A core teaching · reflective in mood · easy to enter
“Resistance cannot cancel what your nature is already set to do.”
Bound by your own nature-born duty, you will do what you do not want to do in confusion. Even against your will, you will act.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallyborn of one's own nature · O son of Kunti · bound · by one's own · by action · to do · you do not wish · that which · from confusion · you will do · even unwillingly · that
Your own nature pushes you toward certain actions. Confusion may make you resist them, but you may still end up doing them anyway.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Moksha Sanyasa Yoga" (Liberation through Renunciation).
Verse 60 sits in Chapter 18 of the Bhagavad Gita — Moksha Sanyasa Yoga, "Liberation through Renunciation". The chapter has 78 verses in total.
A woman swears she will never take over her late father's pharmacy, yet she keeps opening it on Sundays. Krishna's point is about that pull: nature-born duty draws you back even after confusion says no.
Did you like this verse?
Bound by his own svabhava, Arjuna will do even against his will what delusion now makes him refuse.
What this verse means
Your own nature pushes you toward certain actions. Confusion may make you resist them, but you may still end up doing them anyway.
Context & commentary
Arjuna keeps resisting the war. Krishna tells him that his warrior nature is already shaping his choices. Even if Arjuna refuses in confusion, that same nature will still drive him to act.
What it looks like today
A woman swears she will never take over her late father's pharmacy, yet she keeps opening it on Sundays. Krishna's point is about that pull: nature-born duty draws you back even after confusion says no.
“It can feel relieving to stop fighting what your character and role are already asking of you.”
Explore related themes: kurukshetra (95 verses)