Devanagari
सक्ताः कर्मण्यविद्वांसो यथा कुर्वन्ति भारत ।
कुर्याद्विद्वांस्तथासक्तश्चिकीर्षुर्लोकसङ्ग्रहम् ॥ २५ ॥
Verse text
saktāḥ karmaṇy avidvāṁso
yathā kurvanti bhārata
kuryād vidvāṁs tathāsaktaś
cikīrṣur loka-saṅgraham
Synonyms
saktāḥ
—
being attached
;
karmaṇi
—
in prescribed duties
;
avidvāṁsaḥ
—
the ignorant
;
yathā
—
as much as
;
kurvanti
—
they do
;
bhārata
—
O descendant of Bharata
;
kuryāt
—
must do
;
vidvān
—
the learned
;
tathā
—
thus
;
asaktaḥ
—
without attachment
;
cikīrṣuḥ
—
desiring to lead
;
loka-saṅgraham
—
the people in general.
Translation
As the ignorant perform their duties with attachment to results, the learned may similarly act, but without attachment, for the sake of leading people on the right path.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
25. Just as the ignorant work with attachment, O Bhārata, the wise, desirous to teach the people, should perform work without attachment.
Translation (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
25. Just as the ignorant work with attachment, O Bhārata, the wise, desirous to teach the people, should perform work without attachment.
Purport
A person in Kṛṣṇa consciousness and a person not in Kṛṣṇa consciousness are differentiated by different desires. A Kṛṣṇa conscious person does not do anything which is not conducive to development of Kṛṣṇa consciousness. He may even act exactly like the ignorant person, who is too much attached to material activities, but one is engaged in such activities for the satisfaction of his sense gratification, whereas the other is engaged for the satisfaction of Kṛṣṇa. Therefore, the Kṛṣṇa conscious person is required to show the people how to act and how to engage the results of action for the purpose of Kṛṣṇa consciousness.
Purport (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
He summarizes here that action should be done even by a person established in jṣāna.
Purport (Baladeva Vidyabhusana)
Though you are established in knowledge as pariniṣṭhita bhakta, perform your duties according to the Vedas for the benefit of the people. That is the import of this verse.
Just as ignorant people perform actions with desire for results (saktāḥ), those in knowledge should perform the same actions, but without desire for results (asaktaḥ). The rest of the sentence is clear.