15 lines, each with its Sanskrit. Updated October 2026.
A line for exams, work, a breakup, a loss or a fresh start. Find yours and keep it close.
When the result feels like everything.
कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन ।मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मणि ॥
karmaṇy evādhikāras te mā phaleṣu kadācana | mā karmaphalahetur bhūr mā te saṅgo 'stv akarmaṇi ||
Your right is to the work, never its fruits. Don't make the fruit your motive, or cling to inaction.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 2.47
नेहाभिक्रमनाशोऽस्ति प्रत्यवायो न विद्यते ।स्वल्पमप्यस्य धर्मस्य त्रायते महतो भयात् ॥
nehābhikramanāśo 'sti pratyavāyo na vidyate | svalpam apy asya dharmasya trāyate mahato bhayāt ||
Here no effort is lost and nothing backfires. Even a little of this dharma saves you from great fear.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 2.40
यतो यतो निश्चरति मनश्चञ्चलमस्थिरम् ।ततस्ततो नियम्यैतदात्मन्येव वशं नयेत् ॥
yato yato niścarati manaś cañcalam asthiram | tatas tato niyamyaitad ātmany eva vaśaṃ nayet ||
Wherever the restless, unsteady mind wanders, bring it back from there, and rest it in the Self.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 6.26
Krishna on the job in front of you, flaws and all.
बुद्धियुक्तो जहातीह उभे सुकृतदुष्कृते ।तस्माद्योगाय युज्यस्व योगः कर्मसु कौशलम् ॥
buddhiyukto jahātīha ubhe sukṛtaduṣkṛte | tasmād yogāya yujyasva yogaḥ karmasu kauśalam ||
A steady mind moves past both merit and sin. So give yourself to yoga: yoga is skill in action.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 2.50
नियतं कुरु कर्म त्वं कर्म ज्यायो ह्यकर्मणः ।शरीरयात्रापि च ते न प्रसिद्ध्येदकर्मणः ॥
niyataṃ kuru karma tvaṃ karma jyāyo hy akarmaṇaḥ | śarīrayātrāpi ca te na prasiddhyed akarmaṇaḥ ||
Do your duty; action is better than inaction. Without it, you could not even keep your body going.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 3.8
सहजं कर्म कौन्तेय सदोषमपि न त्यजेत् ।सर्वारम्भा हि दोषेण धूमेनाग्निरिवावृताः ॥
sahajaṃ karma kaunteya sadoṣam api na tyajet | sarvārambhā hi doṣeṇa dhūmenāgnir ivāvṛtāḥ ||
Never abandon the work born of your nature, though flawed. Every undertaking has flaws, as fire has smoke.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 18.48
The ache feels permanent, and Krishna says it comes and goes.
मात्रास्पर्शास्तु कौन्तेय शीतोष्णसुखदुःखदाः ।आगमापायिनोऽनित्यास्तांस्तितिक्षस्व भारत ॥
mātrāsparśās tu kaunteya śītoṣṇasukhaduḥkhadāḥ | āgamāpāyino 'nityās tāṃs titikṣasva bhārata ||
Heat and cold, pleasure and pain come and go through the senses. They don't last. Bear them patiently.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 2.14
बाह्यस्पर्शेष्वसक्तात्मा विन्दत्यात्मनि यत्सुखम् ।स ब्रह्मयोगयुक्तात्मा सुखमक्षयमश्नुते ॥
bāhyasparśeṣv asaktātmā vindaty ātmani yat sukham | sa brahmayogayuktātmā sukham akṣayam aśnute ||
Free of craving for outer pleasures, one finds joy within, and united with Brahman, knows a joy that never ends.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 5.21
दुःखेष्वनुद्विग्नमनाः सुखेषु विगतस्पृहः ।वीतरागभयक्रोधः स्थितधीर्मुनिरुच्यते ॥
duḥkheṣv anudvignamanāḥ sukheṣu vigataspṛhaḥ | vītarāgabhayakrodhaḥ sthitadhīr munir ucyate ||
Unshaken in sorrow, not craving in joy, free of attachment, fear and anger: that is a sage of steady mind.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 2.56
What Krishna says about death, when someone you love is gone.
न जायते म्रियते वा कदाचिन्नायं भूत्वा भविता वा न भूयः ।अजो नित्यः शाश्वतोऽयं पुराणो न हन्यते हन्यमाने शरीरे ॥
na jāyate mriyate vā kadācin nāyaṃ bhūtvā bhavitā vā na bhūyaḥ | ajo nityaḥ śāśvato 'yaṃ purāṇo na hanyate hanyamāne śarīre ||
The Self is never born and never dies. Unborn and eternal, it is not killed when the body is killed.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 2.20
वासांसि जीर्णानि यथा विहाय नवानि गृह्णाति नरोऽपराणि ।तथा शरीराणि विहाय जीर्णान्यन्यानि संयाति नवानि देही ॥
vāsāṃsi jīrṇāni yathā vihāya navāni gṛhṇāti naro 'parāṇi | tathā śarīrāṇi vihāya jīrṇāny anyāni saṃyāti navāni dehī ||
As you discard worn clothes for new ones, the Self leaves old bodies and enters new ones.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 2.22
देहिनोऽस्मिन्यथा देहे कौमारं यौवनं जरा ।तथा देहान्तरप्राप्तिर्धीरस्तत्र न मुह्यति ॥
dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṃ yauvanaṃ jarā | tathā dehāntaraprāptir dhīras tatra na muhyati ||
Just as the Self moves through childhood, youth and age, it moves to a new body. The wise stay steady.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 2.13
His words to a man who had to get up again.
क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः पार्थ नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते ।क्षुद्रं हृदयदौर्बल्यं त्यक्त्वोत्तिष्ठ परन्तप ॥
klaibyaṃ mā sma gamaḥ pārtha naitat tvayy upapadyate | kṣudraṃ hṛdayadaurbalyaṃ tyaktvottiṣṭha parantapa ||
Don't yield to this cowardice, Arjuna; it is beneath you. Cast off this petty weakness of heart and rise.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 2.3
उद्धरेदात्मनाऽऽत्मानं नात्मानमवसादयेत् ।आत्मैव ह्यात्मनो बन्धुरात्मैव रिपुरात्मनः ॥
uddhared ātmanātmānaṃ nātmānam avasādayet | ātmaiva hy ātmano bandhur ātmaiva ripur ātmanaḥ ||
Lift yourself by your own effort, and never pull yourself down. You are your own friend, and your own enemy.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 6.5
पार्थ नैवेह नामुत्र विनाशस्तस्य विद्यते ।नहि कल्याणकृत्कश्चिद्दुर्गतिं तात गच्छति ॥
pārtha naiveha nāmutra vināśas tasya vidyate | na hi kalyāṇakṛt kaścid durgatiṃ tāta gacchati ||
Neither here nor hereafter is such a person ruined. No one who does good, dear friend, comes to grief.
Krishna to Arjuna · Bhagavad Gita 6.40
A single verse and what it means, there when you wake up.
A week of lines for what you're going through, in your inbox.
Send my weekKrishna tells Arjuna to stand up (2.3) and to lift himself by his own effort (6.5). He also promises that sincere effort is never wasted (2.40, 6.40).
That is why these lines hold up on a bad day. They give you something to do today, in the exam hall or at your desk, and something to hold on to when it does not go your way.
6.5 is a good one to keep: lift yourself by your own self, and do not let yourself sink, because you are your own friend. In 6.40 Krishna adds that no one who does good ever comes to a bad end.
2.47: your right is to the effort, never to the result. 2.40 says no effort on this path is ever wasted, and even a little of it saves you from great fear.
The Gita says little about romance, but 2.14 speaks to any pain that feels endless: pleasure and pain come and go like cold and heat, so bear them. 5.21 points to a happiness within that does not run out.
In 2.20 he says the self is never born and never dies, and is not killed when the body is. In 2.22 he compares death to setting aside worn out clothes and putting on new ones.
In 2.3 he tells a broken Arjuna to shake off weakness of heart and stand up. In 6.40 he promises that someone who tries sincerely and falls short is never lost, in this world or the next.