Sanskrit
कर्मणैव हि संसिद्धिमास्थिता जनकादयः । लोकसङ्ग्रहमेवापि सम्पश्यन्कर्तुमर्हसि ॥
karmaṇaiva hi saṃsiddhim āsthitā janakādayaḥ lokasaṅgraham evāpi sampaśyan kartum arhasi
Translation
Janaka and others indeed attained to perfection by action: then having an eye to the welfare of the world also, thou shouldst perform action.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
Krishna answers the question verse 17 implicitly raised — why act, if self-sufficiency makes action unnecessary — with two moves at once: a historical precedent (King Janaka reached perfection through action, not by abstaining) and a new motive, lokasangraha, the “holding-together” or welfare of the world. This term becomes the chapter’s real answer to Arjuna’s original verse-1 objection: act not for personal gain, and not even purely for liberation, but because the world needs people to keep acting rightly.
Concepts