A core teaching · devotional in mood · a little context helps
“Hand over the action, and let the mind stay gathered there.”
With your mind, surrender all actions to Me. Take refuge in the discipline of clear understanding and remain constantly focused on Me.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallywith the mind · all actions · in Me · having renounced, having placed aside · devoted to Me, having Me as the highest · the discipline of discernment · taking refuge in · with mind fixed on Me · constantly · be
Give every action to Krishna, rely on clear understanding, and keep your mind steadily on the divine.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Moksha Sanyasa Yoga" (Liberation through Renunciation).
Verse 57 sits in Chapter 18 of the Bhagavad Gita — Moksha Sanyasa Yoga, "Liberation through Renunciation". The chapter has 78 verses in total.
Before a difficult operation, a surgeon pauses at the scrub sink and offers the work to God, then gets on with it. Krishna asks for this: every action given over to him, attention kept steady.
Did you like this verse?
Krishna asks Arjuna to offer every act to him mentally and rest his mind on him through buddhi yoga.
What this verse means
Give every action to Krishna, rely on clear understanding, and keep your mind steadily on the divine.
Context & commentary
Krishna now gives the inner method: offer every action to him, rely on disciplined understanding, and keep the mind fixed there. This verse prepares Arjuna to act without being scattered by fear.
What it looks like today
Before a difficult operation, a surgeon pauses at the scrub sink and offers the work to God, then gets on with it. Krishna asks for this: every action given over to him, attention kept steady.
“You do not have to carry everything yourself. Steady devotion can hold what the ego cannot.”
Explore related themes: sharanagati (13 verses), karma sannyasa (11 verses)