Skip to content

Bhagavad Gita 18.25

अनुबन्धं क्षयं हिंसामनपेक्ष्य च पौरुषम्।मोहादारभ्यते कर्म यत्तत्तामसमुच्यते॥

anubandhaṃ kṣayaṃ hiṃsāmanapekṣya ca pauruṣam |mohādārabhyate karma yattattāmasamucyate ||

That action which is undertaken from delusion, without regard for the consequences, loss, injury, and one's own ability, is declared to be Tamasic (dark).

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

An action undertaken through delusion, with no regard to the spiritual implications, the capacity of the doer, or the potential harm that may follow, is assumed to be a product of ignorance.

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 18.25 · Vidya