Bhagavad Gita 18.60
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 60 of 78
स्वभावजेन कौन्तेय निबद्धः स्वेन कर्मणा । कर्तुं नेच्छसि यन् मोहात् करिष्यस्य् अवशो ऽपि तत् ॥
svabhāva-jena kaunteya nibaddhaḥ svena karmaṇā | kartuṃ necchasi yan mohāt kariṣyasy avaśo 'pi tat ||
Bound by your svabhāva-born karma, what from delusion you don't wish to do — you will do even helplessly.
Word by word (3)
- svabhāva-jena kaunteya nibaddhaḥ svena karmaṇā
- — bound/fettered (nibaddhaḥ = tied down, from ni + bandh = to bind) O son of Kuntī (kaunteya), by your own action (svena karmaṇā = by-one's-own-karma/action) born of your own nature (svabhāva-jena = svabhāva + ja = born-of-svabhāva) — the binding is not external: you are bound by your own svabhāva-born karma
- kartuṃ necchasi yan mohāt kariṣyasy avaśo 'pi tat
- — what (yat) you do not wish (na icchasi = not-desire) to do (kartum = to do), from delusion (mohāt = from moha/confusion), that (tat) you will do (kariṣyasi = will-do, future) even against your will (avaśo 'pi = avaśas + api = without-control + even = even as one-without-mastery/helplessly)
- avaśo kariṣyasi
- — will do helplessly/involuntarily/without mastery (avaśas = a + vaśa = without-control, without-mastery); the deepest point: not only will Prakṛti compel (V59), but it will do so with Arjuna avaśas (without his control, helplessly). The ahaṃkāra that thinks it is freely refusing to fight is the least-free position — it is moha (delusion). The truly free position is V57's mac-citas (mind-in-Me) which transforms the compelled action into conscious offering.
Bound by your own karma born of your own nature, O son of Kuntī — what you do not wish to do from delusion, you will do even helplessly.
A modern analogy
This verse completes the previous verse's teaching. Arjuna's 'I won't fight' is moha-driven (delusion), and even so, his svabhāva-born karma (kṣatriya dharma) will compel him to act — helplessly (avaśas). The paradox: the person who thinks they are exercising freedom by refusing to fight is the LEAST free person — they are under the compulsion of their own unexamined svabhāva. The person who acts consciously — mentally offering all actions to the Divine and resting in His grace, as the recent verses taught — exercises the highest freedom: acting from the Divine rather than from moha.
Public-domain translations (4) compare all →
Bound as thou art, O son of Kunti, by thy own nature-born act; that which from delusion thou likest not to do, thou shalt do, though against thy will. [1]
Fettered, O son of Kunti, by thy own Karma, born of thy own nature, what thou, from delusion, desirest not to do, thou shalt have to do in spite of thyself. [4]
MISSING from index. [9]
That which, from delusion, thou dost not wish to do, thou wilt do involuntarily, bound by thy own duty springing from thine own nature. [13]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
This teaching is never to be given to the non-ascetic, non-devotee, non-service-minded, or one who criticizes Me.
Mentally offering all actions to Me, with Me as highest — resorting to buddhi-yoga, always be mind-in-Me.
O Madhusūdana — I see no stable foundation for this yoga: the mind's restlessness defeats all steadiness.
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
Those who know Me as Adhibhūta, Adhidaiva, and Adhiyajña — they know Me even at death, with unified minds.
Mind-in-Me, devotee, worshiper, bow to Me — you will come to Me; truly I promise, you are dear to Me.
Verse 60 of 78 · back to Chapter 18