Chapter 18

This last chapter of the Bhagavad Gita is the longest as it explicates many subjects. It starts with Arjun requesting Shree Krishna to educate him on renunciation and explain the difference between these two Sanskrit words; sanyās (renunciation of actions) and tyāg (renunciation of desires), as both come from the root words that mean “to abandon.” A sanyāsī (monk) is one who has renounced family and social life to practice sādhanā (spiritual discipline). And a tyāgī is one who acts without selfish desires for the rewards of his actions. However, Shree Krishna recommends another type of renunciation. He declares that one should never renounce the prescribed acts of duty, sacrifice, charity, penance, etc., as these aid in the purification of even the wisest souls. One should undertake actions only as a matter of duty without any attachment to their fruits. Shree Krishna gives Arjun a detailed analysis of the five factors that contribute to action, the three constituents of action, and the three factors that inspire action. He describes each of these factors in relation to the three gunas. He declares that those who see themselves as the only cause of their works are ignorant. However, due to their purified intellect, the enlightened do not perceive themselves to be the doer nor the enjoyer of their actions. They are ever detached from the results, thus, free from the karmic reactions of their actions.  Shree Krishna then explains the reasons for the difference in the motives and actions of individuals. He describes the kinds of knowledge, types of actions, and categories of performers based on the three gunas or modes of nature. Then, He gives a similar analysis for the intellect, resolve or steadfast will, and happiness. Further in this chapter, Shree Krishna portrays in detail the attributes of those who have attained perfection in spirituality and realized the Brahman. He adds that even these perfect yogis find engaging in bhakti transcendental to complete their Brahman-realization. Thus, He concludes that only through loving devotion; one can unravel the secrets of the Supreme Divine Personality. He then reminds Arjun that God dwells in the hearts of all living creatures and directs their movement according to their karmas. We must take His shelter, think of Him, dedicate all our actions to Him, and make Him our ultimate goal. Then, by His grace, we will easily overcome all difficulties and obstacles. However, if we get driven by pride and act according to our impulses, we will fail. To conclude, Shree Krishna reveals to Arjun that the most confidential-knowledge is to abandon all variations of religiosity and only surrender to God. However, He warns that you should share this knowledge only with the devoted and not with those who are not austere, for they may misinterpret this divine knowledge and misuse it to irresponsibly abandoning all actions. But expounding this confidential-knowledge to the deserving souls is the highest act of love and is cherished; by God Himself. Enlightened with the divine knowledge, Arjun tells Shree Krishna that all his doubts and illusions have dispelled, and he is ready to act as per His instructions. Sanjay, who has been narrating this sacred dialogue between Shree Krishna and Arjun to the blind king Dhritarashtra is amazed, and his hair stands on end with ecstasy. He conveys to the king the deep joy and bliss he is experiencing to recall their conversation and the memory of the divine cosmic form of the Supreme Lord. He concludes the Bhagavad Gita—The Divine Song of God with a profound pronouncement that victory, goodness, opulence, sovereignty will always rest on the side of God and His pure devotee. And the light of the Absolute Truth will defeat the darkness of falsehood and unrighteousness.

Verse 1

Arjuna said, "O mighty-armed Hrishikesa, I desire to know the essence or truth of renunciation and abandonment severally, O slayer of Kesi."

Verse 2

The Blessed Lord said, "The sages understand sannyasa to be the renunciation of action with desire; the wise declare the abandonment of the fruits of all actions to be tyaga."

Verse 3

Some philosophers declare that actions should be abandoned as evil; while others declare that acts of sacrifice, gift, and austerity should not be relinquished.

Verse 4

Hear from Me the conclusion or the final truth about this abandonment, O best of the Bharatas; abandonment, indeed, O best of men, has been declared to be of three kinds.

Verse 5

Acts of sacrifice, gift, and austerity should not be abandoned, but should be performed; for sacrifice, gift, and austerity are the purifiers of the wise.

Verse 6

But even these actions should be performed, leaving aside attachment and the desire for rewards, O Arjuna; this is my certain and most assured conviction.

Verse 7

Verily, the renunciation of obligatory action is not proper; the abandonment of the same out of delusion is declared to be Tamasic.

Verse 8

He who abandons action out of fear of bodily trouble (because it is painful), does not obtain the merit of renunciation by performing such Rajasic renunciation.

Verse 9

Whatever obligatory action is done, O Arjuna, merely because it ought to be done, abandoning attachment and also the desire for reward, that renunciation is regarded as sattvic (pure).

Verse 10

The man of renunciation, pervaded by purity, intelligent, and with his doubts cut asunder, does not hate an unpleasant task nor is he attached to a pleasant one.

Verse 11

Indeed, it is not possible for an embodied being to completely abandon actions; however, he who relinquishes the rewards of actions is truly called a man of renunciation.

Verse 12

The threefold fruit of action (evil, good, and mixed) accrues after death to those who do not abandon it, but never to those who do.

Verse 13

Learn from Me, O mighty-armed Arjuna, these five causes, as declared in the Sankhya system, for the accomplishment of all actions.

Verse 14

The body, the doer, the various senses, the different functions of various kinds, and the presiding deity—the fifth.

Verse 15-16

Whatever action a person performs with their body, speech, and mind, whether right or wrong, these five are its causes. Now, such being the case, verily he who, owing to an untrained understanding, looks upon his Self, which is isolated, as the agent, he of perverted intelligence does not see.

Verse 17

He who is free from the egoistic notion, whose intelligence is not tainted by good or evil, though he slays these people, he does not slay, nor is he bound by the action.

Verse 18

Knowledge, the knowable, and the knower form the threefold impulse for action; the organ, the action, and the agent form the threefold basis of action.

Verse 19

Knowledge, action, and actor are declared in the science of the Gunas (Sankhya philosophy) to be of three kinds only, according to the distinction of the Gunas. Of these, hear duly.

Verse 20

That by which one sees the indestructible Reality in all beings, not separate in any of them—know that knowledge to be Sattvic.

Verse 21

But that knowledge which sees in all beings various entities of distinct kinds as being distinct from one another, know thou that knowledge to be Rajasic.

Verse 22

But that which clings to one single effect as if it were the whole, without reason, without any foundation in Truth, and is trivial—that is declared to be Tamasic.

Verse 23

An action that is ordained, free from attachment, done without love or hatred, and without desire for reward is declared to be Sattvic.

Verse 24

But that action which is done by one longing for the fulfillment of desires or gain with egotism or with much effort is declared to be Rajasic (passionate).

Verse 25

That action which is undertaken from delusion, without regard for the consequences, loss, injury, and one's own ability, is declared to be Tamasic (dark).

Verse 26

An agent who is free from attachment, non-egoistic, endowed with firmness and enthusiasm, and unaffected by success or failure, is considered to be of a Sattvic (pure) nature.

Verse 27

Passionate, desiring to obtain the reward of their actions, greedy, cruel, impure, moved by joy and sorrow, such an agent is said to be Rajasic.

Verse 28

Unsteady, vulgar, inflexible, deceitful, malicious, lazy, despondent, and procrastinating—such an agent is called Tamasic.

Verse 29

Hear thou the threefold division of intellect and firmness, according to the Gunas, as I declare them fully and distinctly, O Arjuna.

Verse 30

The intellect which knows the path of work and renunciation, what should be done and what should not be done, fear and fearlessness, bondage and liberation—that intellect is Sattvic (pure), O Arjuna.

Verse 31

That by which one wrongly understands dharma and adharma, and also what ought to be done and what ought not to be done—that intellect, O Arjuna, is rajasic (passionate).

Verse 32

That intellect, O Arjuna, which is enveloped in darkness and sees Adharma as Dharma and all things perverted, is Tamasic (dark).

Verse 33

The unwavering firmness, through which Yoga restrains the functions of the mind, life-force, and senses—that firmness, O Arjuna, is Sattvic (pure).

Verse 34

But that, O Arjuna, by which one holds fast to Dharma (duty), enjoyment of pleasures, and earning of wealth, on account of attachment and desire for reward—that firmness, O Arjuna, is Rajasic (passionate).

Verse 35

That firmness, O Arjuna, by which a stupid man does not abandon sleep, fear, grief, despair, and conceit, is Tamasic.

Verse 36

And now, O Arjuna, hear from Me of the threefold pleasure, in which one rejoices through practice and surely comes to the end of pain.

Verse 37

That which is like poison at first but in the end like nectar—that happiness is declared to be sattvic, born of the purity of one's own mind due to self-realization.

Verse 38

That happiness which arises from the contact of the senses with the objects, which is initially like nectar but eventually like poison, is said to be Rajasic.

Verse 39

That happiness which at first, as well as in the end, deludes the self, and which arises from sleep, indolence, and heedlessness—that is declared to be Tamasic.

Verse 40

There is no being on earth or in heaven among the gods that is liberated from the three qualities born of Nature.

Verse 41

Of Brahmanas, Kshatriyas, Vaisyas, and Sudras, O Arjuna, the duties are distributed according to the qualities born of their own nature.

Verse 42

Serenity, self-restraint, austerity, purity, forgiveness, and uprightness, as well as knowledge, realization, and belief in God, are the duties of Brahmanas, born of their own nature.

Verse 43

Prowess, splendor, firmness, dexterity, and not fleeing from battle, generosity, and lordliness are the duties of the Kshatriyas, born of their own nature.

Verse 44

Agriculture, cattle-rearing, and trade are the duties of the Vaisya (merchant), born of their own nature; and service is the duty of the Sudra (servant-class), born of their own nature.

Verse 45

Each person devoted to their own duty attains perfection. How they attain perfection while being engaged in their own duty, hear now.

Verse 46

He from whom all the beings have evolved and by whom all this is pervaded, worshipping Him with his own duty, one attains perfection.

Verse 47

Better is one's own duty, even if it is destitute of merits, than the duty of another well performed. He who does the duty ordained by his own nature incurs no sin.

Verse 48

One should not, O Arjuna, abandon the duty to which one is born, though it may be faulty; for, all undertakings are enveloped by evil, just as fire is by smoke.

Verse 49

He whose intellect is unattached everywhere, who has subdued his self, from whom desire has fled, he attains the supreme state of freedom from action through renunciation.

Verse 50

Learn from Me, O Arjuna, in brief how one who has attained perfection reaches Brahman—the Eternal, that supreme state of knowledge.

Verse 51-53

Endowed with a pure intellect, controlling the self through firmness, relinquishing sound and other objects and abandoning attraction and hatred. Dwelling in solitude, eating sparingly, with speech, body, and mind subdued, always engaged in meditation and concentration, and resorting to dispassion. Having abandoned egoism, strength, arrogance, desire, anger, and covetousness, and being free from the notion of 'mine' and peaceful, he is fit for becoming Brahman.

Verse 54

Becoming Brahman, serene in the Self, he neither grieves nor desires; he is the same to all beings, and obtains supreme devotion to Me.

Verse 55

By devotion, he knows Me in truth, who and what I am; then, having known Me in truth, he immediately enters into the Supreme.

Verse 56

Having taken refuge in Me and doing all actions, by My grace he obtains the eternal, indestructible state of being.

Verse 57

Mentally renouncing all actions in Me, having Me as the highest goal, and resorting to the yoga of discrimination, do thou ever fix thy mind on Me.

Verse 58

Fixing your mind on Me, you shall, by My grace, overcome all obstacles; but if you will not hear Me due to egoism, you shall perish.

Verse 59

If, filled with egoism, thou thinkest, "I will not fight," then thy resolve is vain; nature will compel thee.

Verse 60

O Arjuna, bound by your own Karma (action) born of your own nature, that which from delusion you wish not to do, even that you shall do helplessly.

Verse 61

The Lord dwells in the hearts of all beings, O Arjuna, causing all beings, by His illusory power, to revolve as if mounted on a machine.

Verse 62

Fly to Him for refuge with all your being, O Arjuna; by His grace you will obtain supreme peace and the eternal abode.

Verse 63

Thus, wisdom more secret than secrecy itself has been declared to you by me. Reflect on it fully, then act as you wish.

Verse 64

Hear again My supreme word, most secret of all; for you are dearly beloved of Me, I will tell you what is good.

Verse 65

Fix your mind on Me, be devoted to Me, sacrifice to Me, bow down to Me. You will come to Me; I truly promise you this, for you are dear to Me.

Verse 66

Abandon all duties and take refuge in Me alone; I will liberate you from all sins; do not grieve.

Verse 67

Never speak this to one who is devoid of austerities or devotion, who does not render service, who does not desire to listen, or who cavils at Me.

Verse 68

He who, with supreme devotion to Me, teaches this supreme secret to My devotees, shall undoubtedly come to Me.

Verse 69

There is no one among men who does service dearer to Me, nor shall there be anyone on earth dearer to Me than him.

Verse 70

And he who studies this sacred dialogue of ours, by him I shall have been worshipped through the sacrifice of wisdom; such is my conviction.

Verse 71

Also, the man who hears this, full of faith and free from malice, shall attain to the happy worlds of those of righteous deeds, and be liberated.

Verse 72

Has this been heard, O Arjuna, with one-pointed focus? Has the delusion of your ignorance been destroyed, O Dhananjaya?

Verse 73

Arjuna said, "My delusion has been destroyed, for I have gained my knowledge (memory) through Your grace, O Krishna. I am now free from doubts. I will act according to Your word."

Verse 74

Sanjaya said, Thus, I have heard this wonderful dialogue between Krishna and the high-souled Arjuna, which causes one's hair to stand on end.

Verse 75

Through the grace of Vyasa, I have heard this supreme and most secret Yoga, directly from Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, Himself declaring it.

Verse 76

O King, remembering this wonderful and holy dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna, I continually rejoice.

Verse 77

And, remembering again and again that most wonderful form of Hari, I am filled with great wonder, O King; and I rejoice again and again.

Verse 78

Wherever Krishna, the Lord of Yoga, is; and wherever Arjuna, the wielder of the bow, is; there is prosperity, victory, happiness, and a firm policy; this is my conviction.