wishes to climb, from ā + ruh = to ascend; the earnest aspirant who has not yet attained yoga)
- yogam karma kāraṇam ucyate
- — action (karma) is said to be the means toward yoga (kāraṇa = cause, instrument, means; ucyate = is said to be — traditional teaching, not just opinion)
- yoga-ārūḍhasya
- — for the one who has ascended to yoga / who has attained the state of yoga (ārūḍha = ascended, mounted, arrived at — from ā + ruh; past participle)
- tasya eva
- — for that very one (eva = emphatic — the same person who used karma as the means is now the one for whom śama is the means)
- śamaḥ kāraṇam ucyate
- — stillness (śama) is said to be the means (śama = inner calm, the quieting of mental agitation, from śam = to quiet; not outer inactivity but inner stillness)
For the sage seeking to rise to yoga, action is said to be the way; for one who has already reached it, stillness is said to be the way.
A modern analogy
Learning to drive: first you actively manage every action — checking mirrors, signaling, monitoring speed, watching every detail. The attention is outward, active, deliberate. After thousands of hours, this becomes effortless and largely automatic — you arrive at a different relationship with driving where the activity flows through you without effortful management. The first stage required active karma (doing, managing, engaging). The second stage requires a kind of śama — being present without forcing. This verse describes the same arc in spiritual development.
What it does NOT mean
This is not saying action is inferior and stillness is superior. It is a developmental map: action is what prepares the mind and purifies the ego. Once that preparation is complete (yogārūḍha), the primary instrument shifts to śama — inner stillness that allows direct Self-inquiry. Neither stage is to be skipped. Jumping to śama without the karma-yoga preparation produces spiritual bypassing; remaining in karma-yoga without ever turning toward śama misses the inner dimension.
Take with you
- Ārurukṣu — the aspiring one who has not yet ascended: for this person, more action, more service, more engaged practice is the way forward. If you find yourself restless in meditation, unable to sit still, easily distracted — this is the ārurukṣu stage. The medicine is karma, not more sitting.
- Yogārūḍha — the one already established: for this person, the primary practice shifts to śama (inner stillness). Excessive outer activity, even well-intentioned service, can actually become an obstacle to the deeper inward inquiry that śama enables.
- The transition between stages is not self-declared. It is recognisable by natural stillness arising without effort, by the mind spontaneously quieting rather than needing to be forcibly quieted, by action flowing without the ego's anxious management. When this becomes natural, the person has moved from ārurukṣu to yogārūḍha.
Public-domain translations (6) compare all →
"For the muni who aspires to yoga, action is said to be the means; for that same one who has ascended to yoga, stillness (śama) is said to be the means." [1]
"For a sage who wishes to attain to Yoga, action is said to be the means; for the same sage who has already attained to Yoga, quiescence is said to be the means." [4]
"For the man who wishes to grow into Yoga, action is said to be the means; for the same man when he hath attained Yoga, serenity is said to be the means." [5]
"To the sage who wishes to attain to Yoga, action is said to be the means; but to him who has attained to Yoga, quiescence is said to be the means." [6]
"For one who climbs to Yog, action is the means; for one who has ascended, stillness is the means." [7]
"Action is said to be the means of the sage who wishes to obtain Yoga; and quiescence is said to be the means of the same sage, when he has obtained Yoga." [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Who acts in duty without depending on fruit — that one is the true sannyāsī and yogī, not the fireless or the inactive.
What they call sannyāsa — know it as yoga, O Pāṇḍava — for none becomes a yogī without renouncing saṃkalpa.
When unattached to sense objects and to actions, and all saṃkalpas are renounced — then one is called yogārūḍha.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
If you can't fix the mind steadily in Me — through abhyāsa-yoga (repeated practice), aspire to reach Me!
Yogis act with body, mind, intellect, and bare senses — abandoning attachment — solely for self-purification.
Verse 3 of 47 · back to Chapter 6