Sanskrit
यज्ञार्थात्कर्मणोऽन्यत्र लोकोऽयं कर्मबन्धनः । तदर्थं कर्म कौन्तेय मुक्तसङ्गः समाचर ॥
yajñārthāt karmaṇo'nyatra loko'yaṃ karmabandhanaḥ tadarthaṃ karma kaunteya muktasaṅgaḥ samācara
Translation
The world is bound by action, unless performed for the sake of sacrifice; for that sake, free from attachment, O son of Kuntî, perform thou action.
Annie Besant · The Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Annie Besant (4th ed., 1922) — Wikisource · Public Domain
Explanation
The chapter’s key technical move: action binds by default, but action performed as yajna — sacrifice, offering — doesn’t. This is the concept the whole discourse is named for; verses 10-16 back it with a mythic and cosmological argument for why offering-oriented action is different in kind from self-interested action, not just in degree.