Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 18, Verse 51
बुद्ध्या विशुद्धया युक्तो धृत्याऽऽत्मानं नियम्य च।शब्दादीन् विषयांस्त्यक्त्वा रागद्वेषौ व्युदस्य च।।
buddhyā viśuddhayā yukto dhṛtyātmānaṁ niyamya ca
śabdādīn viṣayāns tyaktvā rāga-dveṣau vyudasya ca
also searched as "buddhya vishuddhaya yukto dhrityatmanam niyamya cha"
Translation
Endowed with a purified understanding, subduing the mind with steadiness, relinquishing sound and other objects of the senses and casting aside love and hate;
Vāṇi's rendering
Joined to a purified understanding, holding the self with firm resolve, letting the senses' objects go, beyond pull and push.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| बुद्ध्याbuddhyā | with the understanding, the discerning faculty |
| विशुद्धयाviśuddhayā | purified, cleared of what is foreign to it |
| युक्तःyuktaḥ | joined, yoked to; here reading as yukto by sandhi |
| धृत्याdhṛtyā | by firm resolve, steady holding |
| आत्मानम्ātmānam | the self, body and mind together; joined to the previous word by sandhi |
| नियम्यniyamya | having held in, kept within bounds |
| चca | and |
| शब्दादीन्śabda-ādīn | sound and the rest — all that the senses reach for |
| विषयान्viṣayān | the objects of the senses |
| त्यक्त्वाtyaktvā | having let go, having set down |
| रागद्वेषौrāga-dveṣau | the pair of pull and push, liking and hating |
| व्युदस्यvyudasya | having cast aside, thrown clear |
| चca | and |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 Verse 51 mean?
It describes what a settled life actually looks like from inside. The understanding is clear, the self is held steady by resolve, the senses' objects are released, and the old machinery of liking and hating is set down. Nothing is added. Krishna is naming a subtraction, and what is left standing is enough.
What does buddhya vishuddhaya yukto mean in the Gita?
It means being joined to an understanding that has been cleaned — not made cleverer, but cleared of what was never yours. Viśuddhi is not accumulation. It is the removal of borrowed opinion, inherited fear, and the residue of old wanting, until seeing happens without a smudge on the glass.
Does this verse ask me to give up all enjoyment?
It asks you to stop being carried. Śabda and the rest are not called evil; they are called objects. What Krishna removes is the grip — the pull toward and the push away that decides your day before you do. You may still eat the meal. It simply no longer eats you.
How do I cast aside raga and dvesha in daily life?
Not by force. Rāga and dveṣa loosen when you stop feeding them commentary. Watch the small tug — toward the message, away from the difficult person — and let it arrive without acting on it. Krishna's word is vyudasya, set aside, not destroy. You put it down as many times as it returns.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Notice what is not on this list. No new belief, no extra practice — only removals. The understanding is purified, meaning nothing foreign has been added to it. Resolve does not push the self forward; it holds it. Sound, taste, sight are not condemned here, only let go of, the way you set down something you had been carrying without noticing. Then the pair that runs most lives: pull toward one thing, push away from another. Krishna does not tell Arjuna to conquer them. He says set them aside. What remains is you, standing in a room where nothing tugs at your sleeve.