A core teaching · grounding in mood · a little context helps
“Action becomes free when you stop claiming its results.”
Surrender all actions to me with the disciplined mind. Free from desire, possessiveness, and sorrow, fight.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallyto me · all · actions · having renounced, having surrendered · with the inwardly aware mind · without desire · without possessiveness · having become · fight · free from fever, free from distress
Give every action inwardly to the divine, then do your duty without craving results, without clinging, and without inner distress.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Karma Yoga" (The Yoga of Action).
Verse 30 sits in Chapter 3 of the Bhagavad Gita — Karma Yoga, "The Yoga of Action". The chapter has 43 verses in total.
A caregiver walks into the hospital ward to tell her brother the treatment has stopped working. She offers the moment up in her heart, sets aside what she wants to happen, and speaks.
Did you like this verse?
Surrender every action to Krishna, drop desire and 'mine', and fight without fever, he tells Arjuna.
What this verse means
Give every action inwardly to the divine, then do your duty without craving results, without clinging, and without inner distress.
Context & commentary
Krishna gives him a way to act without inner collapse: place every deed inwardly before the divine, drop desire and possessiveness, and fight without feverish anxiety.
What it looks like today
A caregiver walks into the hospital ward to tell her brother the treatment has stopped working. She offers the moment up in her heart, sets aside what she wants to happen, and speaks.
“Offer the work, drop the 'mine', and the fever of worry eases.”
Explore related themes: karma yoga (55 verses), vairagya (51 verses), nishkama karma (12 verses)