In the Bhagavad-gita, Arjuna is apprehensive that he will be bound by bad karma if he fights in the war. Krishna explains that what causes bondage is not the activity itself, but the mentality with which the activity is done; if Arjuna fights in a mood of dutiful detachment, he won’t be bound.

To illustrate how one’s mentality can bring sanctity to any activity, Krishna utilizes the well-known traditional theme of sacrifice. Technically, sacrifice referred to the fire ritual, wherein people offered oblations to the gods and thereby sanctified their activities. Generically, sacrifice means giving up something immediately enjoyable for a higher cause that will benefit us eventually. Drawing on this generic meaning, Krishna explains how this principle of sacrifice encompasses our entire life (04.24-33). He begins with one of Gita’s most enigmatic verses, a verse that uses the word ‘brahma’ six times. The verse basically means: because the ultimate reality (brahma) pervades everywhere, including inside us, it can be reached through various activities, provided they are done as a service to that ultimate reality (04.24). 

How does this principle apply to Arjuna’s situation? He can conceive of the battlefield as a sacrificial arena wherein he is the sacrificer, his weapons are the sacrificial spoon, the opposers of dharma are the oblation and the war itself is the sacred fire. By doing his part in this sacrifice of war which is meant to establish dharma, Arjuna will become liberated from karma, not bound by it. This metaphorical visualization is not at all meant to encourage any macabre rituals involving literal human sacrifice; it is only meant to highlight how profane-seeming activities such as fighting can become sanctified when done for a higher purpose. 

One-sentence summary: 

By doing our activities in a mood of selfless service to the ultimate reality, we can progress toward freedom from karmic bondage. 

Think it over: 

  • What are the technical and generic meanings of sacrifice?
  • How can Arjuna’s duty of fighting be conceived of as a sacrifice?
  • Fighting as a sacrifice — what does this metaphor mean and not mean?

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04.24: A person who is fully absorbed in Krishna consciousness is sure to attain the spiritual kingdom because of his full contribution to spiritual activities, in which the consummation is absolute and that which is offered is of the same spiritual nature.

To know more about this verse, please click on the image