Bhagavad Gita 9.28
Spoken by Krishna · Verse 28 of 34
शुभाशुभफलैरेवं मोक्ष्यसे कर्मबन्धनैः | सन्न्यासयोगयुक्तात्मा विमुक्तो मामुपैष्यसि ||२८||
śubhāśubha-phalair evaṃ mokṣyase karma-bandhanaiḥ | sannyāsa-yoga-yuktātmā vimukto mām upaiṣyasi || 28 ||
Thus freed from karma's bonds — both good and evil fruits — unified in renunciation-yoga, liberated, you come to Me.
Word by word (3)
- śubha-aśubha-phalaiḥ evaṃ mokṣyase karma-bandhanaiḥ
- — Thus you shall be freed from the bonds of karma with its good and evil fruits · śubha = auspicious, good (śubha = good, beautiful, auspicious); aśubha = inauspicious, evil (a-śubha = not-good); phalaiḥ = from the fruits (phala = fruit/result; instrumental plural — 'from the fruits'). śubhāśubha-phalaiḥ = from the good-and-evil fruits (compound: the dual fruits that karma produces — both the positive/merit results and the negative/demerit results). evaṃ = thus (in this way — pointing to V27's mad-arpaṇam practice). mokṣyase = you shall be freed (√muc = to release, to free; mokṣyase = future passive 'you will be freed, you shall be liberated'). karma-bandhanaiḥ = from the bonds of karma (karma = action; bandhana = bond, fetter — from √bandh = to bind; karma-bandhana = the binding effect of action; instrumental plural — 'from karma-bonds'). V28's first half: the result of V27's mad-arpaṇam practice — śubhāśubha-phalair evaṃ mokṣyase karma-bandhanaiḥ = 'by this method (mad-arpaṇam), you shall be freed from the bonds of karma that produce good and evil fruits.' Both śubha-phala (good results) AND aśubha-phala (bad results) bind the actor — V28 frees from BOTH. This is key: not only from aśubha (bad karma) but from śubha (good karma) as well. Even good-result-producing karma binds when the orientation is result-focused (V20-V21's merit-earning binds even to positive results like heaven). Mad-arpaṇam frees from both.
- sannyāsa-yoga-yuktātmā vimukto mām upaiṣyasi
- — With a self unified by the yoga of renunciation — liberated — you shall come to Me · sannyāsa-yoga-yuktātmā = one whose self is unified by the yoga of renunciation (sannyāsa = renunciation — from sam + ni + √as = to cast down completely; the complete relinquishment of result-attachment; yoga = the method/discipline; yuktātmā = one whose ātman/self is united/disciplined — from yukta [√yuj = to yoke, unite] + ātmā; sannyāsa-yoga-yuktātmā = 'one whose self is harmonized by the yoga of renunciation' = the karma yogi who has internalized V27's mad-arpaṇam orientation until it becomes the natural state). vimukto = freed, liberated (vi = completely + mukta = freed — from √muc; vimukta = completely freed, thoroughly liberated). mām upaiṣyasi = you shall come to Me (māṃ = Me; upa + √i = to approach, to come to; upaiṣyasi = future second person singular — 'you shall come to Me'). V28's second half: sannyāsa-yoga-yuktātmā (self unified by renunciation-yoga) + vimukta (liberated) + mām upaiṣyasi (shall come to Me). The three-stage result: (1) sannyāsa-yoga-yukta = the internal state (self unified by renunciation-orientation); (2) vimukta = the condition (completely freed); (3) mām upaiṣyasi = the destination (you come to Me). This is Ch.9's liberation-arc complete: mad-arpaṇam (V27) → freedom from karma-bonds (V28a) → sannyāsa-yoga-yuktātmā (V28b) → vimukta (V28c) → mām upaiṣyasi (V28d).
- śubhāśubha-phalaiḥ — freedom from both good and evil karmic fruits
- — V28's double qualifier (śubha AND aśubha) is key: liberation requires freedom from BOTH good-result karma AND bad-result karma — not just from sin but from all result-seeking · The śubhāśubha (good-and-evil) pair in V28 is philosophically precise. The ordinary religious understanding: liberation = freedom from bad karma (aśubha-phala). V28 says: liberation = freedom from ALL karma including good-result karma (śubha-phala). Why? Because even śubha-phala (good results: heaven, prosperity, celestial pleasures) binds the actor to the result-cycle. V20-V21 showed this: the soma-drinkers earned śubha-phala (Indra's heaven) and were bound by it — when the merit exhausted (kṣīṇe puṇye), they returned. The śubha-phala bound them to the gatāgata cycle just as much as aśubha-phala would have. Liberation (mokṣa) requires freedom from BOTH poles of the karma-result economy. Mad-arpaṇam (V27) achieves this because: when action is offered to the divine rather than done for results, no result-ownership is established — neither śubha nor aśubha phala accrues to the actor. The sannyāsa-yoga quality (V28's sannyāsa-yoga-yuktātmā) = the internal state of renunciation from result-ownership, not the external renunciation of action. This is the Gita's niyata karma (disciplined action) teaching from V3.8 and V18.9 applied to V28.
So you shall be freed from the bonds of action and its good and evil fruits; with your heart steadfast in the yoga of renunciation, liberated, you shall come to Me.
A modern analogy
An artist who creates for the love of creation — not for reviews, not for sales, not for validation — is practicing the previous verse's offering to the divine and generating this verse's renunciation-yoga quality. They are freed from both the bonds of success (when it goes well) and failure (when it doesn't). Each work is an offering. The creating itself becomes the liberation — freed (vimukta) — and their work naturally comes to the source of all creative expression.
What it does NOT mean
Renunciation-yoga (sannyāsa-yoga) does not require external renunciation — becoming a monk, giving up possessions, leaving family. It is the internal renunciation (releasing ownership of results) that offering everything to the divine generates. The renunciation-yoga-unified self of this verse is exactly the eternal renouncer of an earlier teaching — the one who acts in the world yet neither desires nor hates, acting from the relinquished orientation.
Take with you
- The phrase 'good and bad fruits' (śubhāśubha-phalaiḥ) points to a freedom practice: notice when good results (praise, success, achievement) bind you as much as bad results (failure, criticism, loss) — both are karma-bonds. This verse's promise of release applies to both: when you offer the activity as an offering to the divine, neither the good results nor the bad results establish ownership in you. The freedom is from the result-economy itself, not just from bad outcomes.
- This verse's renunciation-yoga is a progressive practice: the renunciation-yoga-unified self is not an overnight achievement but a progressive quality that develops through sustained offering of your actions. Each time you practice offering everything to the divine, the renunciation-yoga quality deepens. Track this: after a month of practising it, notice: is the reactive attachment to both good and bad results slightly reduced? That reduction IS this verse's renunciation-yoga deepening.
- Take this verse with the one before it as the complete karma yoga instruction: the previous verse gives the method (offer everything to Me); this verse gives the result (freed from karma bonds, renunciation-yoga-unified, you come to Me). The chain is explicit and complete. No mystery about 'what happens when I offer everything to the divine?' — this verse answers precisely.
Public-domain translations (3) compare all →
Thus shalt thou be liberated from the bonds of actions, producing good and evil results; thyself harmonised by the Yoga of Renunciation, thou shalt come unto Me. [4]
By this means thou shalt be liberated from the bonds of action, whose results are good and evil; thy mind disciplined by the yoga of renunciation, thou shalt be freed and come to me. [6]
And from that doing / Shall be thy spirit set / From the bonds of good and ill-consequence, / And thou, thyself, brought unto Me. [7]
This verse speaks to
Where this thread continues
Whatever you do, eat, offer, give, or practise as austerity — do it all as mad-arpaṇam, an offering to Me.
The eternal renunciant neither desires nor hates — free from all opposites, easily freed from bondage.
Your right is to act — never to the fruits. Don't act for results. Don't hide in inaction.
Sannyāsa = abandoning desire-motivated action; tyāga = abandoning fruits of ALL action — say the learned.
The yogi abandons fruit and attains lasting peace. The non-yogi, bound to fruit by desire, is fettered.
Free from these three tamas-gates, one acts for one's genuine good and reaches the Supreme Goal.
Verse 28 of 34 · back to Chapter 9