Quiz · 3.9–3.21
The world is held up by action
Cover the answer. Read the Devanagari of the verse before you open it.
1
In 3.14, what case is annāt (अन्नात्), and what does that case do in the line?
Answer
Ablative singular. It answers "from." From food, beings come to be. The same ablative runs the rest of the line: from rain, food; from sacrifice, rain. Sacrifice itself is karmasamudbhavaḥ (कर्मसमुद्भवः), arisen from action.
2
parjanyaḥ (पर्जन्यः) stands in front of yajñaḥ (यज्ञः) in 3.14. What is recited, and which sandhi makes it?
Answer
parjanyo yajñaḥ (पर्जन्यो यज्ञः). aḥ (अः) before the voiced y (य्) becomes o (ओ). The rain and the sacrifice are one recited join, and the sacrifice is the next link in the circuit.
3
What does 3.19 say, in one sentence?
Answer
Therefore always perform the action that must be done, unattached; the person who performs action unattached reaches the highest.
4
Where does 3.9–3.21 sit in the talk between Arjuna (अर्जुन) and Kṛṣṇa (कृष्ण)?
Answer
Action other than action done for yajña (यज्ञ) binds this world, so he is told to act for that, free of attachment. Prajāpati (प्रजापति) set creatures down together with sacrifice, the gods and the people are to keep each other, and the links from food to action are a wheel one must keep turning. The person who delights only in the self has nothing he must do. For everyone else the work is done unattached, as Janaka (जनक) did it, because whatever the best person does, the world follows.
5
Cover 3.9 and 3.19. Which word shows the action is not done for a fruit, and which word shows the work is the one that must be done?
Answer
muktasaṅgaḥ (मुक्तसङ्गः) in 3.9, and asaktaḥ (असक्तः) again in 3.19: the clinging is released. kāryam (कार्यम्) is the thing that must be done. If either word drops and the line becomes work done for a reward, the stretch is not there yet.