Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 18, Verse 19
ज्ञानं कर्म च कर्ता च त्रिधैव गुणभेदतः।प्रोच्यते गुणसंख्याने यथावच्छृणु तान्यपि।।
jñānaṁ karma ca kartā ca tridhaiva guṇa-bhedataḥ
procyate guṇa-saṅkhyāne yathāvac cchṛṇu tāny api
also searched as "jnanam karma cha karta cha tridhaiva guna-bhedatah"
Translation
Knowledge, action, and agent are declared in the science of the Gunas to be of three kinds, according to the difference in the Gunas. Listen to them also as they are.
Vāṇi's rendering
Knowledge, action, and doer each come in three kinds, split by nature's strands. Hear them each in turn.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| ज्ञानम्jñānam | knowledge, the act of knowing |
| कर्मkarma | action, the deed done |
| चca | and |
| कर्ताkartā | the doer, the one who acts |
| चca | and |
| त्रिधाtridhā | in three kinds, threefold |
| एवeva | just so, precisely |
| गुणभेदतःguṇa-bhedataḥ | by the difference among nature's three strands |
| प्रोच्यतेprocyate | is declared, is set out |
| गुणसंख्यानेguṇa-saṅkhyāne | in the reckoning that counts the strands — the teaching that enumerates them |
| यथावत्yathāvat | exactly as it is, faithfully; joins with the next word as yathāvac cchṛṇu |
| शृणुśṛṇu | hear, listen |
| तानिtāni | these, them |
| अपिapi | also, too |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 Verse 19 mean?
It is Krishna's announcement of a sorting. Knowledge, action and the doer are each of three kinds, divided by sattva, rajas and tamas — nature's three strands. Nothing in you escapes that division. Krishna asks Arjuna to listen carefully, because the verses that follow will describe each kind plainly enough to be recognised.
What does jnanam karma cha karta cha tridhaiva gunabhedatah teach me?
That the same deed can be done in three different tempers, and the temper is what matters. Two people give the same coin; two people speak the same truth. What separates them is the strand running through the knowing and the doer. Watch which one is running through you today.
Why does Krishna divide knowledge itself into three kinds?
Because most of us assume our understanding is simply correct. Krishna says understanding has a quality — it can see the one in the many, or only the many, or cling to a fragment and call it the whole. Knowing that your knowing has a texture is the beginning of clearing it.
What are the gunas that this verse refers to?
Sattva, rajas and tamas — the three strands woven through everything nature makes, including your mind. Clarity, restless drive, and heaviness. They are not moral labels handed to people; they are the weather of the moment, shifting. Krishna names them so you can tell which weather you are acting in.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Before the sorting begins, Krishna tells Arjuna that even knowing is not one thing. Knowledge, action, doer — the three places a person hides, and each of them comes in three. You cannot stand outside the strands by being clever; your understanding has a texture, your work has a flavour, and the one who claims both has a temperament. Arjuna wants to know what to do. Krishna first shows him how many ways there are to do the same deed. Hear them in turn, he says — because you will recognise yourself in one of them, and that recognition is where change starts.