Do the enjoined action, the constant action laid down by scripture, the one for which you are eligible and which is not heard to have a fruit; do it, O Arjuna; for action is better, far better in respect of its fruit, than inaction, than non-doing. How? Even the maintenance of your body would not be accomplished by inaction. So in the world a difference between action and inaction is seen. And what you think, that action, being for the sake of bondage, is not to be done, that too is wrong. How?

'Enjoined' here means pervaded; for action is pervaded by what is joined with matter, the being joined with matter coming of beginningless habit. Because action, being enjoined, is easy to do and not liable to heedlessness, do action; action itself is better than actionlessness, the standing in knowledge. Since the discussion began with 'a man attains actionlessness', the word 'actionlessness' here denotes the standing in knowledge itself. For even one qualified for the standing in knowledge finds the standing in action the better, since that standing, being unpractised before and so not enjoined, is hard to do and liable to heedlessness. And, while action is being done, the bearing-in-mind of the self's non-agency through knowledge of the truth of the self will be told right after; so, knowledge of the self too being included within the discipline of action, that very discipline is the better. This is the meaning. The statement that action is better than the standing in knowledge holds good only where there is qualification for the standing in knowledge. For if you give up all action and take up the standing in knowledge alone, then for you, settled in knowledge and without action, even the bodily course of life that supports the standing in knowledge will not be accomplished. The keeping up of the body must, until the means is completed, surely be done; and the body is to be kept up only by eating what is left over after the great sacrifices and the rest have been performed with wealth lawfully gained, as the revealed text says, 'on purity of food, purity of being; on purity of being, the memory stands firm'. And it will be said, 'those sinful ones eat sin'. So even for one settled in knowledge, if he does no action, the course of bodily life will not be accomplished. Since even for one settled in knowledge, while the body is kept up, the obligatory and occasional actions, the great sacrifices and the rest, must, until the means is completed, surely be done; and since in the discipline of action too the bearing-in-mind of the truth of the self by way of dwelling on the self's non-agency is included; and since for one joined with matter the discipline of action is easy to do and free of heedlessness; therefore, even for one fit for the standing in knowledge, the discipline of action is better than the discipline of knowledge. Therefore do the discipline of action itself. If so, then, since action such as the gaining of wealth carries within it egotism, the sense of mine, and the agitation of all the senses, this man would be bound by the impression of action. To this the Lord speaks.

This is a brief sub-gloss. For a fuller reading of this verse, see Madhusūdana, Śaṅkara, or Rāmānuja above.

Therefore do the appointed action, the one suited to your class and stage of life.