Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 18, Verse 42
शमो दमस्तपः शौचं क्षान्तिरार्जवमेव च।ज्ञानं विज्ञानमास्तिक्यं ब्रह्मकर्म स्वभावजम्।।
śamo damas tapaḥ śaucaṁ kṣāntir ārjavam eva ca
jñānaṁ vijñānam āstikyaṁ brahma-karma svabhāva-jam
also searched as "shamo damas tapah shaucham kshantir arjavam eva cha"
Translation
The control of the senses and mind, austerity, purity, forbearance, uprightness, knowledge, special knowledge, and faith—all these constitute the duty of a Brahmana, born of his inherent nature.
Vāṇi's rendering
Calm, restraint, austerity, purity, patience, honesty, knowledge, direct seeing, and faith — the natural work of the brahmin.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| शमःśamaḥ | calm; the mind at rest (appears as śamo before the soft consonant) |
| दमःdamaḥ | restraint; the senses held (appears as damas before tapaḥ) |
| तपःtapaḥ | austerity; heat willingly borne |
| शौचम्śaucam | purity, inside and out |
| क्षान्तिःkṣāntiḥ | patience; the capacity to endure without striking back (appears as kṣāntir) |
| आर्जवम्ārjavam | straightness; honesty of manner |
| एवeva | indeed |
| चca | and |
| ज्ञानम्jñānam | knowledge, what is learned and understood |
| विज्ञानम्vijñānam | direct seeing; knowledge that has become experience |
| आस्तिक्यम्āstikyam | faith; the settled sense that what is unseen is real |
| ब्रह्मकर्मbrahma-karma | the work of the brahmin |
| स्वभावजम्svabhāva-jam | born of one's own nature |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 Verse 42 mean?
It names the natural work of the brahmin: calm, restraint, austerity, purity, patience, honesty, knowledge, direct seeing, faith. Krishna is not assigning duties from outside. He is saying that for some, the work itself is a way of being — the quality practised is the labour done.
What does 'shamo damas tapah shaucham' mean in the Gita?
Śama is the mind grown quiet; dama is the senses held steady; tapaḥ is heat willingly borne; śauca is cleanness of body and motive. Four beginnings of one temperament. Krishna lists them not as rules to obey but as the natural bearing of a certain kind of person at work.
Is this verse about caste by birth?
Krishna says svabhāva-jam — born of one's own nature. The whole chapter turns on nature, not lineage. What is being described is a disposition and the work it fits. Where your nature already leans, effort costs less and lasts longer. That is the measure the verse gives you.
What is the difference between jnana and vijnana here?
Jñāna is what you have understood. Vijñāna is what you have seen for yourself. One can be received from a teacher or a book; the other cannot. Krishna places them side by side because knowledge that never becomes seeing stays borrowed, and borrowed knowledge will not hold under pressure.
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Commentary
Nine words, and not one of them is a task. Krishna is not describing a profession here; he is describing a temperament that has become work. Calm is the labour. Patience is the labour. Where another man's duty shows in what he builds, this one's shows in how he is. Arjuna hears this and knows it is not his — he is being told what he is not, so that he can hear what he is. Notice which of these come to you without effort. That is not virtue you earned. That is the shape of the work you were made for.