Bhagavad Gita 15.20
Spoken by Krishna ☆ Key verse · Verse 20 of 20
इति गुह्यतमं शास्त्रम् इदम् उक्तं मयानघ । एतद् बुद्ध्वा बुद्धिमान् स्यात् कृतकृत्यश् च भारत ॥
iti guhyatamaṃ śāstram idam uktaṃ mayānagha | etad buddhvā buddhimān syāt kṛta-kṛtyaś ca bhārata ||
This most secret śāstra spoken — knowing it, one becomes truly wise and kṛta-kṛtya: all duties fulfilled.
Word by word (3)
- iti guhyatamaṃ śāstram idam uktaṃ mayānagha
- — thus (iti), this (idam) most secret/most intimate (guhyatamam) teaching/śāstra (śāstram) has been spoken (uktam) by Me (mayā), O sinless one (anagha = Arjuna)
- etad buddhvā buddhimān syāt
- — having known (buddhvā) this (etat — the Puruṣottama-jñāna), one becomes truly wise (buddhimān syāt) — not informed but transformed in understanding
- kṛta-kṛtyaś ca bhārata
- — and (ca) becomes kṛta-kṛtya (O Arjuna) — kṛta-kṛtya = all-duty-accomplished; the one whose life-purpose is fulfilled; nothing left to do or earn
Thus this most secret teaching has been imparted by Me, O sinless one. Knowing this, one becomes truly wise, O Arjuna, and all duties are accomplished.
A modern analogy
A map is useful only until you reach the destination. Once there, the map is done — it has fulfilled its purpose. All Vedic rites, all karma, all dharma are maps pointing to Puruṣottama. The one who KNOWS the destination (kṛta-kṛtya) has used every map to its completion. Nothing remains to do, because the doer has found the one for whom all doing was ultimately meant.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Thus, this most Secret Science has been taught by Me, O sinless one; on knowing this, a man becomes wise, O Bharata, and all his duties are accomplished. [1]
Thus, O sinless one, has this most profound teaching been imparted by Me. On knowing this, a man becomes wise, and all his duties are accomplished, O descendant of Bharata. [4]
This most secret doctrine has been delivered by me. Knowing this, a man becomes enlightened, O descendant of Bharata, and all his duties are accomplished. [9]
This secret doctrine has been taught by me. Knowing it, a man becomes truly wise, and all his duties would be accomplished, O Bharata. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
A blind king asks what happened on the battlefield — and the Gita begins.
Better to die with clean hands than to win with blood on them.
No being — neither on earth nor among the devas in heaven — is free from these three guṇas born of Prakṛti.
Dying in rajas, one is born among the action-attached; dying in tamas, one is born in irrational wombs.
The fruit of sattvic action is pure; the fruit of rajas is pain; the fruit of tamas is ignorance.
Sattva-abiders go upward; rajasic dwell in the middle; tamas-abiders sink downward — the cosmic gradient.
Verse 20 of 20 · back to Chapter 15