A core teaching · grounding in mood · easy to enter
“Giving becomes pure when nothing is being bought in return.”
A gift given with the feeling that giving is a duty, offered to a worthy person at the right place and time, is called sattvic.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallyto be given · thus · which · gift · is given · to one who does not return a favor · in place · in time · and · to a worthy recipient · and · that · gift · sattvic · is remembered as
A gift is pure when it is given as a duty, to the right person, at the right time and place, without expecting anything back.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Shraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga" (The Three Kinds of Faith).
Verse 20 sits in Chapter 17 of the Bhagavad Gita — Shraddhatraya Vibhaga Yoga, "The Three Kinds of Faith". The chapter has 28 verses in total.
You send money to a friend who will never repay you, or help quietly without posting it anywhere. The act feels clean because it was never a transaction.
Did you like this verse?
Giving because giving is right, to a worthy person, at the right place and time: Krishna calls it sattvic.
What this verse means
A gift is pure when it is given as a duty, to the right person, at the right time and place, without expecting anything back.
Context & commentary
The discussion turns to giving, with Arjuna still shaken and Krishna teaching the nature of faith. After rejecting prideful and harmful charity, Krishna defines the clearest form of giving: timely, fitting, and free from expectation.
What it looks like today
You send money to a friend who will never repay you, or help quietly without posting it anywhere. The act feels clean because it was never a transaction.
“Generosity feels lighter when it is free of self-interest.”
Explore related themes: shraddha (34 verses), tyaga (14 verses), dana (11 verses)