Bhagavad Gita 18.53
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 53 of 78
अहंकारं बलं दर्पं कामं क्रोधं परिग्रहम् । विमुच्य निर्ममः शान्तो ब्रह्मभूयाय कल्पते ॥
ahaṃkāraṃ balaṃ darpaṃ kāmaṃ krodhaṃ parigraham | vimucya nirmamaḥ śānto brahma-bhūyāya kalpate ||
Releasing ego, power, arrogance, kāma, krodha, possessions — free from mine-ness, tranquil — fit for becoming Brahman.
Word by word (3)
- ahaṃkāraṃ balaṃ darpaṃ kāmaṃ krodhaṃ parigraham vimucya
- — having released/abandoned (vimucya = having-released, from vi + muc = to release) ahaṃkāra (ego-sense/I-making), bala (pride-in-strength/power), darpa (arrogance), kāma (desire), krodha (anger), and parigraha (possessions/accumulation/what-surrounds-one) — six inner renunciations: the ego-cluster + kāma-krodha + possessions
- nirmamaḥ śānto brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
- — free from the sense of 'mine' (nirmamaḥ = nir + mama = without-mine, mine-free), tranquil/peaceful (śānto = śānta + o = peaceful), becomes fit/prepared (kalpate = is fit for, is capable of) for becoming Brahman (brahma-bhūyāya = for-the-state-of-brahma-being) — the culmination: nirmama + śānta = brahma-bhūya-ready
- brahma-bhūyāya kalpate
- — becomes fit for brahma-bhūta; brahma-bhūya = the state of being (bhūya) Brahman (brahma); kalpate = is capable, is qualified; V53 closes the three-verse portrait (V51-53) with the outcome: this person is READY to become brahma-bhūta. The actual brahma-bhūta state is described in V54.
Having abandoned egoism, power, arrogance, desire, anger, and possessions — free from the sense of 'mine,' tranquil — he becomes fit for becoming Brahman.
A modern analogy
This verse completes the three-verse portrait and gives the final inner renunciations. These six — ahaṃkāra (ego), bala (pride of strength), darpa (arrogance), kāma (desire), krodha (anger), parigraha (possessiveness) — are the last obstacles to becoming Brahman: the ego-cluster (what I am), the desire-anger pair (what I want vs. what I hate), and possessiveness (what is mine). When all six are genuinely released — not suppressed — and nirmama (free of mine-ness) + śānta (tranquil) are natural, the person becomes fit for brahma-bhūya (becoming Brahman).
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Having abandoned egotism, strength, arrogance, desire, enmity, property, free from the notion of 'mine,' and peaceful, he is fit for becoming Brahman. [1]
Forsaking egoism, power, pride, lust, wrath, and property; freed from the notion of 'mine'; and tranquil — he is fit for becoming Brahman. [4]
MISSING from index. [9]
Abandoning egoism, violence, pride, lust, wrath, and all surroundings, freed from selfishness and tranquil in mind, becomes fit for assimilation with Brahma. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Tāmasic kartā: undisciplined, vulgar, obstinate, deceitful, malicious, lazy, desponding, procrastinating.
For those freed from desire and anger, with controlled minds, knowing the Self — brahma-nirvāṇa exists on all sides.
Six āsurī qualities: dambha, darpa, abhimāna, krodha, pāruṣya, ajñāna — all rooted in ego-assertion and ignorance.
Rājasic karma: done desiring pleasures or with ego-pride, involving great effort.
Rājasic kartā: passionate, fruit-desiring, greedy, cruel-natured, impure, subject to elation and sorrow.
Thinking → clinging → craving → anger. The chain of suffering begins in where you let your mind dwell.
Verse 53 of 78 · back to Chapter 18