Skip to content

Bhagavad Gita 18.23

नियतं सङ्गरहितमरागद्वेषतः कृतम्।अफलप्रेप्सुना कर्म यत्तत्सात्त्विकमुच्यते॥

niyataṃ saṅgarahitamarāgadveṣataḥ kṛtam |aphalaprepsunā karma yattatsāttvikamucyate ||

An action that is ordained, free from attachment, done without love or hatred, and without desire for reward is declared to be Sattvic.

Translation by Swami Sivananda · Public domain in India (translator d. 1963)

An obligatory action done by one who is disinterested, who neither likes nor dislikes it, and gives no thought to the consequences that may follow, such an action is Pure.

Translation by Shri Purohit Swami · Public domain in India (translator d. 1941)

Our plain-language meaning of this verse is waiting for scholar review.

Edition: Common 700-verse recension. Arjuna's opening question in chapter 13, absent from that recension, is kept as 13.0.

Transliteration in IAST, generated from the Devanagari text.

Source: Sanskrit text via gita/gita (Unlicense), from the Gita Supersite, IIT Kanpur. Sanskrit text public domain.

Bhagavad Gita 18.23 · SatsangVidya