Chapter 4

ज्ञानकर्मसंन्यासयोग

Knowledge and Action (Jñānakarmasaṃnyāsayoga)

Krishna reveals that this teaching is ancient and that he appears again and again whenever goodness declines. He shows how action can become an act of worship and says that knowledge, gained through humility and sincere questions, burns away confusion like fire.

Learn with humility and let understanding cut through your doubts.

4.1इमं विवस्वते योगं प्रोक्तवानहमव्ययम्।Krishna tells Arjuna that he first taught this undying yoga to Vivasvan, the sun. Vivasvan passed it on to Manu, the first lawgiver, and Manu taught it to King Ikshvaku.
4.2एवं परम्पराप्राप्तमिमं राजर्षयो विदुः।Krishna says this yoga was handed down from teacher to student, and the royal sages knew it well. But over a long stretch of time it was lost to the world.
4.3स एवायं मया तेऽद्य योगः प्रोक्तः पुरातनः।Krishna says he is now teaching Arjuna that same ancient yoga, because Arjuna is his devotee and his friend. This, he adds, is a supreme secret.
4.4अपरं भवतो जन्म परं जन्म विवस्वतः।Arjuna asks: You were born recently, and Vivasvan was born long ago. How am I to understand that you taught this to him in the beginning?
4.5बहूनि मे व्यतीतानि जन्मानि तव चार्जुन।Krishna replies that both he and Arjuna have passed through many births. Krishna remembers all of them, but Arjuna does not.
4.6अजोऽपि सन्नव्ययात्मा भूतानामीश्वरोऽपि सन्।Krishna says that though he is unborn, unchanging and the lord of all beings, he takes birth by governing his own nature (prakriti) through his own divine power.
4.7यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत।Krishna says: whenever dharma (what is right) declines and adharma (wrongdoing) rises, then I bring myself into being.
4.8परित्राणाय साधूनां विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्।To protect the good, to end the work of wrongdoers, and to establish dharma (righteousness) firmly, Krishna says he appears age after age.
4.9जन्म कर्म च मे दिव्यमेवं यो वेत्ति तत्त्वतः।Krishna says that whoever truly understands his divine birth and actions is not born again after leaving the body, but comes to him, Arjuna.
4.10वीतरागभयक्रोधा मन्मया मामुपाश्रिताः।Freed from craving, fear and anger, absorbed in Krishna and taking refuge in him, many have been purified by the discipline of knowledge and have reached his state of being.
4.11ये यथा मां प्रपद्यन्ते तांस्तथैव भजाम्यहम्।Krishna says: in whatever way people approach me, in that same way I respond to them. Everyone, in every way, follows my path, Arjuna.
4.12काङ्क्षन्तः कर्मणां सिद्धिं यजन्त इह देवताः।People who want success in their work worship the gods (devatas) here, because in the human world results born of action come quickly.
4.13चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं गुणकर्मविभागशः।Krishna says the fourfold order of society was created by him according to people's qualities (gunas) and their work. Though he is its maker, know him as the non-doer, beyond change.
4.14न मां कर्माणि लिम्पन्ति न मे कर्मफले स्पृहा।Krishna says actions do not stain him, and he has no craving for their results. Whoever understands him in this way is not bound by actions either.
4.15एवं ज्ञात्वा कृतं कर्म पूर्वैरपि मुमुक्षुभिः।Knowing this, seekers of freedom in earlier times also performed action. So you too should simply act, as the ancients did long before.
4.16किं कर्म किमकर्मेति कवयोऽप्यत्र मोहिताः।Krishna says that even the wise are confused about what action is and what inaction is. He will explain action to Arjuna, and knowing it, Arjuna will be freed from harm.
4.17कर्मणो ह्यपि बोद्धव्यं बोद्धव्यं च विकर्मणः।One must understand action, wrong action (vikarma), and inaction too, Krishna says. The way of action is deep and hard to grasp.
4.18कर्मण्यकर्म यः पश्येदकर्मणि च कर्म यः।Whoever sees inaction in action and action in inaction is truly wise among people. Such a person is steady in yoga, even while doing all kinds of work.
4.19यस्य सर्वे समारम्भाः कामसङ्कल्पवर्जिताः।When all of a person's undertakings are free from selfish desire and scheming, the wise call that person learned. Their actions are burnt up in the fire of knowledge.
4.20त्यक्त्वा कर्मफलासङ्गं नित्यतृप्तो निराश्रयः।Giving up attachment to the fruits of action, always content and depending on nothing, such a person does nothing at all in truth, even while fully engaged in work.
4.21निराशीर्यतचित्तात्मा त्यक्तसर्वपरिग्रहः।Without longing, with mind and body under control, letting go of all possessiveness, and doing only the work the body needs, a person incurs no wrong.
4.22यदृच्छालाभसन्तुष्टो द्वन्द्वातीतो विमत्सरः।Content with whatever comes on its own, beyond the pairs of opposites, free from envy, and balanced in success and failure, such a person is not bound even while acting.
4.23गतसङ्गस्य मुक्तस्य ज्ञानावस्थितचेतसः।For one who is free of attachment, liberated, with a mind settled in knowledge, and who works as an offering (yajna), all action dissolves completely.
4.24ब्रह्मार्पणं ब्रह्महविर्ब्रह्माग्नौ ब्रह्मणा हुतम्।The act of offering is Brahman (the Absolute), the offering is Brahman, poured by Brahman into the fire that is Brahman. One who sees Brahman in every act reaches Brahman.
4.25दैवमेवापरे यज्ञं योगिनः पर्युपासते।Some yogis perform sacrifice by worshipping the gods. Others offer the sacrifice itself into the fire of Brahman (the Absolute).
4.26श्रोत्रादीनीन्द्रियाण्यन्ये संयमाग्निषु जुह्वति।Some offer the senses, such as hearing, into the fires of restraint. Others offer sense objects, such as sound, into the fires of the senses.
4.27सर्वाणीन्द्रियकर्माणि प्राणकर्माणि चापरे।Others offer all the workings of the senses and of the life-breath (prana) into the fire of self-control, kindled by knowledge.
4.28द्रव्ययज्ञास्तपोयज्ञा योगयज्ञास्तथापरे।Some offer wealth as their sacrifice, some austerity, some the practice of yoga. Others, striving with firm vows, offer study of scripture and knowledge.
4.29अपाने जुह्वति प्राण प्राणेऽपानं तथाऽपरे।Others, devoted to breath control (pranayama), offer prana (one current of breath) into apana (the other), and apana into prana, regulating the movement of both.
4.30अपरे नियताहाराः प्राणान्प्राणेषु जुह्वति।Others, disciplined in eating, offer their life-breaths into the life-breaths. All of these know the meaning of sacrifice, and through sacrifice their impurities are cleansed.
4.31यज्ञशिष्टामृतभुजो यान्ति ब्रह्म सनातनम्।Those who eat what remains after sacrifice, as if it were nectar, reach the eternal Brahman. Even this world is not for one who offers nothing, so how could any other world be?
4.32एवं बहुविधा यज्ञा वितता ब्रह्मणो मुखे।Many such forms of sacrifice are laid out in the Vedas. Know that all of them are born of action. Knowing this, you will be set free.
4.33श्रेयान्द्रव्यमयाद्यज्ञाज्ज्ञानयज्ञः परन्तप।Krishna says the sacrifice of knowledge is greater than any sacrifice of material things. All action, without exception, finds its completion in knowledge.
4.34तद्विद्धि प्रणिपातेन परिप्रश्नेन सेवया।Learn this by humbly approaching those who know, asking sincere questions and serving them. The wise who have seen the truth will teach you this knowledge.
4.35यज्ज्ञात्वा न पुनर्मोहमेवं यास्यसि पाण्डव।Once you know this, Arjuna, you will never fall into such confusion again. Through it you will see all beings within your own Self, and then in me.
4.36अपि चेदसि पापेभ्यः सर्वेभ्यः पापकृत्तमः।Even if you were the worst of all wrongdoers, you would cross over every sin by the raft of knowledge alone.
4.37यथैधांसि समिद्धोऽग्निर्भस्मसात्कुरुतेऽर्जुन।Just as a blazing fire turns firewood to ash, Arjuna, so the fire of knowledge turns all karma (the binding effects of action) to ash.
4.38न हि ज्ञानेन सदृशं पवित्रमिह विद्यते।Nothing in this world purifies like knowledge. One who has become perfected in yoga finds it within the Self, in due course of time.
4.39श्रद्धावाँल्लभते ज्ञानं तत्परः संयतेन्द्रियः।One who has faith, who is devoted to it and has mastered the senses, gains knowledge. Having gained knowledge, that person soon reaches supreme peace.
4.40अज्ञश्चाश्रद्दधानश्च संशयात्मा विनश्यति।But one who lacks understanding and faith, and is full of doubt, is ruined. For the doubting mind there is neither this world, nor the next, nor happiness.
4.41योगसंन्यस्तकर्माणं ज्ञानसंछिन्नसंशयम्।Actions do not bind one who has given up action through yoga, whose doubts are cut away by knowledge, and who is grounded in the Self, Arjuna.
4.42तस्मादज्ञानसंभूतं हृत्स्थं ज्ञानासिनाऽऽत्मनः।Therefore, Arjuna, cut through this doubt in your heart, born of ignorance, with the sword of self-knowledge. Take your stand in yoga, and rise!