Sanskrit
त्याज्यं दोषवदित्येके कर्म प्राहुर्मनीषिणः । यज्ञदानतपः कर्म न त्याज्यमिति चापरे ॥ ३ ॥
tyājyaṃ doṣavad ity eke karma prāhur manīṣiṇaḥ yajñadānatapaḥ karma na tyājyam iti cāpare
Translation
"Action should be relinquished as an evil," declare some thoughtful men; "acts of sacrifice, gift and austerity should not be relinquished," say others.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna surfaces the live philosophical dispute of his day without picking a side yet: one school treats all action as inherently tainted and worth abandoning, another exempts ritual obligations — sacrifice, gift, austerity — as too purifying to give up. Laying out both positions before adjudicating is a rhetorical habit this text repeats (compare the sannyasa-versus-karma- yoga debate reopened in 5.1-2); Krishna lets Arjuna hear the disagreement before supplying the resolution in verse 5.