A core teaching · expansive in mood · builds on earlier teachings
“Action loses its grip when it becomes offering, not possession.”
For one who has given up attachment, is freed, and whose mind rests in knowledge, all action melts away when done only for sacrifice.
The verse in reading order — each Sanskrit word with its meaning beneath. Tap a word to focus on it.
Read literallyof one gone beyond attachment · of one freed · of one whose mind is established in knowledge · for sacrifice · practising · action · entire · melts away
When attachment is gone and the mind rests in clear understanding, work done as an offering no longer binds a person.
Krishna speaks this verse, on the battlefield of Kurukshetra, in the chapter titled "Jnana Karma Sanyasa Yoga" (Knowledge and Renunciation of Action).
Verse 23 sits in Chapter 4 of the Bhagavad Gita — Jnana Karma Sanyasa Yoga, "Knowledge and Renunciation of Action". The chapter has 42 verses in total.
A son cooks for his bedridden mother every night as an offering to her, keeping no tally of what it costs him. Krishna says work done in that spirit leaves no bondage behind.
Did you like this verse?
Work done as yajna, by someone free of attachment and settled in knowledge, melts away without binding.
What this verse means
When attachment is gone and the mind rests in clear understanding, work done as an offering no longer binds a person.
Context & commentary
Krishna keeps teaching Arjuna, frozen before the war, how action can be purified. Here he says that when a person is free of attachment and grounded in knowledge, even action disappears as bondage if it is done purely as sacrifice.
What it looks like today
A son cooks for his bedridden mother every night as an offering to her, keeping no tally of what it costs him. Krishna says work done in that spirit leaves no bondage behind.
“Work offered freely, without clinging, leaves no chain behind.”
Explore related themes: yajna (32 verses), attachment (20 verses), nishkama karma (12 verses)