Bhagavad Gītā · Chapter 18, Verse 66
सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज।अहं त्वा सर्वपापेभ्यो मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः।।
sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ
also searched as "sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam sharanam vraja"
Translation
Relinquishing all Dharmas completely, seek Me alone for refuge. I will release you from all sins; grieve not.
Vāṇi's rendering
Let go of every rule you cling to. Come to me — I will carry you. Do not grieve.
Word by word
| Sanskrit & transliteration | Meaning |
|---|---|
| सर्वधर्मान्sarva-dharmān | all duties, every rule and code of right action |
| परित्यज्यparityajya | having wholly let go, set down completely |
| माम्mām | me (Krishna) |
| एकम्ekaṁ | alone, only, the one |
| शरणम्śaraṇaṁ | shelter, refuge |
| व्रजvraja | come, go — an imperative, spoken directly |
| अहम्ahaṁ | I |
| त्वाtvāṁ | you |
| सर्वपापेभ्यःsarva-pāpebhyo | from all sins — sandhi of -pāpebhyaḥ before the following m |
| मोक्षयिष्यामिmokṣayiṣyāmi | I will set free, I will release |
| माmā | do not |
| शुचःśucaḥ | grieve, mourn |
Frequently asked
What does Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 Verse 66 mean?
It is Krishna's closing instruction: let go of every rule you have been clinging to, and come to him for shelter. He does not promise the road grows easy; he promises to carry you, and he ends with mā śucaḥ — do not grieve. Seventeen chapters of teaching lead here, to where doing gives way to being held.
What does 'sarva dharman parityajya mam ekam sharanam vraja' mean?
Sarva-dharmān parityajya — having let go of all dharmas; mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja — come to me alone as refuge. Not the abandonment of work, but of the belief that your gripping is what keeps the world standing. The rules carried you to the water's edge; here Krishna asks you to step off the raft.
Does this verse tell me to abandon my duties?
No. The whole Gītā has refused withdrawal; Arjuna is still being sent to the field. What is set down is not the work but the ownership of it — the clinging, the accounting, the dread of getting it wrong. Do the duty that is yours. Release the grip on how it turns out.
Why does Krishna end with 'ma shuchah', do not grieve?
Because everything before it was preparation for hearing it. Arjuna's collapse in the first chapter was grief. Seven hundred verses later Krishna does not argue him out of it; he says mā śucaḥ and takes the weight himself. The teaching ends exactly where your sorrow is allowed to end.
Read every verse this way, held — inside Vāṇi.
View on the App Store
Commentary
This is the last thing Krishna teaches, and it loosens everything he taught. Seventeen chapters of duty, discipline, right action, the steady mind — and now: set all of it down and come. Not because the rules were false, but because they were the raft, never the shore. Arjuna has spent the whole book asking what he must do. The answer is that nothing he must do will go uncarried. The Sanskrit closes on two small words — mā śucaḥ. Whatever you are still holding because you believe the holding is what keeps you upright: put it down, and see who is holding you.