Bhagavad Gita 3.31
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 31 of 43
ये मे मतमिदं नित्यमनुतिष्ठन्ति मानवाः । श्रद्धावन्तोऽनसूयन्तो मुच्यन्ते तेऽपि कर्मभिः ॥
ye me matam idaṃ nityam anutiṣṭhanti mānavāḥ | śraddhāvanto 'nasūyanto mucyante te 'pi karmabhiḥ ||
Practice this teaching with faith and without fault-finding — you are freed from karma. No full understanding required.
Word by word (3)
- me matam nityam anutiṣṭhanti
- — who constantly practice this My teaching · Matam = My teaching, view, thought (from man, to think). Nityam = always, constantly. Anutiṣṭhanti = practice, follow consistently (anu+sthā, to stand by, to follow). The requirement is consistent practice (nityam), not occasional application.
- śraddhāvantaḥ anasūyantaḥ
- — with faith, without envy/fault-finding · Śraddhāvat = possessed of śraddhā (faith, trust — not blind belief but engaged confidence in the teaching). Anasūya = without asūyā (asūyā = envy, fault-finding, carping criticism). The two conditions: genuine faith in the teaching AND absence of the critical-defensive attitude that rejects what it cannot yet understand.
- mucyante te api karmabhiḥ
- — they too are freed from the bonds of action · Mucyante = they are freed (from muc, to free). Api = even, also. Karmabhiḥ = from karma-bonds. The promise: even those who simply practice this teaching faithfully (without full philosophical understanding) are freed from karma's bonds.
Those people who constantly practice this My teaching, with faith and without fault-finding — they too are freed from the bonds of karma.
A modern analogy
You don't need to understand the biochemistry of exercise to benefit from running. Consistent practice with genuine commitment (śraddhā) produces the results. This is the verse's promise: those who practice this teaching faithfully, without fault-finding, are freed from karma — even if full intellectual understanding comes later.
Take with you
- Śraddhā (faithful engagement) is sufficient to receive the liberating effect — full philosophical mastery is not required.
- Anasūyā (no fault-finding) is important: carping criticism prevents the open engagement that allows learning.
- Nityam (constantly) — the effect comes from consistent practice, not brilliant occasional insight.
- This verse democratizes the teaching: it is available to the sincere practitioner, not just the philosopher.
Public-domain translations (5) compare all →
Those men who ever follow this teaching of Mine with faith and without caviling, they too are freed from works. [1]
Those men who constantly practice this teaching of Mine, with faith and without caviling, they too are freed from karma. [4]
But those men who constantly practice this doctrine of mine with faith and free from cavil are also released from the bondage of karma. [6]
But those who practice what I preach, And those who, trusting, never cavil at it, — They, too, are quit of Karma and are free! [7]
Men who constantly practice this teaching of mine, with faith and without carping, are also released from karma. [9]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Those who carp and refuse to practice: deluded across all knowledge, ruined, without real consciousness.
Śraddhā of the embodied is threefold — born of svabhāva (one's own nature): sāttvikī, rājasī, tāmasī. Hear this.
Even one who only hears this with śraddhā and without malice is liberated and reaches the pure worlds of the righteous.
Arjuna asks: what does the truly wise person look like? How do they speak, sit, and move?
Whatever form a devotee seeks to worship with śraddhā — that very faith I make unwavering.
Those whose sin has ended — virtuous in deed, freed from dvandva-delusion — worship Me with firm resolve.
Verse 31 of 43 · back to Chapter 3