Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 18, Verse 57
चेतसा सर्वकर्माणि मयि संन्यस्य मत्परः।बुद्धियोगमुपाश्रित्य मच्चित्तः सततं भव।।
cetasā sarva-karmāṇi mayi sannyasya mat-paraḥ
buddhi-yogam upāśritya mac-cittaḥ satataṁ bhava
also searched as "chetasa sarva-karmani mayi sannyasya mat-parah"
Translation
Surrender all your actions to Me with your mind, keep Me as your goal, and practice Buddhi-yoga, focusing your thoughts on Me always.
Vāṇi's rendering
Place every act, inwardly, in me. Make me your highest; steady your understanding; keep your thought on me always.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| चेतसाcetasā | with the mind, inwardly |
| सर्वकर्माणिsarva-karmāṇi | all actions, every deed |
| मयिmayi | in me |
| संन्यस्यsannyasya | having set down, placed over, given up |
| मत्परःmat-paraḥ | having me as the highest, taking me as the goal |
| बुद्धियोगम्buddhi-yogam | the yoking of the understanding, steadiness of discernment |
| उपाश्रित्यupāśritya | having taken shelter in, leaning on |
| मच्चित्तःmat-cittaḥ | with the thought on me (sandhi: mat + cittaḥ becomes mac-cittaḥ) |
| सततम्satataṁ | always, without break |
| भवbhava | be, become |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 Verse 57 mean?
It means the work stays and the ownership goes. Krishna asks Arjuna to keep acting while placing each act, inwardly, in him — to make him the highest aim, to lean on a steady understanding, and to let the thought rest on him without break. Renunciation here happens in the mind, not in the hands.
What is the meaning of chetasa sarva-karmani mayi sannyasya?
Cetasā means with the mind. Sannyasya is not abandoning the deed but setting it down elsewhere. So the line reads: with the mind, place all actions in me. Nothing leaves your schedule. What leaves is the private accounting of gain and loss you have been keeping behind every task.
What is buddhi-yoga in this verse?
Buddhi is the discerning faculty — the part of you that can tell the field from the one who knows it. Buddhi-yoga is that faculty held steady and yoked to Krishna rather than to outcomes. Upāśritya says lean on it, take shelter in it. It is support, not strain.
How can I keep my thought on Krishna always while working?
Satataṁ does not mean unbroken concentration; no one sustains that. It means the return is constant. The thought wanders, the work absorbs you, and then you place the work again. Each placing is the practice. Judge yourself by how quickly you come back, not by how long you stayed.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
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Commentary
Notice what is not asked. Krishna does not tell Arjuna to stop acting — the acts continue, the bow stays in the hand. What changes is where they are set down. Inwardly, cetasā, each action is placed in him as it is done, the way you hand something over without breaking stride. Then the mind is given a direction: make me your highest. A steady understanding follows, not the other way round. Most people wait to feel devoted before acting devotedly. Krishna reverses it. Do the work, place it as you go, and let the thought return to him the way breath returns.